[magnate]

Thanks muchly for the reply - I will check out the tutorial. From your message it looks non-trivial but I'll give it a go. I guess the ideal solution would be to get the AI to build a shipyard, a spaceport, then research centres and mining. Would it think to research resupply on its own? That's another crippling setback if not.

Anyway, I'll have a look into it and get back to you. Thanks again,

CC