Uncle11

Total agreement. One of the things I always hope for in a 4X game is the ability to "settle tactically." I'll take the risk of over-expanding early in order to hinder my opponents' expansion. Choke points should exist in a map's design, and smart players should try to exploit them.

While we're on the topic of AI player behavior: would it be possible to get the AI to stop violating my territorial boundaries without a declaration of war? It's bad enough having a faction plant a flag in the middle of 5 of my cities. But when pioneers stroll through the outpost I purposely built at a geographic chokepoint, then I start getting miffed. Who's manning these outposts anyway? Gomer Pyle?