[Lisif Deoral]

• Multiplayer save games:IMO the only way to prevent hacking (to cheat or gather information about other players) is to send the players files which contain only what they know (not the entire galaxy status as in SEIV).
  
  The .plr file should be changed to a simple list of commands ("ship 1 moves to Dornot 1,7; ship 2 renamed to MilleniumDuck; planet56 builds mineral_miner_1") - if any of the commands turn out to be illegal, they would be ignored.
  
  Saving the .plr and/or turn files in simple text format (or another easy-to-read format) might be useful but would endanger the game sales (one might develop another game client to write .plr files).
• Enemy designs archive & LR scanners
  Add the enemy designs "seen" by long-range scanners to the known enemy designs list! (I don't know if it already works this way in Gold...)
• Boolean operators
  Some sort of boolean operators and variables available when giving orders. For example:
  If an enemyship appears into range and is not part of a fleet with more than 10 ships then attack (intercept) that ship
• Giving players other roles (Warning: this is a major change!)
  Not every player needs to play an emperor/president/whatever... You might be interested in playing only the combat part, or the empire micromanagement part, etc. Right now, you can do this, but everything else will be handled by the AI - what about giving control of these aspects of the empire to another human player? (obviously useful only in a MP game!)
  
  The same model might have a lot of other interesting (and uncommon, at least in games I have played) uses:
  
  * a "federation" game, with players controlling different zones of the same empire - and able to start a secession war or betray their sovereign
  
  * being able to play something else than a true empire (for example, a galactic trading company)
  
  * varying degrees of "affiliation" of units to more than a player (and eventually also "freelance" or independent units). For example, a frigate of the Dornot System Defense Fleet usually accepts commands only from the Dornot Governor (player1). Anyway, if the Governor rebels against his emperor, the frigate might decide to remain loyal to the Empire (and pass under the control of the emperor's player). This might be called "warlord mode"...