[Oskatat]

wanted to clarify the green square thing:
if its a big planet and has only a few green squares (you know which type i mean) you'll be better off building farms there. Those planets, dispite their lack of bonus squares, are often great for shipyards for the sheer quantity of space available, which ofcourse is no longer an issue after you discover terraforming

one concession: those buildings that improve planet size can be useful. When you are playing in a smaller size galaxy, with fewer planets, it is a critical point in improving production. In larger galaxies, you'll gain more advantage by expanding to new colonies and leaving your older planets to plot along untill you can terraform and automate. Even then, your tactic is probably more powerfull, but as your empire grows, you dont want to spend an hour per turn on buildings, i hope

races: i'd like to see a description and your view on the races and their benefits
i usually prefer to play those gas clouds, the lizard thingies (chamanchy?) or the gaians, though the last one can be frustrating at times, since its power only affects your smallest pop. planet, not any planet you choose. If anyone can hack the game and code that they'd be insanely powerful!

also my view on misc:
usefull:
molecular tie down; bring to a halt any enemy ship and take pot shots at it with orbitals and any other ships
positron bouncer; why drain a ships energy? this baby will bounce em so far away, by the time they are back they wont be able to fire weapons
myrmidonic carbonizer; Is actually a weapon, but its like an axe. enemy to close and they get hit with the wood, too far and you dont hit either, right range, instant kill often. If anyone wants to figure out right range, applause
Lane destabilizer; not only to get your ships there all at once, but also to get your enemy there when you're completely ready and dont feel like waiting ________
speeding up red lane travel: any red lane you control, put a ship with a lane destabilizer at one end and cut your journeys short by many, many turns, just make sure there is a refit nearby
Accutron; increases all weapon range, what more to ask?
Remote repair: useful yet not essential, mostly important for guarding ships that cant be allowed to withdraw for the time it takes to repair em

as for weapons... Range is of the essence, since there are so many ways to push someone away. It is also of the essence to bombard planets without getting whopped (is this game sponsored by BK or what? orbital whoppers?)
the only requirement is that you research energy sources enough to keep up with your weaopns. Since energy is kind of the most important to any ship, this was some useless advice. However, in energy provided and firepower shown, you dont have to play even with ship design
my favorites are the molecular disassosiator, the plasmatron and hypersphere driver, all for range, but good damage too. However, killing someone before they can hurt you is really part of the plan, or as mentioned before, pushing them away as soon as they get close enough and THEN killing them

defences: if you play it right, you will hardly need them

sensors: nice, but hardly needed, it wouls only be needed if you could actually use the data, but any weapons that destroy specials etc are all still random, even when you know what you want to target

engines:
again nice, but after a certain point not needed. When you can cross a star system in one go, you really dont need more engines (hardly ever more than two, one always)

hyperspace: all ships should have it, unless they are at a sector with a refit (if not a shipyard) where they are supposed to stay and die defending