[douglas]

Ships and bases are weighted far more heavily than they should be, technology is weighted far too lightly and doesn't take the cost of each tech or its actual usefulness into account, and units, planets, and population are completely ignored. Technology and ship count (actually total tonnage) also stack additively rather than the multiplicative scheme that would more accurately reflect their relationship - a higher tech ship is more powerful for the same tonnage than a low tech ship.

Score is a very rough indicator of strength and, if anyone cares about it, can be artificially inflated quite easily. All you have to do is build lots of empty bases.