I was sorting out the nether regions of my Hard Drive today and came across a lovely little game called Space Empires III from
Malfador Machinations. It is a sort of space based Civ game with technical development and some diplomacy although the only victory comes from conquest (good news for W4E & DaveV). I played it quite a lot a few years ago, but have not tried it recently. Just for old times sake I surfed to their site and their next version (SE IV) will be out in April. It should be worth a look.
Previously these people have released a slightly crippled version as freeware and then uncrippled it after registration.
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Scouse Git[1]
"CARTAGO DELENDA EST" - Cato the Censor
[This message has been edited by Scouse Gits (edited March 01, 2000).]