Dr Franknfurter

Thank you for answering. I mention user interface issues only to iron out any bugs or quirks it could introduce that could otherwise put-off devs. It all seems logical and sensible as an idea. I do enjoy thinking about how it could be used to improve the game. And obviously it's nice to imagine what it'd be like in practice to avoid it being fiddly or annoying. I can picture lots of interesting ramifications of such a change for future race customisation too. The requiremen

I certainly agree with everything you say ditoLoco. The thing that annoys me most is that the engine supports all the tactics stuff... it's a design decision not to include it. (Or spend the required time prototyping, testing and researching what to add).

I find shadowshift one of the... weak support abilities. It isn't going to win a battle on its own, it'd be great on any other weak unit in large army battles but on that guy? Also it hurts you, so the 'retreat' option is actually a very bad idea. Coupled with his high movement, there's little need to waste a turn moving instead of moving and attacking. Also the fact that any strategy you base around it can be messed up by, and done better by, the extremely common

I think a more robust system would be very welcome. It may be helpful to use an example other than population for clarification of the potential scope of such a change. e.g. a theoretical system where Population buildings can't be built or upgraded when the world is full of pollution (measured as planet class / number of factories or planet class/manufacturing output). I assume if you can require a certain population level you could make any interesting requirements. Or a system w

+1 (especially if on higher resolution settings you can fit both in there, even if you have to keep it as is for the tiny tiny phone-sized screens...)

Choices are always good IMHO. That said, something like trading colonies. It easily falls into one of two binary states - either the AI will never trade a colony (to prevent cheesy abuse) or it will (and players abuse it cheesily). It's more a balance point than anything else. When something is done that is massively powerful - like trading a world/unique tech/lasting peace. The game should tell you why it gave in (via the text, not merely 'ok') while also perhaps