i suggest one of two things:
(1) scrap the random angle function altogether, and let the amount of damage done by a direct hit be adjustable so that at easier levels, less damage is incurred by each direct hit (this will achieve the same effect of your random angles, because in either case, the hit points of the player are preserved at easier levels) or
(2) don't add a random angle to each frame or cycle of the routine in which the ship determines which way it needs to face. this is what cause the wiggling, stalling and silly look. instead, let the random function come in every fifth, or tenth or hundredth routine. this will make the direction seeking seem smoother, and still allow for poor aim at easier levels.

hey javawillie,
i am having the same problem hosting on EE.
after i disabled my firewall and still couldnt host, i read your posted notes and decided to try disabling my NAT. (i use DirecWay satellitte for internet sevrice and the configuration software has that option, strangely enough) i thought that would solve the problem, but it didn't.
now i'd like to try the port-forwarding strategy. how do i configure that on windows XP? how did you do it?