In February of 2230, there is suddenly a great interest in foreign cultures, which boosts the influence of all the major races.  This is sufficient to make the Drengin colony in the Shugar system really sympathetic to my empire:

Within a couple of weeks, the citizens of Ancros I rebel against their Iconian masters and join me:

Unfortunately, I do not have the technology to use this world.  Otherwise, it's all right considering I got it for nothing.

Unfortunately, the new cultural era comes to an end just two months after it began, without any more defections to my empire.

In other news, tourism is booming, with revenues up by ten times:

The downside is that citizens are becoming more opposed to taxation.  Approval has dropped to a rate of 66%.

At first I did question the wisdom in buying heavy fighters from the Thalans, because of the ongoing maintenance cost, and of course who knows what the Thalans are going to do with that kind of money.  But as it turns out, there are perks to being an armed galactic civ:

Free money!  Hard to say no to that.

But curiosity gets the better of me, I decide to call up the Drengin:

Hey, Lord Kona.  You know how in last game, you were mean to me, asked for credits and then declared war, that sort of thing?

Well, since you don't have any military power yet, how about I protect you... from me.  It'll cost you a few hundred credits.  But I promise I won't be a complete ass and declare war on you next month.

I hang up and therefore neglect to mention that next year all bets are off.

Meanwhile, Hithesius is actually being an ass and declaring war on the Drengin, among other races:

At the moment I'm still researching Advanced Hulls so there is little I can do to help.

However, I'm not far off researching weapons now, just have to get Technology Progression I out of the way:

Space Weapons are now unlocked right after this tech, and in order to progress further up the trunk I have to then research Impulse Drive and Research Academies.

You'll note that upon completing Technology Progression I, there's a new improvement to build.  It's a Super Project called Infinity Tech Labs, which gives a massive 18 tp, more than a Discovery Sphere.  Of course, I'll only be able to build one.

Hithesius calls up to threaten me for cash... oh actually, he's offering me a bribe to not use the ships I just bought from him to intervene:

Yeah I think I'll let the Drengin get shot at for a while.  Can't extract protection money if they aren't a little scared of the big bad insects.

My operatives working within the Yor Collective have the following to report:

Additionally, they're working on a technology called Stellar Streams, which improves the base speed of all their ships and grants a new drive component.

While I continue researching, Eleys Mue is next in the line of empire leaders clamouring to win my benevolence with their credits:

The Thalans seem to have been busy with advancement, they have researched Xeno Ethics and now have patented a new trade good:

The United Planets now discuss enforcement of the idea of 'neutral ground' so that empires who declare war cannot launch a massive offensive from within the borders of another civ's influence:

Since this is advantageous to me (I have well-defined borders) I support the vote, which turns out to be unanimous.

My agents report back on the Altarian Resistance:

During the past few years all of the empires have seen their populations increase, as a result of founding new colonies and attracting new citizens to those colonies.  Here's how the galactic populations stand as we enter the fifth year of competing for galactic mastery:

1. Torians: 168bn
2. Terrans: 163bn
3. LMT Corporate: 133bn
4. Iconian: 116bn
5. Altarians: 111bn
6. Drengin: 106bn
7. Thalan: 92bn
8. Arcean: 83bn
9. Yor: 80bn
10. Korx: 56bn

Taking a look at the timeline, you can see immediately that while some empires have grown a lot in the past year, others have made very little gain or have actually shrunk:

Kralax of Korx also takes the time to suck up to me:

With the completion of Technology Progression I, work begins on construction of my shiny new lab here, on Poseidon I:

I finally make contact with the I-League, who have attracted just one colony:

It's located here, deep in the heart of Torian space:

In order to extend the range of my exploration and make sure I discover all the military resources (to avoid a repeat of what happened last game) I've constructed a pair of military bases:

They're not actually in range of any colonies, so I shouldn't get any hassle from the Torians or Arceans about having them there.

My finances are looking really well:

I'm gifting sums of a few thousand bc here and there to aid empires that have been targeted by the Thalan's aggression.  Except the Drengin.  Nobody loves the Drengin.

I've been able to find out some interesting things about the Torians:

They have the highest production of all the races, which is a little surprising considering their lack of aptitude for it, but okay then.

I secure another trade good for myself:

That 15% bonus to hitpoints will come in handy at some point.

Finally, I'm faced with that choice again.

No, not an ethical choice, but the choice between lasers, mass drivers and missiles.

Analysing the research costs, lasers have the highest tp cost:

• Lasers: 25532 tp
• Stingers: 22974 tp
• Mass Drivers: 22720 tp

Of course, lasers can also fit really easily into a small hull.

I decide against going for missiles because although they were quite effective last time around, the lack of range my ships had when loaded down with two Stingers meant that I couldn't get somewhere that I needed to be.

I decide against beams too because the Thalans have developed beams, and next to me they're the biggest military power.  Everybody and his dog will be protecting themselves against beams the first chance they get!

That leaves mass drivers, which are also the cheapest for me to research at the moment.  Without the mod, they would be considerably more expensive for any race to perfect.

In May of 2231 there is a reported increase in tax revenue as economic activity increases.  Soon I will be swimming in more credits than I know what to do with.

