Not if you KNOW they're angry at you.
They only stop supplying once they formally broke with you (you talked to them).
So, once you got what you need stop talking to them...

Not true.  I've talked and fought and killed Thrads after taking the Aqua Helix.  They're mad at YOU specifically, but are still Earth Allies, you can still build their ships at the Space station right up until the moment the Illrath territory reaches the Thrad territory on the Starmap.  Either way, Commander Greenteeth never says a word about the Thrads being our allies, or being gone like he does with the Spathi or Zok Fot Pik.

Yeah, I know we can't save them, but I'm frustrated because I like the Thrad, they've got one of the best fighting ships and are Earth Allies.  I just wish we could chose which race we want the Illrath to go kill off.  I'd pick either Vux or Mycon, given a choice.

I work nights and play UQM sometimes on my old laptop to pass the time.  In this game I went up to get the code to kill the probes and was leaving there as the battle between the Illrath and the Thrads was coming to an end.  I decided to go go to the Thrad home solar system and arrived just as the two circles representing their territories were at their smallest, right before it disappeared.  I was hoping to maybe kill a few Illrath in a vain hope of saving one of our better allies.  When I got there, there were about  2 dozen Thrad battle groups in the system.  I went to the home world, but it was destroyed and there were no Illrath left.  I looked at the Starmap and both Illrath and Thrad territory circles disappeared. 

So how do I save these last remaining Thrads?   2 dozen battle groups means around 550 to 600 Thradash Captians and crew.  Enough to maybe re-start the race just as we re-started the Shofixti.  But the Thrad don't like "me" because I stole their Aqua Helix.  But, until the Illrath attacked, the Thrads were Earth Allies, so how do I get them back to the Station to keep the race alive?

I first thought of the Utwig when we gave them back the repaired Ultron.

I like the Thrad ships in the fight against the Sa-Matra's guards.  A Thrad easily beats a Dreadnaught, and can beat a Marauder if you're careful.  But I let them die so I can get Terminators and more Furies for the battle against the Sa-Matra itself.  Actually a Spathi can be a good backup in case something goes wrong, I keep Fwiffo till the very end.  I'm not a big fan of the Avatar ships, I think they're crappy.  I also keep a Thrad to get rid of the flame things after I knock out all 8 shield generators.  Once you've figured out how to beat the Sa-Matra, the final battle is almost boringly easy...

Way to go Steve.  I remember the first time I beat the game, yes it is a thrill!  Now that you know it can be done, go back and play again, figuring out which are the best ships to take with you to that final battle.  Also having done the final battle should give you a better idea of how to configure your Precursor ship for the end game.

After my first win, I played an extensive game where I pretty much disregarded most of the actual quests and tasks of the game, instead looking specifically for where to find the best life forms and the best minerals.  You have 3-1/2 game years and if you complete one quest that will extend the game by another year.  I'm assuming you've already mapped the Quasi-space exit points...

Looking forward to checking it out myself.  Been a while since I've been here, looks like I've got a bit of reading to do.

There's another way to buy time (a few months only):

So you're saying there is another way to use a caster besides to send the Illrath to attack the Thrads?  I'd like to know more about that please. 

I've always said I wish we could send the Illrath to attack an enemy of our own choosing rather than killing off an ally.  If I could I'd get them to attack the Kohr Ah.  In Battle mode with both players set on Awesome Computer, 3 Illrath ships can kill 2 Kohr Ah ships almost every time.  That would put a dent in the Civil War between the 2 Ur Quans and would likely extend the battle for several years if not change the outcome!  It wouldn't matter to me which faction of Ur Quan won the war, we'd still need to destroy the Sa Matra and defeat them in order to gain our freedom and remove the Slave Shield from Earth.

