Confused ???

Were they the dominant force in the galaxy? What about their military ranking? It could be that by you wiping them out it instilled fear into the other civs regarding your military might. Had this happen a couple of times already and assumed that was the reason.

personally i try not to be the instigator in anything, i'll just make myself mildy annoying until the computer gets ticked, demands something or other and when i refuse they threaten me, rinse and repeat till they get hacked off enough to declare war on me, by now i have at least one ally whos territory i am not butting up against and the aggressive empire falls with myself inherting about 2/3rds of their planets

at least thats how it has worked the couple of games i have been able to play

They'll gang up on you if they're not afraid of you, especially if you don't share alignment. Good always gangs-up on Evil. That's why I haven't been playing with the Torians. They tend to instigate the gang-ups and with all the races, it's 4 good against 3 evil. When you play as an evil race (which I have been lately), it's 4 against 2. Playing a good race will balance the game nicely with all the races. And, with good alignment, you'll be friends with the "good gang" right out of the gate. The down side of good alignment is that keeping the good gang off your back is pretty much it's only real benefit, but that's a big one. I'm playing Neutral alignment now, but I've played a lot of games with Good alignment and the extra diplomacy is great.

In general, keep your military rating up and build the Spin Control Center ASAP. Diplomacy and influence help as well.

Good races are Torian, Drath, Iconian, Altarian
Evil races are Korx, Drengin, Yor
Neutral races are Thalan, Terran, Arcean

4 good against 3 evil.

Huh? 4 good? There's the Torians, the Altarians, and the Iconians. The Terrans, Arceans, Thalans, and Drath are Neutral, while the Drengin, Yor, and Korx are Evil. That accounts for everyone, right? 3 Good, 4 Neutral, 3 Evil. It's balanced.

Hmm, haven't seen the Drath aligned with Neutral in any of my games. Is there a random element there? Maybe I'm missing something.

Huh? 4 good? There's the Torians, the Altarians, and the Iconians. The Terrans, Arceans, Thalans, and Drath are Neutral, while the Drengin, Yor, and Korx are Evil. That accounts for everyone, right? 3 Good, 4 Neutral, 3 Evil. It's balanced.

No, Drath have always been good in my games.