[Taqwus]

Er, right. No trading racial traits themselves. Even populations you assimilate from other empires will assume your racial traits; e.g. you cannot use population from a Crystalline race to build Crystalline ships or research Crystalline tech unless you're Crystalline yourself. Note, tho', that facilities don't vanish; for instance, if you receive a colony containing buildings that you can't and won't ever be able to build, you still get full benefits from them. Likewise, if you receive a colony that was packed over-full by somebody with Advanced Storage Techniques, the "extra" facilities don't vanish.

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-- The thing that goes bump in the night