[Dogberry]

Interesting.. played 4 games so far... of which 3 got aborted by RCEs ( I run autosave now ) & I have never had this problem. Play spiral large,random warp points, low res, finite res, always Terrans ( me ), high tech research, high aliens ( both nuetral & otherwise ), set the AI to hard but w.o. bonuses. What am I doing wrong ?.... LOL

When I run into "others" ... I scope'em out first, and if they look like trouble & share the same terrain, they get smashed.

If able, I expand like hell & usually don't even build a real navy until there is an identified threat. My earlier,lighter ships sacrifice a bit of speed for firepower & I always go "tactical" & break up the fleet in the first round. I like numbers & lurking on the far side of warp points w/ sats & ships.

Somewhere between turns 50 & 75, the only question is "how long is everything else going to take me."

Of course .. I realise what idle boasts victories vs the AI are.

Dog