@Willy Vereb
That system is something along the lines I was thinkign at. I already tried the idea similar to the warp ghates, but it was crashing too much with the relics being thrown into the mix.
As for the territory, the relics take care of that - if you settle systems without those, you will be left hopelessly behind and ready for others to tear you apart. As far as fleet movements go, sure you can stage your task group in a different system, but that would leave you a few ships short on defense - it just isn't practical.
And yes, that is a problem unless those species are within the same star system. I want everyone to start off on relatively equal footing, realism has to make way for gameplay in that regard. You could go that way, or have two sapient species evolve on one planet to fight like the Centauri from B5. Or maybe jsut have your people born with different colors of skin and have them go on a genocidal rampage like we humans like to do 
I'd like to hear mroe about the game system or have a link to said RP.
I see.
Well, the point would be exactly that these aliens would strike from other star systems or be nomad/pirate factions that ravaged their civilization for centuries.
Morte would've eventually repelled these enemies through attrition and heavy defense. They would only develop FTL technology after they find a relic in their home system. Up to that point the Morte thought FTL travel is impossible and the fact their enemies didn't line up for a second invasion kinda confirmed their views (those aliens may or may not had FTL prior).
Anyways, I have a faction which is similar to the Morte but being assholes without alien invasion. They are called the Galaxian Empire (or at this point they're rather the Terran Empire). They think humans are God's creation and they have the right to eventually control the stars. Think of a less grimdark version of the Imperium from Warhammer 40000.
As for what would humans do here when the said race is extinct. Parallel development theory. Basically the assumption that in a similar environment it's highly likely that a similar race with eerily similar culture may develop. Of course this is BS kinda abused by Star Trek but that's a reason enough to have "humans" here.
As for the detailed version on the two-phase turn system:
forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/..It also includes a bunch of other mechanics so if you don't wish to read it all go down near the bottom of the first post.
You can also check the IC thread to see this in action:
forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/..Go till you find something with the strategic turns.
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