I think most of these have been mentioned, but I'll add my vote for them:

1) Auto-explore

2) Military build queue

3) The ability to send colony ships to available planets by selecting from a list

4) Resource allocation locks

5) Carriers

6) The Bombardment Cruiser

7) Counter-espionage, as a defense against Destabilization (with a variable spending slider, just like Destabilization and Espionage)

Sorry for the 2nd post, but I forgot to list two things:

The logistics skill you were considering in the starbase thread, and

The option to give each AI race access to all "nasty" AI tactics, without having production bonuses (perhaps as a toggle for each race).

More difficulty in internal elections and morale.

The logistics skill you mentioned re SB's.

The Trade route's EST column to give me a date (just so I can feel more historical in my play).

The colors to work right in the political senate display since adding the two new/old parties



~SDC~

1. Different Graphiks for the ships.
They all look like Fighters, not like real
big capital-ships.

2. There should be a bonus vor Fleets.
When I have 5 Capitalships attacking a Space-Station
they will not attack in "Single-Mode", they will try t to attack the enemy together...

small tweaks to the military AI:

=> Better coordinated follow up invasions on planets

=> less "suicide" attacks of AI controlled starships

An option for my starships like "auto survey" but to "hunt and destroy" enemy freighters and constructors.

an option to influence the occurence/and difficulty of random events.

By the way. The game balance (IMHO) is much improved with the last build of game!!!!

A build-list similar to the one used for Planetary Improvements, but used for Starbases would be nice. Here's what I propose:

1. You would assign a Starbase build-list to a governor in the same way as Planetary Improvements.
2. When a building a constructor, the planetary screen would provide several extra options in addition to auto-launch:
a. No assign
b. To same sector
c. To governor "abcd"
3. Constructors set to "same sector" would automatically move to the nearest starbase in the same sector as the launching planet and constuct modules according to the assigned governer's list.
4. Constuctors set to "governor" would automatically move to the nearest starbase assigned to a certain governor and constuct modules according to the governer's list.
5. Constructors set to "no assign" would behave as before; the user chooses where and which module to build.

Using this method, you could greatly automate the Starbase building process, while still providing enough freedom for folks who want to micromanage.

I don't know if Starbase building tactics are uploaded to the Metaverse currently, but I would think that a Starbase build-list could be handy in future releases to enhance the AI.

~SDC~

The game is so good .... and we are so insatiable ....

* please make the colors for the influence in the minimap a little bit brighter
* waypoints, waypoints, waypoints
* give the minor races a face
* espionage for the minors too
* a better fleet stack handling
* a description for techs and wonders in the diplomatic screen
* a switch for the history bars, to show relativ achievements and spendings (e.g. for techs)
* Metaverse is the motive ..... let it grow ....


**************** THANK YOU *******************

1. Give some more depth to the tech tree(what is the interest of a tech which gives no bonus and allows no new improvement ?).
2. Implement auto-scout and rally points.
3. Address the starbases stacking and late game constructors management problem.
4. More random events.

5. Also : a search tool for all planets (colonized or not) with sorting options.

Allow funds spent on planet to carry on: Remaining funds used to build entertainment network on planet X should not be lost but used for the next project.
Same query for research and ships.
This is particularly important for research as right now it is possible to tweak the research slider every turn or so in order to gain one turn to the tech by micromanaging a few % spent on research.
Right now, this calls for the same micromanagement abuse as in civ2.

Scenario/map editor.

All good suggestions...

I'd like to see the planetary population figure colour coded to indicate when population is reaching high (yellow) and dangerous (red) levels.

1) Make better scout later in the game with sensor range ~15-20 and a high cost. It's hard to scout a maximum size galaxy with sensor drones etc (read - too much unnesessary micromanagement). Or at least add some techs increasing sensor range as an additional research tree path.

2) It's good to have 1-3 fast raider-class ships. Maybe give them *1,5 bonus to speed from techs/trade goods? (So +4 speed for battleship will be +6 for them).

3) Enable all AI scripts.

~SDC~

On the trading screen allow the computer to put forward a counter proposal. This will cut down the time needed to guess what the AI will trade for.

An official metaverse-sanctioned pack of extra events, especially the moral choices on colonisation. I've seen all the in-game ones more times than is funny!

More anomaly and resource technobabble. Not just 'this resourse gives +5% to morale'. I feel to much like 'stat-master' playing the game like this.
Have stuff like 'the Quintoc nebula is one of the most beautiful sights in the galaxy. Everyone in the galaxy should visit it sometime! A starbase here will dramatically increase morale throughout your empire.'

