[dogscoff]

1. You will have brotherly enemies and murderous allies. It happens, but it is still worth playing politics, ie you still get all the advantages of having an AI as your ally.

2. No, it won't, even if it agrees to. Same for requests for help etc.

3. Either use master computers instead of crew quarters/bridge, or don't get hit (ECM + racial bonuses + high experience + stealth/ scattering armour)

4. No, it doesn't.

5. Yes, they will eat away at shields. The "All or nothing" you read about was probably in relation to ground troops or something. Right click on an enemy ship in (tactical) combat to see its shield status.

6. Sometimes the explosion isn't displayed, but the damage should happen anyway. I think there may have been some bugs about firing on planets and under certain circumstances ships firing from out of range, but the next patch should fix that. In the meantime, use tactical combat or use a closer ship strategy.

7. Same as a ship: The components you put on it. All component have a damage value. These are totalled up to give the damage value for a ship/ base. Components are destryoed one by one until there are none left, which is when the ship/ base 'dies'.

8. This happens when the ships change direction. Say they start with a horizontal wall. When they make a 90 degree turn, they try to make a vertical wall, but because they all have roughly the same movement speed, the ships at the ends can't get round fast enough. Then fleet leader makes another change in direction the next turn and they get even more messed up... It's a bit of a nightmare. There are ways around it with other formations or just by telling ships to break formation, but i'm not an expert.

9. No. You canonly blockade planets one at a a time.

10. They probably have a flett strategy which is over-riding their individual strategies. select the fleet, and press 'f' to change fleet strategy.

11. Null-space is a powerful weapon (one of my favourites) but there are counters. For one thing, it has a relatively short range. Develop longer ranged weapons and stay out if its reach. For another, it has a high reload rate. If you can survive the first assault (by having more ships than the enemy has null-space projectors, or by having big *** ships that can soak up the damage and still be dangerous) then you can mop up quite easily once it has fired. Finally, try not to get hit by them. Sounds stupid, but if you can build up your defence bonus with ECM, certain types of armour and crew experience, then you will take a lot less damage. Unless they have the religious talisman. In that case, start praying=-)