[Fyron]

To say that the only way an empire can surrender is when it is beaten to death by a larger opponent and then only to that empire is childish and narrow minded. Furthermore it isn't even without precedence. Many a time a larger empire can simply demand surrender of an empire while not at war in single player. If you are powerful enough it just surrenders. I guess some would say that must be a 'bug' and needs to be fixed.

No one should enforce thier way as the 'one true way' to play SE4.

I resent those remarks. I am in no way "childish" or "narrow minded," and name-calling does not help your arguement at all. Please refrain from such actions in the future.

Surrender was only not disabled because the game host forgot to tick that checkmark when starting the game. So, their actions are actually illegal within the rules of the game in question.

Aside from that, surrender is not a well-implemented feature. I would not want an empire that is being defeated to surrender to anyone because of this. It is too all-encompassing. Just because the emperor says "we surrender" does not mean that everything and everyone immediately joins the enemy without a fight or any resistance at all.

A "merger" is a gross violation of the intent of the surrender option, and should never be allowed unless the house rules of the game specifically allow for it.

What the AIs do in single-player games has absolutely no bearing upon what human players do. That is not a valid arguement.