[Mark Walton]

How I would do "spice" production:

Create a new racial tech for Spice

Make it allowable only to one particular AI race, a neutral which never creates colony ships (players would have to be told not to choose it)

Make facilities which can only be created with the spice tech tree (doing whatever you need, make it valuable)

NOW the only way for a player to get access to those facilities is to ally with the neutral or take them over, bomarding the world would be pointless (except to deny the failities to others)

Of course there is a sneaky exploit loophole with this, to create extra spice worlds, but I'm not telling what it is

My suggestions for facilities:

1. Increased Population rate
2. Increased physical fitness creating better combat abilities
3. Feeling of tyranical oppression, increasing population happiness
4. Increased value and conditions
5. Decreased population happiness causing increased chance of rebellion and splitting from empire, accompanied by rapid weight loss

These would of course be known as (in order) baby spice, sporty spice, scary spice, posh spice and ginger spice.

(Based on notes I had for my old Full Thrust campaign system)