[Atrocities]

First and foremost thank you.

Encourage your players to verify their passwords before submitting their empire files. Try to open everyone's empire from the players screen while you are setting up the first turn. If they forgot to set one, don't start the game until you get a new one. If they set a password but forgot it, then let them know you are really sorry and will reset it for them on the first turn. I don't think anybody ever lost a PBW game because they couldn't get frigate tech on the first turn. And if they did, it was still their fault for not setting their password correctly. Random starting position is one of the cornerstones of SEIV. It's part of life to play the hand you were dealt. Vegas dealers don't redeal because a player dropped a card face up on the table by accident. Restarting punishes the half of the players that did what they were supposed to and end up with a worse starting position for it. Don't punish them for the mistakes of others

Good point.