After losing my first two games, which were all of maybe thirty minutes apiece, I opted for a trainer. And quickly maxed everything in sight... (isn't that what you are supposed to do?) 

But then with fleets of 30 or more capitals and 200 plus frigates my game began looking like an old slide show. (I wonder why?) 

So I looked at some mods by those in the community and voila! Wonderful graphics and play, with nary a slow down.

And being brave or silly or stupid, I dove into the text versions of the gameinfo files and started changing numbers. Which made for a mess and as bad as the trainer. But then after a few days tried it again. This time more prudently. 

You will probably think i'm crazy, but I made a mod to push up the armor and shields and weapons and left it at that, oh well, one small speed tweak for the scouts. And played and didn't die, it was wonderful!  Haha. So now instead of these huge fleets, I make these little four ship squads: one scout, one missionary, three hmmm... small something or others... and One Carrier. Then sally forth and get the bad guys... it is slower going with a small squad but the battles are longer and more interesting, and since the ships can take the damage and shrug it off, its fun to watch, like a movie sometimes. Anyway... that is it for the end of my first week. Having a wonderful time and still not dying! Isn't life wonderful?  

Take care,

-Teal