I know a lot of people like to play a game in a night and so on, but I like to take weeks to play a game, putting a lot of work into a single effort to over take the odds by my simple ability to adapt to the computers lack of inginuity, or even fighting another player for that matter. So here goes.

Tech takes way to little time to research most of the time. I virtually dont care at all what tech I am researching later in the game so long as it is going eventually towards my goal. Seriously, there are no where near as many steps in terraforming a planet as there should be, yet there is an unbelievable number of weapons... The terraforming takes longer yes, but at the same time there is only 4 of them.

Solution: dont change current game modes, simply make a mode that makes technology research cost a lot more! At this time you should also change the balance of the game entirely, population will be responsible for the amount of production, research, and revenue, and these values will all directly relate to morale. Seriously, a happy worker is a hard worker. Create a system of trade both within the empire itself and externally, that result in goods that can be traded for added income, research, production, and morale. An outside trade route would generate much more income, but an internal trade route would generate more tourism, population balance, and vulnerability to attack.


Station Defense: Can I please send a ship to a station for defense and just leave it there. Guard and Sentry are both pretty much useless, and you still get prompted for action when doing both of these. If I select guard I should be given a prompt "Guard What?". Instead the ship says Guard....wow that does nothing. As enemy ships have flown past a "Guard" ship and attacked a colony/station. How on does guard/sentry work since they should be automatic yet they apparently require you to work hard to find out.


Population Morale: Lay off the insane penalty for population or reduce the amount of population that is increased with each farm, and increase the amout of morale that is boosted with each happiness building. Its insane that with one farm and anyone in the galaxy using espionage on me, I need to build between 4 and 8 happiness centers for a planet of 25b people...yes that is a lot but if you can provide for 25 billion people then you simply have 25 billion happy people. not 21b rebels. Happiness should be based on what you can provide, more tax payers means more angry people, but if you have 20 spaces to work with instead of 5 and still have the same population, you have a lot of people that are working, shopping, learning, and relaxing all over a planet instead of in a very small area. One would conclude from this that things were not overcrowded after all....


Borders! For crying out loud why can my enemy fly threw my borders at will?!?!

Influence doesnt make the US absorb more of Canada and Mexico... actually it is the other way around....

Anyways, I can understand an influence zone that allows you to alter a perception of your side in the eyes of another. I just cant tolerate the idea of a 2D surface, or even a 3D surface not having a definable border that a friend or enemy cannot cross. This by no means has to be the standard but seriously I hate the fact that the NPC can send ships to a planet and investigate that planet for defenses until it finds one it likes and attacks that.

Make it something you can vote on in the galactic senate, also as sensor technology progresses, you expand your border, say you have a 5 parsec range, you have a 3 parsec border. Stations should not only define your influence area but also your border, and the sensors on the station can enhance that border, thus making station more valuable as a barrier while reducing the combat capabilities of the station.

Even with research the way it is a player would be hard pressed to "corden" off a section of the map early and see a benifit from this barrier. However later in the game this could be used to lessen the burden on your economy by guarding less outposts than the planets you control and providing an early warning for you.


Other Ideas: Why is it that the Galaction Council votes on a random subject you are in no way in control of yet the NPC's are somehow. Say there is 4 races, then every 4th summit you should choose the topic.

Ship Upgrades: Can I get a button that upgrades all ships of a particular class to another class instead of going threw them all manually?

Weapons Balancing: Two class five lasers are equal to one class I missile...yeah so lets change hp's up a bit and damage up a lot so that weapons not only get smaller but actually do more damage instead of going threw a very limeted number of weapon types that really dont change anything in combat other than how my ship looks. I only say this because I fought a war against missile boats that were very poorly equiped and the size difference made no change at all, my ships were super fast compared to my enemy however in combat that made no difference at all. Basicly what it is now is I should arm ships to the teeth and put no engines on them at all.

Events: There seems to be an insane speculation behind choosing good and bad for events. I can see there only being good and bad benifits, but the good is rarely something you want, especially considering the tech opurtunities it opens up. Bad however seems to be the way to go. Balance the events out more, and also put events in place that have a positive and negative to choosing bad and good, thus allowing a planet that is good at research to get better at it, and sacrifice population growth....or something to that effect.

Sorry for being long winded but I just thought I would put in some ideas.