The Espionage one is interesting. Somewhere in these threads, I saw a reference to a math analysis. In a smaller galaxy, one simply worked to nullify, nullify, nullify and then move on. In a larger galaxy, however, when one had lots of planets, it was generally cheaper to demolish the asset and rebuild, due to the steep rises in spy costs. That is, once one has more than a certain number of planets on which there are spies to nullify, it became cheaper to rebuild than to build spies.
The Jagged Knife is generally an opportunity for the human when behind in research, because the JK have all the techs that they have "inherited" from the other empires. That is, one can invade, spy, or trade with them. Nonetheles, I hate that event, and sometimes just go back a turn.
Another event is the one where a Minor steals all the techs of some Major, and the scripted message is that the Minor wants to trade planets for techs. However, due to a bug, the Minor will make no such trade. (Yes, it could be faulty intel, if one wanted to role-play.) To get those techs, one must generally take them. This event actually let me win one of my Suicidal games, as I simply declared war on that Minor, then offered them a peace treaty for the techs. Cheesey, but effective.
