[Tomgs]

Since I almost never waste time making treaties with the AI I usually pick bloodthirsty. Why trade when you can conquer? Also look at ship construction you get -50 for that on bloodthirsty. How many ships do you build vs how many treaties you would make on the peacefull setting? The shipbuilding bonus seems to be only a systemwide or sector thing however because of the Messages I get usually say the happiness increased in a certain system because of increased shipbuilding. The worst drawback to bloodthirsty is that colonization makes your empire a little unhappy and ships in the region don't make you as happy as the peaceful setting does. Some games I do try peaceful trading but the AI usually declares war on me quickly anyway. And they all do sooner or later because of the Mega evil empire setting so its usually not even worth it to trade even if you want to.

If you want a setup that will slightly handicap you vs the AI try setting happiness on neutral almost nothing makes you happy and any changes like war or overcolonization makes the population unhappy. Neutral empires are only happy when you do nothing, so maybe it would be a good pick for those no warp connection maps, because you would just sit there building for a long time on those maps I would think. At least in the early game after your system is colonized.

[This message has been edited by Tomgs (edited 08 January 2001).]