How is the single player game (vs. the AI)? There's no lets plays on you tube to observe, which is a little odd, even for an older game. I would stay away from a gem I haven't been able to see except the forum and patches for an old game are both fairly active.

<t> In a recent game I got prompted to steal Super Beam Weapons so I tried and succeeded. I went to the tech screen to see my progress and the tech isn't on the tech screen. So I tried again, and again, and again; at least a dozen times and still I didn't have the tech. I finally gave up trying. Is ...

<t> I've been promoted a number of times to ask another empire to become my protectorate. I can't really see the value. If they added something to help you achieve victory , by possibly giving you a percentage of their population/economy toward your victory points. If they don't provide help toward ...