I'm Sure people give you tons of bad ideas all the time, but this isn't just another bad idea, this is a bad Lord Xia idea!!!
I was playing GalCiv2 the other night and thinking about what was really fun about that game and what I like in games in general. I like to build things. And the Ship builder in that game gives me endless amounts of fun.
Where these thoughts led me, is this. A GalCiv game where you are not a nation, but a business. A corporation. You build Ships, weapons, etc. Maybe you start as a junk yard, just finding old derelict and rebuilding them or retrofitting them, then maybe you could go on missions to find rare alien technology or maybe you could unearth an old Arnor ship. You could sell these ships, or use them for your own good. You could set up trade with the Civilizations in the game, maybe make black market deals, or even fund pirates and criminals on the side. You could branch out, be a galactic corporation, maybe you have your own security force. There could also be "Champions" they would be things like experts, pilots, designers, etc. You would be in competition with other corporations to get gov contracts, and you would have to use corporate spies to get info on them or sabotage their creations, or steal their technology.
Brad, make this game so I can play it please! Oh, and you should hire me to sit around, eat cheetos in my undies, be fat, and come up with brilliant ideas!