In February of 2230, there is suddenly a great interest in foreign cultures, which boosts the influence of all the major races.  This is sufficient to make the Drengin colony in the Shugar system really sympathetic to my empire:

Within a couple of weeks, the citizens of Ancros I rebel against their Iconian masters and join me:

Unfortunately, I do not have the technology to use this world.  Otherwise, it's all right considering I got it for nothing.

Meanwhile, Hithesius is actually being an ass and declaring war on the Drengin, among other races:

At the moment I'm still researching Advanced Hulls so there is little I can do to help.

However, I'm not far off researching weapons now, just have to get Technology Progression I out of the way:

Space Weapons are now unlocked right after this tech, and in order to progress further up the trunk I have to then research Impulse Drive and Research Academies.

You'll note that upon completing Technology Progression I, there's a new improvement to build.  It's a Super Project called Infinity Tech Labs, which gives a massive 18 tp, more than a Discovery Sphere.  Of course, I'll only be able to build one.

Hithesius calls up to threaten me for cash... oh actually, he's offering me a bribe to not use the ships I just bought from him to intervene:

Yeah I think I'll let the Drengin get shot at for a while.  Can't extract protection money if they aren't a little scared of the big bad insects.

During the past few years all of the empires have seen their populations increase, as a result of founding new colonies and attracting new citizens to those colonies.  Here's how the galactic populations stand as we enter the fifth year of competing for galactic mastery:

1. Torians: 168bn
2. Terrans: 163bn
3. LMT Corporate: 133bn
4. Iconian: 116bn
5. Altarians: 111bn
6. Drengin: 106bn
7. Thalan: 92bn
8. Arcean: 83bn
9. Yor: 80bn
10. Korx: 56bn

Taking a look at the timeline, you can see immediately that while some empires have grown a lot in the past year, others have made very little gain or have actually shrunk:

In May of 2231 there is a reported increase in tax revenue as economic activity increases.  Soon I will be swimming in more credits than I know what to do with.

In June, with no sign of the economy slowing down, my agents bring in this report on the LMT Corporate:

As the year draws to a close and I have begun manufacturing my own fighters, I turn my attention to the problem of foreign espionage:

I have two choices.  The first is to continue spending lots of credits training agents of my own to root out spies.  At the moment, that's not so bad.  However when the economic boom is over, it may not be possible to sustain that level of spending.  So my second and preferred option is to research Counter Espionage and build a solid defence against spies.

The United Planets meets to discuss the law regarding starbase assistance:

Again, most of the delegates vote in favour in the measure, although nobody can actually benefit from it at the moment.

After so much time within my sphere of influence, the colony on Shugar I has become so enamoured with Futurama that they decide to overthrow their Drengin masters and join me:

It has limited potential for improvement, but there is a research bonus tile that's worth a look.

In October of 2232, something happens that will change the galaxy forever:

The Thalans threat has been growing.  They have a slightly better heavy fighter now (it has three lasers instead of two) and their production rate shows no signs of slowing down.

Before I can even begin to deal with this threat, I need all my counter espionage centres finished, so I crank up the social spending so they'll be done in 5 weeks.  Yes, I could buy them all, but I'm saving my credits for a very expensive plan.

You see, even with my factories running at full crank, I can't possibly get enough transports out fast enough.  I don't even have Planetary Invasion researched yet!  When I start getting all researchy in 5 weeks, it'll get done, don't worry.

So instead, to launch the crippling strike which will end the Thalan threat once and for all, I'll need to buy transports, turn after turn, and not only will I be depleting my treasury, I will temporarily deplete my population, who are (in part at least) generating all that lovely revenue I have coming in.  So having a vast treasury to dip into will be enormously helpful.

I will also need to update my fighters, so Mass Drivers research is on the cards.

The Iconians develop the Micro Repair Bots trade good:

The United Planets meets to discuss the matter of starbase taxation again:

This time the vote is in favour of a rather heavy tax, 10bc per starbase.

A new I-League comes into existence:

It's sporting the Yor logo, and has taken this planet to use as its base of operations:

Nice job with camouflaging the planet to look like a gas giant, guys.

