One thing I noticed in GalCiv I is that military might is based on the number of ships you have and not the type or power of the ships you have. So basically you could build up a massive ship base of weak & cheap(inexpensive, low build time) ships and have a huge military which would deter other races from attacking you. It seemed kind of a cheap way of getting around having to go to war. Personally I'd like to see that changed so the other races are truly aware of how strong your military is. So if they have a ship with AT 20 HP 20 and you have 10 ships with AT 2 HP 2 they would see you as more or less an equal in military might standings.