[bearclaw]

The only times I've left games has been when something came up in RL. In each case I've informed the GM and even found replacement players in a couple of instances. In fact, I'm in one game where I told the others I have to leave about 3 months ago and I'm still there... waiting for a replacement as I've got a respectfully large empire and the mod doesn't support AI play very well.

I can agree with the frustration of a quitting player who does not inform anyone.

Some of the funnest games I've played have been a fighting retreat to zero. In one instance, my ship designs were vastly superior to my enemies (toot toot), but he had shear numbers. IIRC he needed to out-number me 5 to 1 to hope to defeat me in combat. Of course, I had put so much research into ship components to get that way that my planetary defense's were nearly nil... which is why I ended up in the situation I was. But man, I've never had so much fun losing before.