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**Hydro** · March 17, 2007, 20:20

November 2226

MAJOR snafu! Look at the image of my capital. See anything odd?

Image 2: Krynn capital November 2226

Somehow I upgraded my beautiful 700% production bonus tile to a xeno lab! ACK! I don’t know exactly how long ago it was, but it is a serious error. No wonder my industrial production was flagging!

In other news, I also found another glitch. For some reason my colony’s improvement menu was set to ‘old’ from the start, so I was not using the latest improvements. I found this out when I placed my first colonies and a starport wasn’t available. Then I ‘improved’ my capital tiles – with disastrous results.

For tech, I’ve researched through impulse 2 (for speed), xeno eco, sensors, level 1 miniaturization. Now I’m going for heavy gravity extreme colonization to grab the PQ26 world. There aren’t that many readily colonizable worlds nearby so I’m going for extreme colonization early. Based on my experience the AI will, too. At least now they AI won’t be able to trade tech, including extreme colonization, between each other – an extreme sources of irritation for me. It will take 12 turns for me to get level 1 heavy grav colonization.

I have 7 colonies now, which is about as good as the Thalian. My pop is doing very nicely, too, due to my 100% morale and double growth. I’m still running negative, but the balance is getting better as my population grows and a few economic structures come on line. I’ve adjusted my taxes so that my colonies are still at 100% and my capital above 75%. It looks like I’m in for a soft landing and will grow my way out of deficit. But, just in case, I’m building a number of spd 5 survey cargo ships. The first one is already out and more are in production. I grabbed the eco resource near my home world to prevent the nasty Snathi from getting it. In a way I’m glad the Snathi is grabbing the nearby influence and combat resources since then the Arceans won’t get them, and eventually I’ll take out the Evil Snathi anyway.

For colonization, I’m going to get all the normal colonies I can. There are a few PQ4 and 5 in my general area that I’ll have to colonize. They have long term potential, and I don’t want my greedy Arcean neighbor getting them. Hopefully I’ll get a few of my remote colonies production colony ships soon, too – but not now.

Overall, snafu aside I’m doing OK and keeping up with the AIs I’m met so far: Iconian, Thalian, Terran, Altarian, Drath, and Arceans. I’m out colonizing all but the Thalian, which is good. All are neutral or warm to me, likely due to my diplomatic ability. I’ll need to get trade routes and bump my diplomatic ability soon to keep this in check. Hopefully this will limit my need to invest in a military.

August 2227

The Thalians summarily declared war, saying they had been ‘well paid’ to do so. That could only mean the Drath. Then I had no military at all, so I’ve had to divert my research to get Laser 2 and a few decent defenders out there.

Then, the surprise. The Drengin, Drath, and Snathi all called up to gift me ships to aid in my war against the Thalians. That suited me just fine since my military rating immediately took a big jump. Of course, the ships were a bit odd: constructor with 3pts of missile, freighter with 2 pts of missile (formerly a Dark Yor ship, no less), and some standard 2pt Drengin fighters. All are spd 1 or 2 and very far away from my territory. Still, I don’t care – the military bump is what is important. The Dark Yor freighter actually will be very useful to set up a trade route with the Terrans. What I don’t know is what the planet of origin of a gifted freighter may be? I’ll find out.

I have rad, heavy gravity, and soon barren extreme colonization. Next is aquatic, since that seems to be neglected by the AIs, who are aggressively moving into all the extreme colonization techs. I got the PQ26 world, and then had an ‘evil’ option of a 19% PQ increase – which I agreed to. Now it is a PQ31 world – a real jewel. I’ll have to atone for my miss deeds later.

I was also able to finish the Diplomatic Translator, so I hope to get a small relations boost with the AIs. As I plan to be neutral my relations with the Arceans and Terrans at least should be good.

