[dogscoff]

Here's something I'd love to see, although I have a feeling it might be contraversial:

I don't think the straight Jubilant->Happy->Indiferent->etc scale is enough. Therefore, how about if every planet tracked not only the population's happiness, but their loyalty to each and every empire in the game. A population's loyalty toward a given empire could be modified by battles and intel and facilities and troops and plagues and cures and various other game elements, and could be used to make planet captures, rebellions, coups and even ground combat militia behave more convincingly.

For example, a planet that has just been captured may be loyal to its original owner and attempt to stage a coup. Or it might even try to convert to the original owner's ally if that ally's ships entered the system. Similarly, if you recapture one of your planets from a hated enemy, the population should assist in your invasion attempts and then welcome you back rather than try to fight you off and then riot automatically. The values governing this behaviour should be hidden from the player, although a rough indication of a population's loyalty might be visible.

Even if these values did little or nothing in the game's first release, functionality that uses them could be patched in later, and of course the values would have to be moddable for those that don't like them.

I realise that it would mean increasing the size of the savegame files significantly, but as the average PC's storage, processing power and bandwidth capacities continue to increase, I think Malfador should make the most of it.

Similarly, I think each ship should record not only the crew's experience but its loyalty and morale. Ships could then spontaneously join another empire if you don't look after them, or mutiny and turn into rogue/ pirate craft.

Also, all these loyalty settings would have to be modifiable by race: For instance I don't think a Borg or Cylon planet would ever be likely to mutiny...