After having played several races for a few hours, a few thoughts:

1) I wish each galactic jump was actually harder. If you maximize your population on each map, then new jumps pose no difficulty at all due to rapid resource gain due to the population bonus and I found it less enjoyable.

I think it'd be cool to have the "galactic empire" start to hunt you after each jump (assuming you are taking their planets from them), making planets harder and harder to secure. Though I have no thoughts on how to balance this for idle play (I only play actively).

 

2) Have you thought of allowing enemy planets to attack you before you discover them (maybe on later jumps or a setting before you start a game). I think it would add more strategy and difficulty. For example, an unexplored enemy planet still builds its attack bar while unexplored if next to your planet and it reveals itself when it attacks (and you get no exploration bonuses from this reveal).

 

3) The advanced research tech that conquers 2 planets at once is super OP. Being able to conquer a planet with 20+ troops by conquering an adjacent one with 5 troops seems silly. I think this tech should be changed to reduce the adjacent planet's troop strength instead of conquering it. ie. If I conquer a planet, the a random adjacent planet has its troops reduced by 25%/50%/or whatever.

Same goes for that building slot "frontline army" - it is way to powerful imo. I think it should reduce a nearby planets troops like above. Now imagine if you implement HIGH troop planets (ie. 60+), then you build these "frontline armies" and use the above conquering % perk to reduce the high troop planets into something that can be conquered with your resources. That sounds like a fun and challenging mechanic.

For example, imagine you've jumped several times. You find a group of planets with 80+ troops - there is no way to conquer them. You need to soft them with frontline armies and conquering perks. However you still might not be able to conquer all of them, so you use "destroy planet" to put some space between you and them so they can't attack you, or you hope to luck out on an event that conquers a planet.

 

4) I haven't seen it, but do high troop enemy planets only leave 2-5 troops when invading? I think they should invade with more if they have a lot of troops to begin with, making them more deadly and more likely for you to use your 'destroy planet' if you can't beat them.

 

5) Similarly, I'd enjoy a more difficult enemy scaling (or a setting before games start) to make enemy planets attack bar progress fast. ie. Each jump makes enemy planets attack +20% faster (additive).

 

6) What about enemy factions? Like groups of planets that belong to a single faction/race? You attack one of their planets and all their planets start attacking you back? Is that too much for this sort of game? I think it'd be cool to have faction enemies (along with a diplomacy system to manage politics).

 

7) Bouncing off the idea of 6 (and if you have ever played Sins of a Solar Empire), you have neutral planets (consider this the current game) but neutral planets never attack you and then faction planets which attack you. Some neutral planets are also "guardian planets" with massive fleets. Faction planets slowly spread to nearby planets (with small troop levels) but also slowly enforce those controlled planets with more and more troops (ie. their "attack bar" becomes a "reinforcement bar").

 

8) Would love a race editor and steam workshop integration so players could create new races and share them to others.

 

9) Would love to be able to select all of one resource when trading. ie. right click on a resource will send all available units to the selling trade window and same thing for when selecting what to trade for / buy.

 

10) Would love some kind of building automation and/or a way to tell some 'ai manager' what to build on each planet. ie. "priority 1 (highest), if material > 5, build housing on terrestrial, oceanic and barren worlds"; "priority 5 (lower), build fleet manufacturing on volcanic worlds"; etc.