I actually thought of something sorta similar to what chenjesuwizard said as well, though I think it might be stretching it just a little... they're humanoid, but rather different from humans.

I thought that it was just a future form of humans, after thousands of years of evolution. I maybe an original attempt to tamper with their own genes went wrong.

Perhaps they, in the future, were attacked by something like the Orz. They attempted to alter there *smell* in their genes, they were already detected by the Orz. So, in a last ditch attempt to save themselves, they went back in time, to their ancestors, in an attempt to save them by altering their genes from the start.

I always thought that the Arilou might be us from the future. Perhaps something went wrong and they came back to fix it, studying us and fixing us so whatever went wrong never happened. Then, when we were tucked away behind the slave shield  (something which never happened in the previous timeline) they no long needed to tinker with us and as such they got on with other things, being unable to return to the future (as that future had gone completely).

It's just a theory, but I think it works well enough.

Learn C programming code.

The Melnorme will also help you out, for a price.

I believe a certain  race will give you help about the probes, as will some  ones.

^^^ Above is the descriptions of two races which you might not have met. It's not their names or anythng, but I but them in spoiler tags just in case.

Thank you. Well, that answers a part of my post in the Quick questions thread.  I guess, combat is such a relevant part of the game, that I either learn it or let the game be. Maybe it's just to fast for an old man 
Well, I'll try again. Maybe the gods are with me this time. Can I pause a combat at least?

]
Combat isn't a huge part of the game. My entire first game was done by avoiding as much fighting as possible. You can have a hugely enjoyable experience without combat.

Ok, I tried about 30 different battles in melee mode and won not a single one   Seems I'm too slow / old / stupid to get it As battles are such an important part of the game, which I don't want to leave to the AI, it's just a game for faster players then me. But I really want to say thank you for your patient and nice help So: Thanks. Maybe a life as slave of alien supreme masters isn't bad at all  

Edit wants to add: Although I'm still not sure, if it runs as it should - space battles of 3-5 seconds seem somehow ridiculous to me.

Susan wants to add: In Melee, I have no chance to outmanouver a spider ship with a human missile-cruiser, although it's not cloaked. It closes in, I fire 3-4 missiles, killing about 1/10 of his crew. From then I'm under fire for 3 seconds and then destroyed. Any movement is followed by the spidership. How could I keep it away? Its faster and has better curving-ability? Depressing.

Does the missile cruiser have only missiles? I can't fire any other weapon with shift or ctrl? And I cant fly backwards - is that wanted?

Don't give up. Just re-load and try to avoid Ilwrath until MUCH later. It is possible to completely avoid them. I could never defeat them. It was ridiculous. I just made sure I had full thrusters and then I outran them and this was only near the end of the game.

I know, he's obvious a very skilled gamer. He did it without using autopilot for like half of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60Ex4tSwfk8

Watched this a while back, it's brilliant.

It was Nikolai's.

Perhaps upload them to youtube or an audio sharing site. I don't particularly want to be downloading files from an unknown source.

What is this hypospace you talk about? I don't remember any mention of it in the game.

I always imagined it to go in this order:
Quasispace
Hyperspace
Truespace
*Below*
*Pretty" Space

1. Yes, the Ilwrath and other Hierarchy members did have Hyperdrive and space flight. The Ilwrath used to have occasional clashes with the Chenjesu and M-bots, the Thraddash has developed space flight multiple times during each culture and the Spathi gained space flight running away from the bears. The Shofixti, however, were uplifted by the Yehat.

2. We have no way of knowing if they shared tech, but it seems likely. The Taalo do of course build a mind shield for the Ur-quan, but this may have been an exception.  They probably both have different technology as they have had many years to research and develop their tech. Think about the amount of technology created by us in the last 25,000 years, and then apply it to two super powerful, intelligent species. This would create vastly different technologies. They would not have developed tech while under Dnyarri control as the Dnyarri would not want them arming themselves. And the Kzer-za are a species designed to study and invent, they would definitely constantly be advancing. The Kohr-ah might not so much, but even they would have changed their tech in 25,000 years.

3. The Kohr-ah, Kzer-za and Mael-num are all pretty ancient. Who knows how long the Mycon and M-bots have been around? The Chmmr have pretty high intellect (based on the Chenjesu) and the Kzer-za are genetically engineered scientists. I have no idea which race will be Precursors Mk. II.

Is it worth doing the scaling down of the graphics or should I wait for the smaller version?

I don't know about an alternate way to get the Ultron, but if I recall correctly, there is an alternate way to get the thing that you need the Ultron for.

You're probably not going to like it, though.

What are you talking about here?

Just wondering, is there any word on the smaller HD version?