My population is still the best in the game and my economy is doing much better. More colonies are coming on line, and if I am able to get aquatic I should have a good advantage. With the military gifts and my own construction I’m likely to get a good boost there, too. I’m already third in military standing, after the Drengin (of course) and I’m closely following the Thalians who are number 2. I have XXX colonies, which is competitive or better with the other AIs:

Iconians: 9 planets, ?? research
Drengin: 11 planets, 77 research
Korx: 5 planets, 19 research
Thalians: 18 planets, 91 research
Terrans: 8 planets, 44 research
Arceans: 8 planets, 49 research
Drath: 5 planets, 16 research
Altarians: 12 planets, 98 research
Yor: 11 planets, 48 research
Krynn: 20 planets, 91 research

What is interesting is that the Thalian industrial production has imploded. I’m not sure if they are redirecting to research, but I’ll have to check.

December 2229

The Thalians asked for peace in late 2227, and I was more than happy to give it to them. Since then I’ve been a ‘nice guy’ and have given the Arceans a number of ships in their fight against the Drengin. There have been wars declared and settled, and typically the Korx are the victim. Sometimes the AIs are pretty silly, such as the Altarians declaring war on the Korx, who are on the other side of the galaxy. The only planet that has been taken was a minor race by the Yor. Eventually they’ll all be absorbed, so I’m shooting for the Snathi, LentzLandians, Scottlingas and Paulos (all of whom are near me). I should be able to pick up 4 or 5 galactic resources from the minors, too. I only ended up with two economic resources so far.

Image 4: that galaxy and locations of nearby minor races in December 2229

I finally was able to steal a tech from the Thalians: space mining 2. This was useful, and I’ve had spies in their territory for 1.5 years with and ‘advanced’ level of penetration. I think the key is to not target key installations if you’re looking for long-term infiltration. The AI tends to immediately remove spies on high-value improvements.

I’m developing a respectable military, which is third after the Drengin and Thalians (who are tied). The other races are also-rans since, with the Yor falling behind. Here is the racial summary:

Iconians: 12 planets, ?? research, Close relations with Krynn
Drengin: 19 planets, 303 research, Neutral
Korx: 5 planets, 152 research, Neutral
Thalians: 28 planets, 100 research, Close
Terrans: 11 planets, 167 research, Close
Arceans: 11 planets, 297 research, Close
Drath: 5 planets, 42 research, Close
Altarians: 13 planets, 192 research, Close
Yor: 15 planets, 215 research, Neutral
Krynn: 28 planets, 362 research

All of the neutral or good races are Close, so when they finally get Alliance tech there may be a mega alliance. The Drath and Arceans have contacted me to warn of the Drengin. My diplomatic skills are useful since I got the Thalians to declare war on the Drengin for a mere 2000bc (previously I got the Drengin to declare war on the Thalians for about the same). All this may do is strengthen the Drengin with free Dominator ships, though.

The game goes pretty fast since I don’t have fleets flying all over the place. There was a galactic event limiting speed to 5 parsecs a week, so investing in propulsion is slightly reduced in value (reducing the size of the engines is useful, though). I’ve tried to get a research treaty but no one will bite. Even those AIs who don’t show up as having research treaties with others don’t have that as an option. Very strange. Hence, my research isn’t as good as it should be.

I’m alternating military and development techs. My ships have weapons through Plasma III, but will need phasers real soon and good defense. About that time I’ll need to get more economic techs to keep my economy going. Right now I have 22,000 bc in the bank with a good surplus, so I have options.

**Hydro** · March 18, 2007, 14:34

February 2231

I’ve beaten off 180 (!!!) Drengin ships, most of which are Dominator class, at one research resource starbase. The resource was freed up when I conquered one of the minor races, and I had a constructor nearby when it was open to claim it. When the Drengin declared war I set up a scratch cruiser defense force.