Better still, make it a competition and get the fanboys (and girls) to do it for you! After all, I think you need to get some sleep!

Oh and a fix for 'wasted resources'. Something simple that doesn't require massive AI tweaking, maybe a partial refund.

Superconstructors. Say no to constructor spamming! (actually a fix for wasted resources would help in a reduction of constructor spamming)

-To appease some of the people who think the combat system needs to be more advanced maybe you could add the ability to have ships automatically attack or automatically move somewhere and attack anything they see. This way you could launch an entire fleet against a race and not have to worry about micromanaging.

-More espionage options, better display of espionage data, more graphs and less scrolling through that long list of data. I'd also like to see how my espionage and destabilization is doing. A report on that would be nice.

-An option to have the entire galaxy known (but still fogged) at the start. Then you wouldn't need to scout it all out, which after a couple of games gets tedious. You'd still need scouts/sensors to keep tabs on aliens. (If this is too unbalancing for metaverse scores you could have it cost some ability points in the race customization).

-Fix save games so that they take you back to the same state you were in. (Fix the problem with culture and the loss of ship bonuses from shipyards).

-Option to enable maximum AI. I'd rather play smarter AI on genius then have to turn it up to incredible and give the AI a huge advantage. Another possibility would be separating the AI smarts about noticing player strategies from the economic bonus so that I could give the AI 100% chance of noticing what I'm doing without giving it such a huge econ bonus.

Fix the "wasted resources" issue. That's the main thing I'd like to see at the moment.

~SDC~

1. Stop auto-pilot ships if an enemy appears in sensor range.

2. Remember other races starbases. If they're destroyed, remember them until one of our ships gets in sensor range and sees that it is gone.

3. Lockable sliders.

4. Drop down or list boxes for sorting planet list and other lists like that.

5. No wasted resources. They could at least roll over to the next project.

6. Auto-scouting. Allow us to find all our ships that have automatically sensed new space, by say shift-clicking the find button.

7. Type in number option for colony ships. Even better: default number of colonists (eg. 250M, not more than 25%) so we can use auto-launch.

8. Improve trade detail selection. The dollar amount and duration, for example. I'd like to see buttons to increase/decrease by 1/5/25, or something like that. And bigger buttons than the little arrows. It takes too long now to fiddle with that stuff.

All for now.

Some diplomacy AI suggestions:

* When an AI wants to make peace, it should consider how much warring you were actually contributing when it is negotiating its deal, such as, did you actually kill any of their ships or anything. Or at least it should offer a round of peace for a limited deal, say just a random technology or some money, and then if the player actually says no let's keep fighting, then maybe really beg for peace.

Example:
I was an extremely weak civ, and the drengin declared war on me. No surprises there. They were on the other side of a large galaxy though, so I wasn't too worried, and focused on short wars against my neighbors to expand and get some extra stars. Now, as might be expected my power was growing from these other battles I was fighting, but not due to my war against the drengin. They were also at war with the altarians and torians who happened to be whooping up on them. So the drengin then come to me saying we give up, and gave me basically all their technology/trade goods.

Now, I was in no position to actually demand this. If they just offered me peace I would've taken it in a second, or peace with just a couple of technologies, I had only just gotten battleships, and they had been building dreadnaughts for a while. But of course, being human, I decided to see what I could get out of it, and it is far too easy to just grab as much as you can.

More diplomacy:

* When negotiating it seems that right now there is a yes/no state on the trade. So either they will accept it or not(green/yellow text), and you just try and get as much as you can, throw in a few credits until you can't get anymore and make the trade. But what if instead it was yes/maybe/no. To relate to text color of trades, green = definite yes, red = definite no. Now yellow represents a fuzzy area where it is unknown whether the AI will accept it or not. Maybe it's essentially a role between diplomacy ratings. The thing is to hide from the player where the hard line of the AI is at.
If the human side fails, then it should always fail at that value, forcing the human to either walk away, or sweeten the deal. Extreme failures could damage relations, adding a risk to trying and get too much, but at the same time, allow the possibility of trying and pulling a fast one. Just an idea. The computer could also make counter offers in this situation. It gives more compromise, give and take to the diplomacy areas... This might help solve the peace negotiations as well. I know I'm a stubborn punk sometimes when the computer demands too much, why shouldn't it treat me the same way.

