1) Instead of the current 40-1 chance of tech from disassembly of components (assuming the component includes background tech that you don't have), disassembly will provide from 1-5% of the required research points for the next tech level in each eligible background tech

2) Genetic Modification: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2396

3) When conquering an alien population, any ground units you have on the same planet that are currently in a colony without any actual population will be transferred to the newly conquered population. If the population from which they are being transferred has no installations either, it will be deleted and any minerals/fuel/supplies moved to the conquered population. In effect, this means a population you established just to land ground forces will be absorbed into the conquered population.

4) If you conquer a hostile colony that has no population, the species of that colony will be set to the default species of the conquering empire.

5) Dangerous gases only matter if they are more than 0.1% of the atmosphere. This is to prevent easy killing of planetary populations by adding tiny amounts of toxic gases, This is based on Chlorine being fatal above 1000 parts per million.

6) New tech is possible when recovering almost any type of installation from ruins, although the chance is very low except in the case of research labs. The new tech will be linked to the type of installation recovered

7) Starting minerals for all homeworlds are multiplied by Population/1000

Steve