The first wave of 95 ships came in December 2230. My cruisers and a few other odd ships did well, but they also died since my early cruisers didn’t have any armor. The accumulated battle damage did them in. Even my newer armored cruisers took heavy damage with the 19 Drengin fleets. One of the later Drengin fleets was a real fleet with firepower similar to mine (but no armor), and that did in one of the critical armored cruisers, unarmored cruises, and other small hulls that made it to the show. But the line held. The two survivors had an experience level of ~350. I don’t know if that is good or not, but they did get more hit points.

The second wave of 85 Drengin ships in 17 fleets attacked in January 2231. A few reinforcement cruisers showed up, but all were old hulls with no armor. One by one the old cruisers went down until, again, only heavily damaged armored cruisers remained. At one point a single damaged armored cruiser was taking out entire Drengin Dominator fleets, so it was really touch and go. All the unarmored ships died like stuck pigs, which shows that mass attacks of old ships can be effective.

Then another real Drengin fleet attacked, and the only defenders were the 2 heavily damaged (10 HP of their ~30 or so). The attackers had a high attack rating and no armor, and we won but another armored cruiser died. The lone survivor is my Hero Ship. So in the last 2 months I’ve lost 9 or so ships to the Drengin’s ~190. Not a bad trade.

Image 6: The Krynn Hero Ship in February 2231

So now I have 1 heavily damaged armored cruiser to defend what is a lightning rod for the Drengin. Two reinforcements have arrived, but with the max spd 5/turn getting any more there will take a while. If another wave of Drengin Dominators how up I may lose the position. Even if I do that is OK since the Drengin are taking a real beating and their military rating is decreasing massively. Granted, they’re just losing their 0/0/3 0/0/0 Dominator class hulls, but that should hopefully such some of the wind out of their sails.

This does highlight the importance of defense. I’ve invested to ECM3 (defense 2), which is not optimal against the Dominators (mass drivers) but is against the good Drengin and Yor (missiles). I’ll need to go for PD Combo (level 3) soon. I’ll well into phaser now, so my attack rating is good.

Also, what undoubtedly helps is that I now have 3 combat galactic resources maxed out. The 34% x 3 means I get a 100% combat bonus for both attack and defense. This is by far the cheapest way to increase the effectiveness of my fleets and it has been a priority. Of course, if my ships have no defense (like my old cruises) then they are just plain stewed.

In other news, a few Drath, Thalian, and Yor planets have defected to me. Most are almost useless since they are small planets with little population, but that’s OK. My economy can absorb them. I’ve been able to steal my second tech from the Thalian – Advanced Toxic – which is a good tech. I’ve had the Thalian infiltrated for coming up on 4 years so I have to say that overall I’m not impressed with the Super Spy ability. I’m also accumulating lots of spies in my territory, much faster than I can get rid of them. With spy cost a diminishing return I’ll likely just have to live with it. Also, the counter espionage building is OK and I likely should build it at key planets, but it is pretty useless in preventing espionage. The AI will just plant their spies somewhere else.

**Hydro** · March 18, 2007, 19:38

August 2231

I conquered 2 Drengin planets and then realized – what they heck am I doing? All that will result from this is placing my ships closer to the enemy, and spread my forces over a wider area. I have more than enough planets to keep my economy going, and my tech rate is many times that of any other entity in the game.

Another worry is that the Yor have started to field some truly powerful ships, and they are starting to eclipse the Drengin. The Thalians have long since plateaued, and it is not clear what they are doing.

I’ve declared my neutrality and am finally researching neutrality learning centers. Those should give my research rate a good kick in the pants. Most of the other races are Close and a few friendly. I check to see if they’ve researched Alliance, but except for the Terran no luck. Even though they are Close I can’t cement the alliance – yet. If there were tech trading I’d give them the tech and get the alliance, but now I’ll have to wait for them to get around to it.

I’m going for a diplomatic or research victory. Hopefully neither will be too tedious

**tetley** · March 19, 2007, 13:28

Hey man, since you have espionage bonus, what if you planted spies on the Drengin? When you reach Advanced espionage, you will be able to see the autopilot path the Drengin ships are taking.

