[Alneyan]

Well, either your Empire isn't optimised, or you do not expand fast enough. There is virtually *one* optimal Empire around here, with a couple varieties for the spare points. just don't go too far, like I did right now: 0% reproduction is a major annoyance (bah, I *need* to play offensively now). Maintenance (at least 110%) is particularly important here.

I've always felt SEIV is all about economics, and hence expansion. Fewer colonies on a given turn snowballs into fewer resources, lower technology levels, fewer ships and poorer ones, and so on. When the playing field is more or less equal, and both players will it, then tactics and the like can play a role; I must admit "battle between two fleets" is something I do not indulge in myself.

Of course, I'm also the worst tactician on this side of Betelgeuse, so my whole strategy is ripped off from Space Invaders: if the first wave won't get them, the second one will. Or the third one. Or the Star Destroyers wave. So what if our ships, despite better training, equipement and numbers, get beaten up? Assimilation is inevitable.