[geoschmo]

It is natural to assume that people that have been here a long time have some special influence or understanding into the whys and wherefores of Aaron Hall's thought processes, but that is not really the case.

As far as your specific points:

1. This is a good point. I have never heard it put in exactly these terms before, although that's not to say it hasn't been. Perhaps this is simply a case of noone has asked for it. Or perhaps it's "on the list". There are many things that get requested, that even Aaron says he likes and plans to do someday, but don't get done for lack of time. Unfortunatly the nature of the industry, and this type of niche game limit the resources he has to work on this game.

2. This one has been requested, a lot. I don't know if it's just a matter of lack of time to do it effectivly. That's my guess though. He could throw toghether a half a$$ one, but it's not likely to please most of the people waiting on it, and that is not been the way he normally does things. Many of us have developed tecniques to work around this though and make fairly effective scenarios.

3. Again, a nice feature to have. There are ways to program the AI to do this, so you should be able to program your personal races AI and then turn the pop relocation over to the ministers, but I am not sure. It may be another case of not enough request for it, or nobody expressing it in the way you do that is so easily understandable.

4. Here I have to disagree with you a bit. I don't really believe any of the weapons are "useless". A lot of them become obsolete at different points in the game, but that doesn't mean they aren't useful in their time. Plus getting a consensus on a problem in these areas is much easier than getting a consensus on the solution. Many "solutions" in fact open up a whole new set of problems. Ask anyone who has tried to do a "weapon balance" mod how easy it is.

But this is an area where SEIV has no equal. If you feel there are problems in these weapon areas, there is very little you can't change yourself in a mod to make it the way you like it. Then you don't have to convince Aaron it's a problem, you can go ahead and fix it yourself. He's given you the tools.

Geoschmo