* When an AI offers you a trade of technologies you should be able adjust the deal a little bit. Sometimes it's just a little lacking. Also it seems the AI always does a 1-1 tech swap. Now, not that I mind someone trading me Dreadnaughts for brain mapping, or advanced repair or something, but the AI should know which techs are valuable and say, hey give me this and some bread and you got a deal.


Espionage:

Maybe some of the graphs shouldn't chart opposing civilizations unless you have certain levels of espionage. Such as low, might give you some population graphs, medium manufacturing/technology, and high would chart military. As it is, I don't really see the point of the espionage at this point. I plop some money into it, but only for enemy civs. This would make espionage a valuable tool for warring nations to get a good grasp of power.

Other features:

* Rally points
* Either two purchase buttons(post #20) OR if you click on say the time left area, select the corresponding unit into view. Something like that...
* massive disband commands. Such as, I don't need these stinkin defenders anymore. - maybe this is in there and I just can't find it...
* Maybe it's the AI I've played, but the normal AI has a hard time defending it's stars. A couple of defenders just really isn't going to cut it. And why doesn't the AI build Battle Hammers? I should really play some stronger AI's, but please tell me that higher levels patrol the sectors they have stars/resources in.
* Resources should remain visible after a starbase is built. The way it is now, it's too obvious when a resource on the otherside of the galaxy is freed up because of war. Just wait for the X to appear on the minimap, and send that spare constructor there. If resources were always visible without the starbase, this would be impossible, and require more scouting.

1) A patrol function for ships via waypoints. This may have already been mentioned. Also combined with this has to be the autoattack funtion modded? I'm not sure how auto attack works but ships should NOT attack anything out of sensor range. For example I would want a Frigate patroling trading lanes attacking defensively modded star bases.

2) Rights of passage to cross controlled sectors (ala CivIII). Else a possible declaration of war (not mandantory). You (and AI) would have to have something in sensor range of offending ships. This would also create "neutral zones."

Funny, I haven't touched any of my other games for quite a while...

Playing on huge and gigantic maps, having jump points would be really nice. Since this is especially true in the late game, perhaps make it come around the time of Ranger tech. These could be added as starbase modules, or perhaps a special kind of starbase. This way the jump point could be destroyed or over-taken and would be a critical strategic element.

I'd like to vote again for mine fields, zone of control (SB modules?).

What about just tweaking the ship stats a bit? There has been a lot of talk about making the currently useless ships more useful (phoenix and starhawk). Plus adjusting the att/def/range/speed of the other ships a bit better.

What about adding new techs for small ships and capital ships. This way you could keep the total number of unique ships down, but just make the ones you have continue to be useful through the game. For example, 'Space Folding Light Engines' for corvettes, scouts, and frigates would double their speeds only.

Minefields are good but you would need to set waypoints are something to the equivilant - even for freighters.

Mine upgrades?

Brad, would you pick thru the list and maybe put some of what you think is viable up for discussion?

Here's 2 simple ones: I'd like to see something in the Trade screen that mentions the current maximum number of routes, since that can change over the course of the game.

Given the new formulas for determining sector influence, I'd also like to see (somewhere) the influence of all races on a given sector, as numerical values.

(Unless, of course, these features are already available and I just missed it.)

For me, the must have is wasted resources. The ability to reallocate waste on a planetary level by having tech/military/econ show up as production options, even if these have to be researched. Failing that, simply not drawing from the money pool - surely that can't be hard to implement?? Ideally on this, the ability to override galactic allocation levs on a system basis.

And either waypoints, or preferably wormhole/stargate tech. Moving ships in the late game in larger maps is a real pain!

Ideally, build queues for individual planets.

first and foremost... stability i have played a dozen games in the couple weeks i have had the cd and have only been able to finish one game because of the crash to the desktop thing. all of this was with a plain vanilla install. now i have put in some of the mod files and had to delete the whole directory cause it would ctd on starting the game. if it is all the events anomolies up issues whatever that are crashing it put in some kind of error checking option that runs the event once in the background and if successful applies it to the game and if unsuccessfull skips it and picks another one. or checks all events anomolies sbmodules etc on loading the game and skipping the ones that do not work and will cause a crash, or even a button in the menu to skip next turn because you know it is going to crash.
after stability i would like to see the guard function pop up a question mark and say guard what and when you click on a nearby starbase the ship will then attack any aggressor that comes near the star base before the agressor attacks the starbase...
in addition to sector sweep how about quadrant sweep where the ship uncovers fog in the adjacent 4 squares or something...
the aliens seem awfully similar but i have not played hard games yet so... but different ships for different aliens bioships for one race borg cubes for the yor etc etc
tons more stuff to research...