yes, but as always user input is best. we have had almost no input except for

and I think we could use more diversification than simply tweaking to the system already in place (one example, say, would be what type of random events people would want to see, give the devs some ideas)

I usually go get something to eat at this point in the game

Hmm.. how bout have a uber-powerful alien race/pirate leader/fleet from some unknown star not in the game appear and try to wipe your colonized planets out?

Suggestions are welcome for this area (no unknown alien threat in Sins, though - that's what sequels are for).

How about some nano bug that eats the hulls of ships in comes in contact with?
Let’s say it exists in a jump line and if you are using that jump line you have a 1 in 100 chance of getting the bug. It would then spread from ship to ship in the fleet as time progresses. These ships would have to be within a certain range of the contaminated ship for the spread event to occur. The only way to stop it is to scuttle the contaminated ships, or you could send those ships to someone else and deliberately spread it... like an std. what is does is reduce the hit points of the hulls of the infected ships and structures in comes in contact with!

A nano bug that hardens the hulls of the ships it infects upping the hit points it can withstand.

A planet dies suddenly, becomes a big barren lifeless rock with no atmosphere.
A group of pirate ships enter your system asking for asylum, offering themselves to your service and command.

A solar flare knocks all shields to zero within the system or knocks out all systems and everything is dead in the water for a time, say 3 min. Units outside the system or more than 1 jump from the star would not be affected

A ships jump computer malfunctions and that ship is lost, only to (maybe) reappear at some random location sometime later in the game.

Any feedback on any of these for random effects?

Right now I think the devs have a good foundation of a RTS in some ways it's similar to Frontier Wars. But the 4x side of the game I think is really lacking. There just isn't that same feeling of grandness, of starting as a fledgling civilization and conquering the galaxy. Or that feeling of looks of things are going on under foot brought about by interesting random events. Also lack of meaningful diplomacy comes to mind as another short coming.

Right now I think the game feels more like Age of Empires in space then a grand scale 4x. It is still fun but because of this is suffers the down fall of most RTS. That is once you get your base fortified and economy stable it quickly degrades into a slug fest of who can breach the others defenses first. Which if there are no special weapons and decent defenses structures then it could take a while. This constantly needing to punch through fully fortified systems combined with SLOW travel time really bogs down the game.

Personally I think travel time between planets should be near instant since you spend enough time as is moving through the gravity belts. While travel between stars should take about as long as it does to move between the planet now. This way ships can get to the front a lot faster which I think is a major problem right now. I mean it seems to take a half hour or longer for my ships to make 7+ jumps in a large map with only 1 star(I prefer more planets and 1 star cause travel time between stars is TOO LONG. PLus culture bug so can't get footing in new star system). Reducing the travel time on jumps I think would go a long way to increasing the pace of things late game.

His problem doesn't just dissappear on a smaller map. It takes a long time to travel anywhere. It gets a lot less irritating with only a couple planets, but trading ages of boredom for a game that amounts to one or two early game attacks is kinda lame.

I agree with shibfilet. In addition the travel time adds some reality...especially if you have sensors so you can see the inbounds and pounce once they arrive.   

This was bugging me for a while, and I just figured out why:

Way to make PSIDAR useless!

Nope. I'm a student... class doesn't start until noon, so I have an hour yet before I have to leave for class.

And then work starts right after class and keeps me till late, yuck

paradoxnt, you mean solar system to solar system, right? cuz if you meant planet to planet.... I would cry

WOOT that makes it so much better. Although I prefer 40 planets and 1 star (makes it more border-ish than regions making the game feel cooler  ).