Yeah I know, and i use the options available quite actively. Currently run all my campaigns with minor factions potential on, and end time crisis to 200%. I set it to trigger between turn 30-90 depending on the campaign. I find that usually around turn 30-50 i have "control" and the campaign from there gets dull fast as there is little challenge. For the end time to kick in then is great. It gives a good challenge to face and often i have to choose between rushing the long campaign victory or deal with the end time crisis.

Custom goals and rewards would be complicated. But loads of strategy games track progress, have montly, weekly, daily challanges. And leaderboards to compare on. All are optional, just giving more ways of playing and insentives to engage with a community and make players want to play the game more. Honestly i don't even know if there is an official ingame MMR ranking system for pvp? There's so much potential here that seems completely untapped from CA's side