As if there weren't enough reasons why the citizenry isn't happy, now it seems their happiness has halved:

Well, actually I haven't noticed much difference in approval rates, but since lots of citizens are being crammed on board troop transports, there's not as much overcrowding as there used to be.

It seems that the Altarians are flexing their new military muscle:

So it's looking like most of the races now have a military.  Not all of them have good ships though.  The Arceans for example have this fascination for using the Sparrow missile, having not developed any further along the weapons tree than that.  They have frickin battleships stuffed full of them!!  That's like, a weapons rating of 4, just so you know.

The war against the Thalans goes quite well.

Patrokolos II, wrested from the Thalans, doesn't hold much potential for improvement, but the tiles will come in handy once the population grows:

Regulus I is a better conquest, having at least that morale bonus tile:

Then something happens that is at once very shocking and highly amusing:

You see it's simple.  Remember not long ago, that I built Counter Espionage Centres on my developed worlds?

Well, while everyone else is going to be struggling to root out all those spies, I've basically got zero infestation.  Awesome!

Research Academies are now ready to be built on my colonies, and I can begin work on Technology Progression II:

However, I decide that it would be prudent to have some military production to supplement the numbers of my fighter squadrons, so instead of just nine weeks, it'll take almost twice as long.  It's not so bad when you think about it, because everyone else is going to be almost at a standstill with the spies.

As quickly as it was created,the new I-League is subjugated by the Arceans:

Meanwhile, I'm having a fair bit of success with invasion myself, netting myself this sweet class 14 world:

Of course it will only be useful once I have the requisite extreme colonisation techs, but it's mine now and can't do the Thalans any good.

With Thalans fleets nipping at my heels, I arrive in the Thalan home system and quickly take over their home world:

Doing so also means that they're now without an Orbital Command Centre, making it a little easier to take out the defenders.

Although it is a grievous blow, the Thalans are unwilling to negotiate peace.  I take my transports on an evasive course back towards my space, while fortifying the planets I have taken.

The Thalans in turn attack Thala, trying to wear down the defences I stationed there:

They are successful in the end, but since I have plenty of credits I can simply rush more defenders until reinforcements arrive.

As my transports are evading, they meet up with a reinforcement squadron and take this nice planet from the Thalans:

I also mop up the last one of the Thalan planets that were recently settled within my borders:

Although I have them on the ropes and their economy had ground to a screeching halt, the Thalans still have ships harassing my transports, and I know I can't take them, at least not until I have more numbers and logistics on my side too, perhaps.  So I put to them a no-strings peace proposal:

This leaves the Thalans in a significantly weakened position, having lost a significant part of their research and manufacturing base.  If they manage to climb out of debt enough to restart production, they won't have as much capacity.  I will soon have my ships in position and ready to finish the job.

Technology Progression II is completed, granting access to a new research Super Project, named Pear Shaped Labs.

This Super Project produces a small amount of research on its own, but it also grants a +20 bonus to your Research ability, improving your research across your civilisation.  I mention this now because it is a little unclear what it does, given that its attributes in the game just state Research Bonus: 20% and nothing more.

Next up is Advanced Logistics:

You can see that just underneath, Core Technologies VII has changed a bit.  Instead of requiring you to research Invention Matrix before gaining access to Medium Scale Building, it now comes after both MSB and Warp Drive.

Core Technologies VI starts with Space Weapons, which is Weapons ID, but the other techs in the group aren't Weapons ID.  It's just a side-effect of grouping dissimilar techs together that the whole group looks red.

I don't really mind anyone using the same approach to re-shape the tech tree.  But as I've said already, it simply compensates for the AI's inability to pursue a balanced research strategy.

One of the things I am going to do for version 5B, for example, is restrict the number of money-sucking improvements the Thalans can build.  Because although they were able to do a lot of research, they had no way of generating the sort of income that myself of the Torians were capable of.  When the spies came, they had no way to fund anything, so their economy collapsed like a house of cards.

The Torians are almost the opposite problem.  They have not enough encouragement to build Universities, so they keep trying to research using just the research output of their capital.  Which means that many of their worlds are devoted to generating wealth, which makes them very rich, but totally backwards.  So Universities will become part of a Core Technology group for them, and there will be no way for them to not research it.