allgemein:
We want the same kind of "anything for anything" model as Civ3.
You can probably make a decent income trading as you suggest, though you'd need regular sources of income as well.
schiffshandel:
You can only trade a ship that's in your reserves (off-board), and then it goes into his reserves to await assignment to an active task force.
If you sell ships with advanced goodies, the other guy may decide to study them. Trade with caution.
Your reserves are where you put ships that you don't need on active duty. This allows you to build up a fleet in case of war, without having to pay the greatly increased maintenance costs of keeping the ships on active duty.
During peacetime, you'll still need ships for basic border defense and anti-pirate patrolling, but you certainly don't need to keep the entire war machine on full alert at all times.
The reserve is also the means by which your ships get upgraded to the newest designs.
steuern:
You get to set tax rates, and these rates are important because they affect the economy and unrest. The way in which they affect things depends upon several factors that I can't go into here. Races will not have different economic models, but will respond to the level of taxation differently.
handelsbeziehungen:
You can't really install commercial units on other peoples' planets, but you can choose whether to have your borders open to trade with them, and then develop the infrastructure on your side such that you're making money...and if they want to make money, they'll develop their side as well. Such decisions on cooperation are important to the game.
infos von Stormhound - MOO3 Assistant Designer