Newbie questions, bear with me here...

[Taqwus]

1. You mean the maximum population? Two factors: planet size and breathability.

The planet sizes are Tiny, Small, Medium, Large, and Huge. But even on a huge world, you won't be able to hold THAT many people unless they can breathe the atmosphere. Incidentally, this is a great use of population from other races that breathe other atmospheres, which you can get if you capture or are given a colony, colony ship or pop transport. Well, there's also a racial trait that influences it -- Advanced Storage Techniques gives a +20% bonus, IIRC.

2. If the population can't breathe the atmosphere, you can swap it for one that does (if one's available), or you can convert the atmosphere (with high enough tech -- Level 7 Planet Utilization, which comes after Planetary Engineering IIRC).

3. Same two factors. For instance, non-breathable worlds hold 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 facilities according to size (T/S/M/L/H). Multiply by *5* for a breathable world. And Advanced Storage Techniques multiplies 1.2x.

Breathing is very, very important for the facilities. Having more space for facilities arguably matter far more than the population bonuses, which don't scale up as much.

4. Again, swap populations or convert the atmosphere. The 5x increase is worth the effort.

5. If it's like the Nucleonic Thresher Torpedo, it'll destroy everything in the entire system and replace with a nebula, IIRC.

6. Everything in the system is cloaked, basically. You need good Sensor components (and therefore good technology) on-board to be able to detect your rivals' vessels.


------------------
-- The thing that goes bump in the night