Also, it's interesting to see that the lightning rod phenomenon is happening even on a Huge galaxy. That lightning rod is why I like military starbases.

**Hydro** · March 19, 2007, 17:40

My spies against the Dregin immediately die, so I gave up. I probably need to saturate his defense instead of putting them in one at a time. I'll have to bump my espionage to get more spies (I have plenty of cash), get a bunch, accept the fact all the AIs are spying me and stealing my secrets, and then saturate My Bad Guy.

Perhaps I should do the same to the Yor, who have passed the Drengin in military power. They have huge hull ships running around now, so I'm in catch-up mode again. Huge Yor ships are have HUGE firepower, and they will hurt if relations go south.

I expect that the Yor will target me after the Drath are subdued. I expect the poor Drath to surrender to me (our relations are close, but not allied since he doesn’t have alliance tech) soon. With huge Yor battleships pasting his pathetic military I don't think he will last long.

I'm spending 25/25/50 for military/social/research, so if I change this mix I could build a military even faster than I'm doing now.

Also, all Drengin ships are speed 2, so it doesn't take a genius to figure out where they're going - or flank them.

Hydro

**Hydro** · March 19, 2007, 22:52

April 2232

Let me talk to you about my new love: The Super Scout!

I’m sure many of you have discovered this beautiful lady before I have, but now that I have found her I am never going to forget! And I imagine the love will grow with each passing turn.

Image 7: The Krynn Super Scout, April 2232

I had always largely ignored scouts and had relied on old survey cruisers for the role. Then I researched through the end of sensors (the first time I’ve bothered) and starting monkeying around with an old scout design. For fun I kept adding sensors – and the sensor rating kept increasing! It’s additive! I did NOT know that! Now I have a cargo hull based scout with a sensor radius of 33 parsecs (when launched it seems to be half that, though)! Ladies and gentleman, on the galactic map that means that one little ship can see everything in at least four and up to NINE SECTORS!!!!! It’s….beautiful. **sniff** Just beautiful.

Now, if you’ll excuse me. I need to be alone for a while.

May 2232

Behold the Thalian A-Not-I:

Image 8: Defected Thalian Planet, Xanathium Plating, and a Precursor Library May 2232

This planet defected to the Krynn, and I was horrified to find that the Thalians had built the Xanathium Hull Plating on a Precursor Library! The 7x research – wasted! Even worse, and adjacent 3x research tile was built over with a factory! This would have been a perfect research planet, especially with my nifty neutrality research centers.

I can’t even scrap the Xantium Hull Plating, so it’s stuck on that permanently out of reach precursor library. This is a crying shame, since I could have easily turned this planet into a 300+ research point/turn world.

In other news, the stupid Drath surrendered to the Yor. Now the Yor will be gunning for the Arceans, and I’d really hate to see them go the way of the Drath. I’ll have to help them out in a serious way with good ships to keep the nasty Yor at bay. I have just the thing. A few squads of my best cruisers should do the trick. In the meantime I’ll have to also get my weapons up. I have phaser 7 now and my DNs have firepower of 150 (including multiplier effects of all the combat resources) and defenses of 170. They are expensive at 1100 pt each, but they’re a terrific core to a fleet.

I have also spy-bombed the Yor. In the space of 2 turns I’ve placed 5 spies in his capital and the former Drath capital. More spies are on the way, too. Other races spies are in place in Yor planets, so hopefully he’ll have his claws full.

I’m also thinking a few Influence Bombs might be in order. Therefore, I’m researching the influence line to augment my Restaurant of Eternity and normally high influence in general. I’ll have to accumulate a good number of constructors, and it will certainly tick off the Yor. Or I could just take over the three galactic resources (morale, combat, and research) that became free when the Drath went down; short term that sounds like a better option. But getting my influence up won’t hurt at all, and could get a few other planets to revolt to the Krynn.