In June, with no sign of the economy slowing down, my agents bring in this report on the LMT Corporate:

As the year draws to a close and I have begun manufacturing my own fighters, I turn my attention to the problem of foreign espionage:

I have two choices.  The first is to continue spending lots of credits training agents of my own to root out spies.  At the moment, that's not so bad.  However when the economic boom is over, it may not be possible to sustain that level of spending.  So my second and preferred option is to research Counter Espionage and build a solid defence against spies.

The United Planets meets to discuss the law regarding starbase assistance:

Again, most of the delegates vote in favour in the measure, although nobody can actually benefit from it at the moment.

After so much time within my sphere of influence, the colony on Shugar I has become so enamoured with Futurama that they decide to overthrow their Drengin masters and join me:

It has limited potential for improvement, but there is a research bonus tile that's worth a look.

The I-League are using the same symbol as the Torians? Odd.

At the end of another year, let's look at the military standings.

1. Thalans: 396
2. Arceans: 341
3. Terrans: 198
4. Iconians: 143

Everyone else is yet to get on the board.

The timeline for military strength shows that the Thalans have surged ahead:

Clearly I will need to improve this situation if I want to stay competitive.

However, a little over halfway into the new year, the military dominance of the Thalans and Arceans is being eroded.  The Drengin, Yor and LMT Corporate have all started producing their own fighters:

Well actually, with the Drengin it's more likely that they're just getting a pile of Super Dominator corvettes every time they enter a new war, they have three on at the moment:

In October of 2232, something happens that will change the galaxy forever:

The Thalans threat has been growing.  They have a slightly better heavy fighter now (it has three lasers instead of two) and their production rate shows no signs of slowing down.

Before I can even begin to deal with this threat, I need all my counter espionage centres finished, so I crank up the social spending so they'll be done in 5 weeks.  Yes, I could buy them all, but I'm saving my credits for a very expensive plan.

You see, even with my factories running at full crank, I can't possibly get enough transports out fast enough.  I don't even have Planetary Invasion researched yet!  When I start getting all researchy in 5 weeks, it'll get done, don't worry.

So instead, to launch the crippling strike which will end the Thalan threat once and for all, I'll need to buy transports, turn after turn, and not only will I be depleting my treasury, I will temporarily deplete my population, who are (in part at least) generating all that lovely revenue I have coming in.  So having a vast treasury to dip into will be enormously helpful.

I will also need to update my fighters, so Mass Drivers research is on the cards.

The Iconians develop the Micro Repair Bots trade good:

The United Planets meets to discuss the matter of starbase taxation again:

This time the vote is in favour of a rather heavy tax, 10bc per starbase.

It seems we're still in for some shocks, as a new technology revolutionises interstellar travel:

Also, despite having a decent intel operation working in the Thalan Empire, nobody bothered to tell me that they had discovered Shield technology:

So you see, I was right to trust my instincts and go with mass drivers instead of lasers.

I know that the Thalans have the technology because Nordstorm Shields require it.

A new I-League comes into existence:

It's sporting the Yor logo, and has taken this planet to use as its base of operations:

Nice job with camouflaging the planet to look like a gas giant, guys.

As if there weren't enough reasons why the citizenry isn't happy, now it seems their happiness has halved:

Well, actually I haven't noticed much difference in approval rates, but since lots of citizens are being crammed on board troop transports, there's not as much overcrowding as there used to be.

It seems that the Altarians are flexing their new military muscle:

So it's looking like most of the races now have a military.  Not all of them have good ships though.  The Arceans for example have this fascination for using the Sparrow missile, having not developed any further along the weapons tree than that.  They have frickin battleships stuffed full of them!!  That's like, a weapons rating of 4, just so you know.

One of the useful things about having a big treasury is the ability to upgrade lots of ships at once.  So for example, now that I have finished Mass Drivers Mk III and created a new design with a slightly better loadout, I can have the whole fleet adopt that right away:

I check up on my war preparations:

I have 65 transports, each of them loaded with 1000M troops.  It's enough to get started, but the Thalans aren't likely to go down without a fight.  They've got an edge in logistics.  For that reason, I'm continuing to research at 100%, to get Research Academies done and move on to Technology Progression II, which will unlock the next stage of Logistics technology.

The war against the Thalans goes quite well.

Patrokolos II, wrested from the Thalans, doesn't hold much potential for improvement, but the tiles will come in handy once the population grows:

Regulus I is a better conquest, having at least that morale bonus tile:

Then something happens that is at once very shocking and highly amusing:

You see it's simple.  Remember not long ago, that I built Counter Espionage Centres on my developed worlds?

Well, while everyone else is going to be struggling to root out all those spies, I've basically got zero infestation.  Awesome!

Research Academies are now ready to be built on my colonies, and I can begin work on Technology Progression II:

However, I decide that it would be prudent to have some military production to supplement the numbers of my fighter squadrons, so instead of just nine weeks, it'll take almost twice as long.  It's not so bad when you think about it, because everyone else is going to be almost at a standstill with the spies.

Looks like this one's much more in your favor... perhaps too much so?

