[grumbler]

Okay, Tim, email en route. The pefect weather here finally broke, and so I have an excuse to stay indoors!

As for the ancients, maybe I am misunderstanding something here, but I thought the ancients were just supposed to fight one another (i.e be a part of the "ancient age" mod). Trying to mix ancients with youngers is a recipe for trouble in game balance, IMO, with the obvious exceptions of the Vorlons and Shadows, whose impact can be limited by their demeanor and happiness type (as well as the fact that they are being played by the AI, which isn't very aggressive). Having a bunch of ancient races strewn around the galaxy seems to me to be taking away, not adding to, the game.

That's just my opinion. In any case, I think it best to try to get the main races balanced out first, before worrying about how to balance the youngers with the ancients.