[Taqwus]

Another bit -- after meeting an AI race for the first time, read its description quite carefully. Some happen to be quite warlike xenophobes, and may give you less prep time than you'd like.


Logistics: an unsupplied war fleet isn't very useful. It can move only one square per turn (either strategic or tactical), and its shields (if any) stay down. _And_ it's still costing full maintenance despite its low utility. Hitting the only enemy colonies close enough to be used as staging grounds can be more useful than hitting the fleets directly. Conversely, it's good to have redundancy in your own supply network so the loss of a single colony doesn't effectively cut your empire in half.


Design and counterdesign: Examine enemy ship designs. Consider adding your own designs to counter them if they pose particularly dangerous threats.


Intelligence: "Communications mimic" is a nice toy for starting wars between other players, especially AIs who won't necessarily question the authenticity of the DOW. Even between human players, a successful mimic DOW will zero their trade level, which can be substantial between two economic powerhouses, and it'll take twenty turns to recover. "Crew Insurrection" is another fun op, since a subverted ship in a fleet may not only remove itself from action, but perhaps damage its former compatriots, as well. A solo ship might be safely brought back for tech analysis.

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-- The thing that goes bump in the night