PlanetsCentral

I am not so sure about tweaking the settings or shiplists.

Planets in general can be labeled unbalanced, since the game was set up in a way where no race would be capable of defeating all others on its own. Alliances are a vital part of the game and on the way to success.

Since the Northstar games however forbid alliances, the outcome of them is often determined by who is going to be your direct neighbour, and of course which strategy you choose. If you play the Empire, and your closest neighbour is the Privateer - well, get ready for your death, unless you lay out tons of minefields, which will slow down your growth and make it impossible for you to quickly expand.

The result is that certain races have a huge advantage within the early game, while others might have their glorious time in the endgame. That's also the reason why I was fighting so much to make the Northstar games a setup with no turn limits - to give those "late" races a chance of winning.

So, from my point of view, I dont thinks it's really necessary to change the shiplists or the settings, the people just need to adapt more to this unique kind of game.