Maintenance - is there research to lower it???

[Ironmanbc]

yup

[Fyron]

The stock game has a maintenance lowering facility (Crystalline Restructuring Plant), available only to crystalline races. It lowers maintenance for ships in the same system, so be careful when you send out your built-up fleets.

[Ironmanbc]

I forgot about that (Crystalline Restructuring Plant), now if I only played a Crystalline race trait....

[capnq]

If you have a trustworthy ally who is playing a crystallurgy race, you can do this:

1) give/trade him a colonized world
2) he builds a Crystalline Restructuring Plant
3) he gives/trades the world back to you

Otherwise, you have to capture a crystalline planet without accidentally destroying the facility.

[StarShadow]

Some of the Culture picks will also lower your maintenance costs.