Two I-Leagues at once? Even more odd.

As quickly as it was created,the new I-League is subjugated by the Arceans:

Meanwhile, I'm having a fair bit of success with invasion myself, netting myself this sweet class 14 world:

Of course it will only be useful once I have the requisite extreme colonisation techs, but it's mine now and can't do the Thalans any good.

With Thalans fleets nipping at my heels, I arrive in the Thalan home system and quickly take over their home world:

Doing so also means that they're now without an Orbital Command Centre, making it a little easier to take out the defenders.

Although it is a grievous blow, the Thalans are unwilling to negotiate peace.  I take my transports on an evasive course back towards my space, while fortifying the planets I have taken.

However, back in my own space, it's a very simple matter to conquer the worlds that the Thalans have foolishly colonised:

This planet has potential, and that radioactive green colour is just lovely to look at.

My space battles with the Thalans do not go so well:

It takes a third squadron after these two to mop up that Thalan fleet.  If I had better logistics, I might not lose so many ships.

The Thalans in turn attack Thala, trying to wear down the defences I stationed there:

They are successful in the end, but since I have plenty of credits I can simply rush more defenders until reinforcements arrive.

The United Planets meet again to discuss the limitation of starbase modules (they seem really obsessed with starbases lately, huh?) fearing that they can disrupt the balance of power in the galaxy:

Well actually, aside from the obvious benefits provided by a mining starbase, they are quite vulnerable to attack.  The mod makes it impossible to outfit your starbases with better weapons and defences unless you've researched the relevant weapons branch.  Controlling resources is much more difficult and requires you to either be on good terms with the neighbouring civs, or station fleets on the mining base.

The Thalans continue to have a go at attacking the planets I've taken from them:

Although they are successful in destroying my ships, they lack the transports to invade and re-take them.

As my transports are evading, they meet up with a reinforcement squadron and take this nice planet from the Thalans:

I also mop up the last one of the Thalan planets that were recently settled within my borders:

Although I have them on the ropes and their economy had ground to a screeching halt, the Thalans still have ships harassing my transports, and I know I can't take them, at least not until I have more numbers and logistics on my side too, perhaps.  So I put to them a no-strings peace proposal:

This leaves the Thalans in a significantly weakened position, having lost a significant part of their research and manufacturing base.  If they manage to climb out of debt enough to restart production, they won't have as much capacity.  I will soon have my ships in position and ready to finish the job.

At the end of another year, with many races locked in a bitter struggle for dominance, let's see how the galactic populations are changing, and the overall change since the roundup in 2231:

1. Torians: 213bn (+45bn)
2. Terrans: 163bn (-)
3. LMT: 152bn (+19bn)
4. Iconian: 119bn (+3bn)
5. Altarians: 115bn (+4bn)
6. Drengin: 107bn (+1bn)
7. Arcean: 91bn (+8bn)
8. Yor: 72bn (-8bn)
9. Korx: 59bn (+3bn)
10. Thalan: 52bn (-40bn)

Here is the timeline of population growth for the past year:

While many of the races have reached maximum population, some are still growing slowly.  You can clearly see the dip in the Terran population where I was buying transports every turn, and the massive decline in Thalan population as their worlds were invaded.

Technology Progression II is completed, granting access to a new research Super Project, named Pear Shaped Labs.

This Super Project produces a small amount of research on its own, but it also grants a +20 bonus to your Research ability, improving your research across your civilisation.  I mention this now because it is a little unclear what it does, given that its attributes in the game just state Research Bonus: 20% and nothing more.

Next up is Advanced Logistics:

You can see that just underneath, Core Technologies VII has changed a bit.  Instead of requiring you to research Invention Matrix before gaining access to Medium Scale Building, it now comes after both MSB and Warp Drive.

I use the description to tell whether the bonus is planetary or overall.  I think I hit all instances of that discrepancy in my mod.

Also, I noticed that Core Technologies VI is Weapons ID.  I know it helps with research, but I guess it also gets hit with weapons-type tech inflation.  Any concerns?

Finally, should I ever get around to further rearranging my TechTrees with an eye for research balance, I'm likely to take inspiration from your work.  Who knows when or if that will happen, but hopefully you'll take it as intended - as the most sincere form of flattery.

Core Technologies VI starts with Space Weapons, which is Weapons ID, but the other techs in the group aren't Weapons ID.  It's just a side-effect of grouping dissimilar techs together that the whole group looks red.

I don't really mind anyone using the same approach to re-shape the tech tree.  But as I've said already, it simply compensates for the AI's inability to pursue a balanced research strategy.

One of the things I am going to do for version 5B, for example, is restrict the number of money-sucking improvements the Thalans can build.  Because although they were able to do a lot of research, they had no way of generating the sort of income that myself of the Torians were capable of.  When the spies came, they had no way to fund anything, so their economy collapsed like a house of cards.

The Torians are almost the opposite problem.  They have not enough encouragement to build Universities, so they keep trying to research using just the research output of their capital.  Which means that many of their worlds are devoted to generating wealth, which makes them very rich, but totally backwards.  So Universities will become part of a Core Technology group for them, and there will be no way for them to not research it.