Here's another idea... hidden stellar abilities!
Wouldn't it add to the eXperience (yes, I know, a MOO3 term
) of the game if you could actually discover new things and (gasp!) not know what they are right away!
Also, from a realism standpoint... "Sir, this nebula we discovered has a shield sapping effect... no, sir, I have no idea what a 'shield' is, we haven't researched them yet!"
So what I'm suggesting is, stellar abilities could be tagged with a prerequisite, much like components, facilities, tech areas, etc., and until you reach that tech level, the ability remains hidden - active, but hidden. You might wonder why enemy ships are disappearing in that one system... until you develop the right level of sensors, the best you can do is track them down and try to figure out that that one asteroid belt over there has a cloaking effect! Or maybe the star in the Paradise system is unstable... but until you research Astrophysics 3, you don't know, so you colonize all the optimal conditions 150% value planets there, not knowing that the star will blow up in 50 turns!
