How are victory points calculated?

well, I don't know an exact formula for the score, but you get points from the number of systems you have, population, and FIDS (although maybe its just FIDS, since more pop gives you more fids?). I think those are the 3 main contributors, possibly system improvements also add to your score. I don't believe military ships add much if anything to your score.



However, keep in mind that score is only a very rough approximation of what is actually happening in the game. I've played tons of games where the player with lower points had a significant advantage. For example, sometimes a sophon will have 3x or 4x more science than me, so their score will be much higher, but that doesn't mean they have a huge advantage necessarily.