Updated May 29, 2001:

Equix, Volunteer Developer

Ethos effecting migration choice: Some ethoses do affect what kinds of planets a population will seek out.

Governmental centralization: I'll let a little cat out of the bag here. Each government in MOO3 will be rated according to its degree of centralization, which represents the relative balance of power between the central government and the regional authorities. This means that there are no "feudalism" and "absolute monarchy" government types. Instead, there's just the base "monarchy" government at different levels of centralization.

Allying with an empire your population hates: You are the guiding spirit behind your empire, but you don't and can't control what your citizens think and feel. (Although you can try to *influence* them in various ways.) So if my population hates your population, even if we both recognize that an alliance is in our mutual best interests, it will be a hard sell. If you persist with an unpopular policy, your government might get overthrown.

Factions and leaders: Different factions can have different levels of influence. There's not a specific government type for "science-oriented societies." If the scientific intelligentsia faction is more influential than other factions, then your government will likely be science-oriented.

Individual leaders will have their own agendas, and may align themselves with one faction or another. The Leader is always in a separate faction, but in a society where the scientific intelligentsia is very powerful, odds are the Leader will see things their way.

There are provision made in the game for low-level leaders ignoring orders from higher-ups. Several different factors affect the possibility of this happening, and (you can see this coming right...) I can't tell you what they are right now.

Largest ship size: Leviathans, the largest ships in MOO3, are not planetoid-sized. So they're big, but not as big as most people thought of doomstars being in MOO2.