Lastly, we’re having an economic boom. I’m raking in 6000 bc/turn, which is great fun. Of course, it will be hard to come down, but by then I’ll have a huge bankroll (70,000 bc and counting) I’ll also need to research the two advanced government types, too.

**Hydro** · March 21, 2007, 21:27

September 2232

The game is rolling along. My cruisers are taking damage but not dying when they engage the Drengin anymore. An individual cruiser’s ratings are: 85/0/0 def 0/116/0 with 28HPs. The new large hull DNs are 128/0/0 0/116/0 with 58HPs. By comparison, the Drengin are almost all attack. I’ve also decided to start nibbling away at the Drengin so that they aren’t a real threat anymore. In fact, if I take one of his worlds that has another nearby I’ll probably flip it – and no one has to die. Now, isn’t that enlightened of me? Or perhaps, lazy.

Image 9: Krynn plans against the Drengin September 2232

It is also interesting that the galaxy is a veritable love fest. I checked everyone’s relations and almost everyone is Close, with a few exceptions such as the Yor and Arceans who just ended a war and are wary. I guess that trade relations are strengthening relations.

I’ve also learned the joys of PQ1 worlds. As a neutral with all the terraforming techs they are immediately completely terraformed. Earlier in the game I don’t like to colonize them near non-home territory since they tend to flip, and you can’t do anything about it with no tiles to develop and a very low population cap. However, later in the game when my influence is better or I can afford to defend and develop the world it can be very lucrative. For instance, I was amazed when one innocent looking PQ1 world instantly transformed into a PQ19 world! Whoohoo!

I spent a few turns getting all the influence techs and now I’m flipping lots of worlds. I decided not to Influence Bomb the AI with starbases since that generally is hostile, and I’m trying to get along with the rest of the galaxy. The Yor are friendly, as are the Korx. Most of the races except for the Terrans, who are on the other side of the map, have lost planets to me via influence – even the Yor.

There have also been a few new minor races showing up, but the Vegans. One is very near the Yor, so I’ll declare war and invade before the Yor grab them. It’s harsh, but from a selfish point of view they are defenseless against the Yor (and me for that matter), and that will help me flip nearby Yor planets (which is generally tough to do).

I still have no allies but the Terrans. It is kind of disappointing that the AI doesn’t research the diplomatic techs since, among other things, they get advanced governments, and the associated economic benefits. It also limits alliances, which is an interesting part of the game – and a hair triggers for wars, too.

The economic boom still continues. I’m raking in an obscene amount of cash. The Altarian is also doing well, likely because of a racial economic bonus. Well, more power to them! I’ve squandered some money rush buying a few key neutrality research centers on research special tiles and also manufacturing at newly colonized PQ1 worlds that are now PQ19. I also decided to upgrade a few old cruisers, but I’ll likely not do much more of that since they cost over 4500 bc each, and that is a bit too pricy. It’s much more efficient to simply build new ships and gift the old ships to an AI that needs some military help (like the Arceans).

**Hydro** · March 22, 2007, 20:28

December 2232

The Fundamentalists appeared, and took 4 of the 18 Yor worlds (including the former Drath capital). So far the Yor haven’t done anything about this, which is kind of strange considering how relentless they were about the Drath, their huge military strength, and the fact the Fundamentalists have no military to speak of – very un-Yor like.

