Yes, exactly SJ. And I hadn't even thought of the intel/contact angle. That's even better. I didn't think about War not having contact with any race. That might not be what CW wanted though if he wants to be the one doing the communicating, but if he doesn't care, that would make him impervious to intell attacks.
If he wants to be the one doing the communicating, then keep Peace isolated from the rest of the races like you said. War would need more planets then, but they would all be intel only worlds. Peace wouldn't need any intel if he was out of contact.
And if you knew ahead of time you were going to do something like this, you could even configure your races to take full advantage of it.
Peace gets nil for ship attack and defense, nill for strentgh. Up the inteligence and resource production.
War on the other hand can minimize the trade, resources, research, population, happiness, tolerance. Just about everything that doesn't directly have to do with combat.
Cunning would depend on which was going to be in contact, but max for one and min for the other.
Peace with there 50% strength makes a bunch of wimpy troops, but once he gifts them to War, *poof* they become lean mean fighting machines instantly.
Geoschmo