The race begins!

[Slick]

Thanks. The amazing part is that I went to high score with all those starbases and then back to #2 after constructing the RW. I think that kept the AI's from declaring war. Now all that research is being pumped into offensive techs and resource procurement so I can pay catch-up.

Bug exploit being the retroseries? I guess it is, however normal retrofits are flawed and I think the whole system should be overhauled. Example: it is cheaper to upgrade an anti-proton beam I to a XII than it is to upgrade an anti-proton beam XI to XII and it takes the same length of time. This is because the I is cheaper than the XI and component removal is a function of cost. Cost for retrofit should be the other way around and larger leaps of tech should take longer. The closer the gap in technology, the less it should cost. So in my mind that sorta evens things out. I always thought it was wierd that you could upgrade to totally different components. My opinion is that retrofitting should only be able to add new stuff if there's space or upgrade existing components to more advanced versions. A total redesign should come at a very high cost. But, we shouldn't get into the retrofit discussion here anyway.