That ideology choice is certainly a bear. I have picked it twice. The first time I had about 20 planets and I spent a lot of time fleeting the ships and renaming the fleets as planet garrisons. The next turn I learned that the upkeep had killed my economy and it took me forever to fix it. There are so many ships built and found in the game, it never occurred to me to decommission.
The next time I waited until my economy was ready for them. I had about 45 planets and had just about colonized all the available planets. I didn't waste time renaming, but it was a chore fleeting the stack and moving them on planet. I am used to taking a loong time each turn so it was not that bad. Took 15-20 minutes I guess.
Has anyone ever noticed or picked the escort choice. I picked it but never saw that it did squat. I didn't spend a lot of time looking but I never saw any evidence of an increase in ships. I guess it is like the fighters assigned to star base defense. You only see them if needed.
I also buy a lot of AI ships but I buy their best and use them to stay abreast of the AI arms race that rules the power rating. I have frequently jumped from last to first for 2-3000 bc in one turn. I keep 2-3 decent sized fleets of carriers to assure that I will win any war regardless of power rating.
I usually play a peaceful game and wait for the AI to start the shooting, and often they never do. I will be glad when the game progresses to the point when the AI become a bit more volatile. The AI is so easy to defeat in the beta, once you have enjoyed the battle viewer spectacle a few time the whole war thing just gets tedious. I enjoy the bean counting aspect of the game and i get a kick out of cornering the market on everything.
