Can anyone answer a few questions for me? Thank you in advance



1. Do battle card effects carry over after the phase they are played in has ended? Ex. if I disrupt an enemy's weapons in the long range phase will it stay disrupted the entire battle or only for the duration of long range phase?



2. Anyone notice fleets sometimes seem to stick and refuse to move in SP, and the words in tiny type "left shift" or "right shift" will appear at the top center of the galactic map? Pressing those buttons seems to unlock the fleets. Whats the purpose of this "feature"?



3. What is the primary use of influence spheres around colonies in this game? Do they let you take over enemy systems via influence, expand visibility? More critically can empire (friendly) abilities be used near your colonies even though they havent yet developed an expansive sphere (aka new colony)?



4. Why is that some technologies arbitrarily seem to be non-trade able in MP? My buddy and I are playing CO-OP and non-racial specific technologies only seem to trade half the time.



Thank you again.

1) Battle card effects last only for that phase.



2) Sometimes if you shift+tab for the steam HUD when you return to the game shift will be "stuck" and needs pressing again to unstick. Shift+ right click with fleets will allow you to plot paths for them, or queue their movement, similar to shift click in research etc.



3) If your influence is large enough to envelope your outposts or uncolonised systems, then they are protected and enemies/allies will need to declare war or have open boarders with you in order to attack/colonise those systems. I believe if your influence is strong enough that it envelopes an enemy colony, you can enter their space without declaring war o having open boarders but it's been a while since I've had the opportunity to test this.



4) You need the root technologies for the branch, if that helps. I've yet to play multiplayer, but I know you must obtain technology along it's linear path, no jumping ahead allowed. e.g. you need N-Way Fusion Plants before you can obtain Core Mining. I'm not sure if any technology simply can't be traded, also remember the layout of technology trees differ for some races, which could cause problems identifying which tech is the prerequisite.

Thanks for the reply.