wow that was fast
Klaus - in fact it is your letter to SE mailing list that inspired me for that thread.
Interesting thoughts, but i have to say that i dont see individual "leaders" coming into play at SE. And i dont realy want to. I prefer realism over eyecandy and if you think about it, what can a single operative do after all?
Espionage and sabotage should most surely be separated. Espionage is not agression and is quite difficult to stop.
I know i might regret it but what about introducing "espionage units" into the game? Not like in Sid Meier's games though - when you start a project you produce a "spy boat" with this particular mission which you then have to bring to the destination. They are invisible save for, say, 2 sector view from specialized facilities on planets and other "spy boats".
And PPP is crap, how can you run a political party on bloodthirsty anarchic machines? Or on hiveminds? and so on. Same with Crew [whatever].