Sorry, but I can't seem to find this anywhere. Does the N Virus get a tech after a space battle and then another if they defeat a ground force during the same activation? Thanks.

The "Limit once per battle", as I understand it, is meant to clarify that the NV does not copy a technology for every unit destroyed, but only a single technology per battle.

It does not mean, that there is a limit from how many battles in a turn the NV can copy a technology. Since it also explicitly says "Space Battle or Invasion Combat", I think the NV can copy a technology for each of these, as long as it destroys at least 1 enemy unit. In theory, this means that the NV with the Fleet Logistics technology may actually get 8 technologies in a single turn, by attacking 2 systems with 3 planets each, and invading every planet.

Sounds scary. I haven't seen the NV in a game yet, so I don't judge this now.

That does indeed sound scary. I've only played once against the Nekro Virus so far, and that was in the hands of a first time player. They decided against to launch an all out vendetta against my Creuss fleet for some reason so I opted to go techless to starve them out, so I haven't really seen their tech copying at full capacity. Alistor can extremely dangerous though. . .

The only limit to the number of battles (that at least one enemy unit is defeated of course) the Virus can get techs from is the number of Virus-unknown techs their victims have.

So attacking a player who only knows techs that the Virus already know is more or less a waste of Virus resources. Unless the system in question is of significant strategic importance of course.

The really scary thing about the Virus is that they actually don't need to WIN the battle to get a tech. As long as they destroy at least one enemy unit they get a tech even if they loose the battle.

This actually happened to me when playing the Virus. The Brotherhood of Yin had gotten a "forgotten colony" domain counter on a planet next to their home system and the die rolled to my favour. Yin, feeling somewhat spooked about having the virus on their doorstep, spared no expenses to amass an army to deal with the hapless two Virus GF units. They invaded with five or six GF's, used their racial to turn one of my troops and then rolled horribly. I rolled a 9, killing one of the invaders. Yin then rolled better killing my lone ranger squad. Having killed one GF unit i opted to steal the War Sun tech. Next turn: My first boob hit the table. the turn after: Boob #2. Noone else built War suns that game...

One other question: What is a battle for purposes of copy/tech?

PDS-fire is explicitly excluded, but is also a seperate phase of a tactical action (#3, while the actual battle is phase #4). But what about pre-combat effects like Anti-Fighter-Barrage, Assault Cannon, First Strike and the like? Does a battle, that technically occurs during the appropriate phase (#4), but never actually enter a single turn of combat (because one side was destroyed in pre-combat), count as "destroy at least 1 enemy unit in a Space Battle or Invasion Combat", thus allowing to copy a tech?

I would say so Whip, as personally I always saw those additional non-PDS shots as a preceding the meat of the battle, the combat dice rolling, but still part of the space battle, just a pre-emptive strike.

But..... Unfortunately I'm not sure how this plays out against the Naalu if they immediately retreat, as I remember arguing in the relevant thread that the additional shots would not count as a space battle won if no main combat dice were rolled... I suppose we're not talking about winning a space battle , but just destroying an opponent's ship so would technically still hold true:

If through pre-emptive shots the Nekro took out at least one vessel, but the Naalu tactically retreat immediately, the Nekro can claim a tech from the Naalu, but this action does not count as a space battle victory, as no battle took place.

Sound fair?

I'll comment fairness, in terms of balanced rules, when I've seen it in action. But thematically, i find your point, Trey, quite consistent, since (at least with DSCs) a PDS would most likely not be close enough to the wreckage to copy technological data.

However, we are to play soon, and the first time with SotT, with a player who, given the choice, will not think twice about NV, and I like to be prepared. Having no experience with SotT myself, I find a comment from this forum quite helpful, and will include it in my explanation of NV at the beginning instead of deciding on hunch when the question comes up during the game. So, thanks for the help here.

In general, I expect the necessity for battle to be a weakness for the NV. Without early battles, the VN may quickly fall behind the technological average of the galaxy, making later battles even harder. I like defensive play, so I'll not play NV for the moment, if given the choice.