Player actions need more noticable effect overall

[lifehole]

Is there more going on here though then just that?

For me, if playing a strategy game, "neutral" just means "one less variable to worry about". SO if for example my military is much stronger, and politics/diplomacy/ internal order all say "good enough" then I ATTACK, because...that is what strategy games say to do? I have this expensive military...gotta use them for something, right? And if no bigger threat oppose me...and I'm a bad guy already...why not attack?

In that case, there's a balance problem. In my last (I mean current, but since I ragequitted after healing BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD) game, the Acutians were one of the first accessing spacefaring (the third), and yet the thoraxians and burlusks declared war on them, despite accessing spacefaring way later.
And frankly, it's making my game impossible, since I spend all my time defending the acutians instead of boosting my diplomacy, my influence, or researching techs.

There should be time for that inbetween, no? If not, then that's weird because from what I could tell ship production has been massively nerfed. The AI is still kindof war-crazy, but the wars take a lot longer, ships build slower, etc. Also, the time that races access spacefaring really doesn't matter in terms of what techs they have or how big their fleets are.

[Teal_Blue]

slower accumulating conditions for war and slower mechanics on the solar map are all well and good, but can we as players effect the RCI values enough to stop the Thoraxians from shredding the Acutians? Or to cure an illness that is killing the Andors? Many of the RCI values are still not affected (only by 1 or 2 percent) of some of those bad events, meaning it the planet will be dead before the player can change the RCI value enough to make a difference. Which seems more like the player sitting on the sidelines watching the game play itself, instead of playing the game.

Just my two cents, thanks for listening,
-Teal