Best way to find out is to try it and see :)
Maddo
Yes this happened to me at an unfortunate moment (late game) when I was at war and social projects had been suspended. Good thing you don't loose half your military too! I lost my three best planets (class 35, class 33 and class 30) but quickly reclaimed them with some combat transports I had built for the war. [Message Edited]
I couldn't find it in the UK although apparently some people sell it. However it wasn't in my local PCWorld, Game or HMV. I bought the download version, although this isn't really an option if you don't have broadband.
I had all the victory types other than military disabled, Drengin Empire was the only AI left, with two worlds after various defections and conquests. I build a terror star, destroyed both their systems but oddly it took about 10 turns (may be overestimating but certainly had to click the button more than twice!) for the game to identify the fact a miltary victory had been achieved. Despite them having no star systems their ships were still alive and I was still able to speak to their