Sounds, interesting, Ruatha. Not sure I'd be interested...well, I am, but I don't do too well in multi-player games.
But, it seems I have a mouth, so I'll comment on the idea
:
Full-tech, part-tech, or no starting tech?
Racial points?
Would email between people be allowed or just in-game? If email allowed, then adequate turn cycle would need to be considered.
Given my experience with so-called "fast" games, it just ain't so with too many players. May I suggest the limit be 10 players? More suitable, 8, I think. (I am just remembering the horrible turnaround problem in the Experiment game)
Consider no attacks till, say, 5 turns have passed.
And, although this changes the qame (quite) a bit, if 8 players, then 1 warp point out to ONE system at a single homeworld of each player. Of course, since it appears to be a map one would make, it wouldn't be too hard to add these systems and make them balanced.
Just some thoughts to help get it rolling
. ( don't mean to "tread" on your idea)