Like almost every other idea posted here, we've already thought of this in the beta forums.
I suggested a "Seat of Government" ability that would let you create a facility (or component! -- remember the Minbari 'Grey Council' staying on a ship is deep space at all times?) that represents the actual center of control for whatever form of government your races uses. It's the "Imperial Palace" for monarchic or dictatorial governments, but could also be the 'parliament' in more democratic systems. If this "Seat of Government' is destroyed there would be a huge hit to happiness on all of your worlds and you would lose the ability to control most of your ships and fleets in space for a few turns, at least, while your government reforms somehow.
There are also ideas for "trading post" and "embassy" facilities floating around. You could build an embassy for a given empire and you would NOT lose contact if the 'direct path' between your empires was broken, for example. And maybe relations should be stronger -- an AI empire would react less negatively to bad events and maybe not be fooled by tricks like a 'communications mimic' intel operation. It would be really interesting if the 'Seat of Government' could be transfered to an embassy somewhere in a friendly empire whenyour homeworld was conqueredor destroyed... government in exile?
You could build a "trading post" close to an empire you were trading with and get more trade benefits. Not hardly as interesting as embassies or seats of government, but useful.
[This message has been edited by Baron Munchausen (edited 05 February 2001).]