I just created a small ancient map with exactly four empires and the whole tech tree visible. Heh. A string of four black holes in a row! But I digress. My opinions:
1) I think you know already!
2) Sure. I agree with Kull's observation of no warp poins closers than 2 sectors from the center. 'Course, there were a bunch that were
exactly 2 sectors away....
3) I've never played finite resources before. Now's a good a time as any to learn!
4) Gotta consider progression on the Stellar Manip line of the tech tree. The breakdown:
Lev, CostLow, CostMedium, Results
1: 100000, 100000, Storm cleanser/producer, monolith I
2: 200000, 200000, Medium planet creator/buster, monolith II
3: 300000, 450000, Warp Point closer/creator I, Large planet, mono III
4: 400000, 800000, WP creator II, Huge planet
5: 500000, 1250000, Star creator, WPC III, Ringworlds
6: 600000, 1800000, Star destroyer, WPC IV, Nebula dissipator, Black Hole collapser
7: 700000, 2450000, WPC V, Nebula creator, Black Hole creator
8: 800000, 3200000, Sphereworlds
Right now I'm leaning towards low cost, because we'll never get to the upper levels on finite resources and medium cost. (Remember, this is in addition to anything else you'd like to research, like maybe weapons, shields, etc...).
Man, this is gonna be one twisted game!
[edit]
I posted a new topic asking what kind of resources you could expect to get from a ringworld or sphereworld under finite resources. Assuming, of courses, you still have the resources to build the thing!
[/edit]
Quikngruvn
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Ponder this: Scientists already knew that matter is 98% empty space. After they figured out the structure of protons, they determined the remaining 2% is mostly made up of... well, nothing. Who says God doesn't have a sense of humor?
[This message has been edited by Quikngruvn (edited 28 July 2001).]