Many moons ago, in a restaurant far far away...!  Back in the day there was a trivia game that was played at Damon's, TGI Fridays,  BW3 and other restaurants(and maybe still is.)  Rather than each of us getting a game controller, we would get one because she was better at entertainment trivia and I was better at general trivia.  Together we often kicked butt!  She's my Stone Fox and I'm batty, hence Foxbat.  I later added 1701 both for my love of Star Trek and because at one website I liked to frequent the name Foxbat had already been taken.

Actually, in combat with certian other ships, something you definately are NOT ready for now, you will find that jerky-ness comes in handy for you.  Because it applies to the enemy ships too and that gives you some small "dead spaces" where your enemy cannot shoot you.

2 hints.  Once out of the solar system look for life and be selective about which minerals you mine.  Note the mineral list in your cargo hold and only bring home the ones that give you the best return.  You need the $$ to upgrade your ship faster.

Actually once you become friends and/or allies with a species the convrsation does change.  And Fwiffo is the only instance where you could have a ship in your fleet without going to the homeworld and becomming allies with that species.

Even though no one responded to this suggestion the first time, I still think we should have a choice of which Hierarchy ally we should have the Illrath attack.  Why kill off a species that has become our friends?  Finishing off the Mycon would be what I would have the Illrath do rather than kill our Thrad allies.  For that mater, it only takes 2 Illrath ships to kill one Kohr Ah ship.  They would be a significant factor in that war if we could send them there.

There are several other Starbases in the game.  The Syreen one and at the Chmmmr.  I think we should be able to sell minerals and add upgrades to our ships at ANY active Starbase.

The Chmmr Starbase woud not be "active" until after we lit them up and freed them, of course.

And perhaps put a couple more starbases out there...

7. Declined Talana's gratitude.

Declined Talana's gratitude!?!?!  Why would you want to decline Talana???  Why in heaven's name would anyone decline Talana?!?!?

ACCEPTING Talana's gratitude is my favorite trophy.  Number 7 should read "Getting Laid by Talana!"


That being said, being able to keep track of where you've been and what you've done in the game would be nice.  I once went to get the smart talking pet and forgot that I hadn't gotten the Taalo device.  Ended up in the middle of UrQuan space talking to a pissed off Green!  That was fun!  Thankfully he was no match for my Precursor ship...

I think what most people dislike about planetside is that it's fairly boring, repetitive, and in general non-interesting. IMHO the Starflight games had the right idea about this - planets are all big places, as you'd expect them to be in reality. You get a genuine sense that you are exploring an alien world as opposed to a small, colorful rectangular slab. (Of course, the implementation is less than ideal, which has more to do with the massive technical constraints that game was under back in the mid-80s than anything else.)

True, but for most of the game mining is a necessary evil.  If they automate the mining I hope they at least let us choose which color(s) of mineral the lander picks up.  Most planets or moons have more than one color of mineral and at least half of whats down there is not worth picking up.  Once I leave our Solar System, I rarely waste my precious cargo space on anything less than Green.

And there should be an option to mine manually, especially if there is life and/or a special object on the surface.

And it's right next to a portal exit. So you just happen to come across it while seeing if there's anything in that cluster. That's how we found it my first time through.

Yeah, that's how I found the monster the first time, too.  I was making my own little starmap of where each portal went.  I had to run from it and didn't realize its importance, because my landers were not yet good enough to deal with it.

I think there should be a way to get a Slylandro Probe off your butt.  Once you have purchased all your engines, your precursor ship is faster than the probe but it always catches you when you enter and leave a solar system.  When flying through alien territory (enemy or friend) other alien ships appear.  Sometimes an alien ships dot merges completely with the dot representing the probe.  I think these two battle groups should pull each other out of hyperspace, since they are not ships of the same species. 

I like being able to outrun the probes, but the darn things are relentless!!!  they will chase you clear across the quadrant, from one end of known space to the other!  I think they should latch onto some other ship if they encounter another race, or there should be some reasonable distance when they will fall off your tail if you get far enough away from them.  Every other race stops chasing you when you exit their territory, there should be some way to shake a probe, too!