At this point the game is long since wrapped up:

Iconians – 6 planets, 186 research
Drengin – 9 planets, 206 research
Korx – 2 plaents, 33 research
Thalians – 23 planets, 482 research
Terrans – 14 planets, 366 research
Arceans – 11 planets, 300 research
Altarians – 13 planets, 289 research
Yor 14 planets, 194 research

Krynn – 73 planets, 1662 research

To be honest, I’m not exactly sure how I got all those planets. I’ve only taken a handful from the Drengin (~10). The rest must have come when I colonized all those PQ1 worlds everyone else was ignoring, and from a steady stream of flipped planets. The Iconians, Arceans, Thalians, Korx, and even the Yor have lost planets to me. I wasn’t aggressive about it – it just happened. For the Iconian, the fact that I conquered 2 minor races in his territory undoubtedly facilitated me blanketing his territory with my influence. Likewise for the Yor. Other flips have come steady wave as my influence expanded, and it has increased since I maxed out my influence tech and got a Federation government (with its +5 influence).

My ships are now pounding the Drengin. I plan on taking his capital, removing his military, and then standing back. If he stays defiant or surrenders it doesn’t matter – most of the planets will flip.

The rest of the races still love me, except the Yor who are friendly. I’m keeping an eye on who have migrated from Imperial to an advanced government, since then I know they’ve gotten Alliance. Maybe I’ll be able to get an alliance victory, but I doubt it.

What is interesting is that this is the first game where I’m starting to max out some of the weapons and defense. Other games have been over long before this. Ships get a very respectable firepower. I don’t quite understand how my defense gets so big, though. I’ll have to check, but I think the Krynn have a defense bonus that is making the difference. If so this means that defense is a big plus for the Krynn, and investing in good defense early is a good idea since it will multiply – for free.

Lastly, in a large galaxy having a speed 5 limitation makes it feel absolutely enormous. It takes forever to get a ship across the map, so I typically congregate them in common staging areas and have them leave in groups. By the time they get to their destination 15-20 turns later they are obsolete (!!) or very late to the party. Hmph.

**Hydro** · March 24, 2007, 10:49

December 2233

April 2223 – The Drengin capital was taken, and most of his remaining 5 planets were near rebellion due to influence. I removed his military as soon a he built them to ensure there were ‘accidents’. In April he surrendered. There were no military units that went pirate (which is one reason why I removed them). His 3 galactic resources (2 economy and morale) had already been secured, and now I started building mining to get those resources on line (that hadn’t previously defected to me) and get constructors to the resources. Because of the 5 parsecs per week limitation they have to be constructed locally or the travel time is just too large.

In Korx had been at war with the Arceans, who were eliminating his small military around his 2 planets. He asked for and I gifted him 4 old cruisers. In July 2233 the Korx surrendered to the Terran, who ‘made him a better deal’. Now all his ships went pirate, and this is a problem since I’d gifted him cruisers from all over my empire. His ships were also scattered, so now my military and the Yor and Arceans had to hunt them down. A few slipped through and I lost an economic starbase by my capital and a newly build influence resource starbase that had been owned by the Korx (and I just happened to have a constructor standing by since I was pretty sure he wouldn’t last long). In three turns all pirates were eliminated since all of the various races joined in the effort.

Also in July 2233, there was an Unhappiness Event. My morale went down by ~5%. This wasn’t a big deal since my morale was pretty good anyway. I’m sure the AI was more affected since their worlds were more on the edge with relatively high tax rates. About this time I ratcheted up my research rate to ~80%. I’m not going to get a diplomatic victory since the AIs STILL haven’t researched Alliance. Therefore, I’m going for a research victory.

In August 2233 the Iconians had a huge blow - their capital rebelled and joined my empire. Their planets had been slipping away one by one due to my huge influence, which was augmented by my takeover of 2 minor races in the middle of his territory years ago. Minor races have he intrinsic influence of a racial capital, so taking them over can massively increase your influence in that location. Now they have only 2 worlds left. Their relations with the Krynn immediately decayed from Close to Neutral, and I don’t blame them.

Another Vegan race appeared in late November 2233. This was fine, except they had the technology Beyond Mortality, which I’d just finished researching. This speaks toward what tech newly-arrived minor races get, which must be based on what is already out there. I got a message that they had achieved this breakthrough, and that I’d better keep an eye on them. This didn’t matter since I was going to get a research victory the next turn anyway.

