To clarify some comments:
Wow, that's likely to be a lot of ctrl-n time.
Actually not really. I personally think that you should be able to find one on average in an hour perhaps slightly more. Other folks may be luckier and get it even quicker but I always seem to be a slave to Murphy.
Actually not, as he's playing TA where there exists only one 700% research bonus tile in the galaxy as opposed to the 3 in a DA Gigantic. Even if we take reduced planet count into account - it'll still be twice as long, or more.
It won't even help to attribute one custom point to +25% luck ^^
Can one trade more often in DA/DL? Is there some trick to trade more often which I've missed?
and to my knowledge this workaround still works in TA, although I haven't tested it in some time.
No, in TA there's no way to circumvent the 8 turn delay on diplomatic contact once a transaction was made.
Just wanted to make a single point by itself.
SirPleb, consider the possibility of passing 10 trillion population by, say...October 1st of Year Zero.
still waiting for you to beat me here.... 2011 could be a good year for your MV debut, don't you think?
For those uninformed, the technique that makes this possible is called Colony Storm and enables a player to fully inhabitate a whole galaxy within a few turns. However, it needs carelessly preparation, and in itself, is one of the worst micromanagement you can get in this game (e.g. you'll have to count the parsecs all your ships have to fly in advance etc pp). Not everybodys cup of tea I'm sure^^