[Rusty_Nail]

I have been doing some all-tech testing of the special races from the point of view of one-on-one combat to see which is best (Dreadnought size maximun). The results depend on whether you are talking tactical or strategic combat. In tactical, the talisman combined with long range direct fire (Anti Proton) and a worm seems to kill anything with a shorter range if you handle it properly, even bigger ships. The enemy seldom even gets off a single shot before being destroyed. Of course you need a few PDs for missile defence, but that is elementary. Conclusion: religious by a mile.
In strategic, it is different because there is no suitable movement option to control distance to enemy ships at end of turn.(This could and should be introduced by MM). So even the talisman gets beat out most of the time(about 75%) by a well-fortified allegiance converter. Conclusion: Psychic.
In my strategic simulations, none of the other races has anything to even come close to the AC. This could be changed if MM introduced some new movement options. These are my tentative results. I would like to hear your comments. Have I overlooked anything? If anyone wants to suggest an even better design, please publish your design and I will test it against mine.
Of course there may be other reasons for choosing one of the other races. Also working with two or more ships each could conceivably change the above results.