I also got a notice the same turn that my influence had reached the point where it was dominating the galaxy, and that in 10 turns I’d win an influence victory.

On December 1, 2233 I got my first research victory. I’d never bothered to get one since it was mainly hitting the turn button after the game was already tied up. You really have to get into a position of total domination anyway, and at that point it is just as easy to get an influence victory. I could have crushed any other race I’d wanted to, but to be honest it was too much trouble with that pesky speed 5 Mega Event. Moving around all those slow ships is too much effort.

Here is the minimap galaxy at the end of the game:

Image 10: Galaxy in December 2233

In turning point was after I’d maxed out my population and made an effort to conquer ~4 minor races. This massively increased my influence, and started the defection of numerous Korx, Yor, and especially Iconian planets to the Krynn. I also picked up a large number of galactic resources from the minor races, which I made sure I could capture by having constructors ready to grab them as soon as the minor race was conquered. After the total of 5 minor races were taken out I went from 2 eco resources to 8 (picking up 3 combat, 2 research, and an influence). Later I picked up 2 more from the Drath (morale and combat; the Yor destroyed them and I grabbed them as they squabbled), Drengin (2 eco and morale), and Korx (influence, made available when they surrendered to the Terrans). So now I had 14 resources, which is a huge advantage.

Another turning point is taking out the Drengin, who were rampaging across the galaxy. They were a major threat to the Arceans and a minor threat to the Terrans, but in retrospect it was critical to protect the Arceans since if they surrendered to the Drengin they would be in the middle of the map – and at my doorstep. Likewise, I had to support the Arceans against their various wars against the Yor to protect my territory.

Here is the breakdown at the end of the game:

• Iconian – 2 planets, zero research
• Thalain – 22 planets, zero research
• Terran – 16 planets, 117 research
• Arcean - 9 planets, 195 research
• Altarian – 13 planets, 131 research
• Yor – 12 planets, 1 (!!!) research
• Krynn – 87 planets, 3643 research
• Carnoids – 1 planet; the only surviving minor from the beginning of the game; luckily for them they were by the goodie-goodie Altarians
• Fundamentalists – 4 planets; the Yor never were able to take any of their planets (an example of A-no-I?)
• 2 Vegan races, one of which arrived in November 2233 and had Beyond Mortality, that I had recently researched

Summary of the Krynn

Good
• 50% morale – this is huge, as I expected. This was key to keeping growth up due to 100% morale in the early part of the game, and getting my economy off the ground. At the end of the game I had taxes set at 80% (!!!) and still had 80% approval. I didn’t build more morale facilities than usual, and generally my planets that I never had go above 6B didn’t have any.
• 50% defense bonus – I didn’t realize how useful this was until late. A good strategy is to research good defense (2 pts/component) early since then you get a good multiplier effect. This means the Krynn can also be good conquerors since, with the defense bonus, their ships will last longer in combat and take less damage. To me this isn’t too different from a offense bonus. If combined with a modest offense combat bonus this would be huge. In my game it made a big difference since it was multiplied again by my 3 maxed out combat resources, and I should have taken advantage of it earlier.
• 10% eco bonus – very nice since you can get another 30% with picks, and then another 20% with Federalist.

Bad
• The Super Spy is pretty worthless. Their ability to build the anti-espionage facility is only good for the 20% morale bump, and I built it at my big economic worlds which had populations of 12B to 18B. I think I only got 3 techs by theft during the entire game even though the Yor and later all the races were completely infiltrated. During the eco boom I cranked up espionage spending and had 10+ spies floating around. I was building them much faster than the AIs nullified them, and I removed all spies from my territory. But that didn’t make much difference.

Overall, although the Super Spy is not very useful the race overall is very competent. They seem to have more racial bonuses than other races, too. I’d certainly play them again.

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