I was actually referring to "quest items," like the Utwig bomb, the Dynarri, etc. Â If you have none of those you cannot win.
And no, you can't actually reduce someone's sphere of influence by yourself (I am prety sure)
At this point I think that game is over.
I agree, the game sounds pretty much concluded. You lose, sorry.
As for the adjustment of the sphere of influence, I have a little insight on this (at least as far as the 3DO version goes).
I've personally destroyed every ship belonging to every race (except around homeworlds and other infinite-ship-amount locations). Note: YOU CANNOT WIN THE GAME BY DOING THIS, you'll miss key items by making enemies with certain races. Also, this wasn't done in a single game -- I made mortal enemies with and destroyed the fleets of a different race each game with that single intent.
What happens is that the sphere of influence will glow, as it does any other time it's modified in any way throughout the game, but it won't shrink. My theory as to why is because the sphere size is linked to the percent of the fleet which is destroyed. Obviously regardless of how many you destroy, if a race has an infinite ship supply in a location, their sphere won't resize no matter how many ships you destroy.
There are also "locked" spheres. Humans, as they've no fleet, and Slylandro spheres can't even be made to glow.
As a side note, I have been a maliscious bastard and waited for all other races besides humans to be destroyed before I took out the Sa Matra. You can win the game this way. Also, I've waited at Sol for the Kor-ah fleet to arrive. You can NOT win the game doing this.
The only way to win the game is to destroy the Sa Matra BEFORE the Kor-ah arrive at Sol.
