Since 'heros' have been confirmed in the chat I want to make some points about how they ought to work.
The first thing that worries me is that he is saying their inclusion in the game will depend on the
artwork getting done. I sure hope that the current design doesn't call for huge 'unique' portraits for each 'hero' like some sort of RPG game. This is not MOO II. These 'heros' are going to be only a small part of a really huge and complex game. They don't need individual characterization beyond a name. They are simply slightly more talented officers/politicians among vast numbers of more ordinary operatives. I would be perfectly happy with a 'generic' image for all ship commanders (captains, admirals, or whatever you want to call them) and a generic image for all 'governors'. Don't hold up this useful game feature for the sake of fancy artwork. The scale of this game is completely different from MOO II where each leader could be a unique character.
Since I'm not concerned about the portrait or other 'RPG' features of these 'heros' I hope we'll have more than a few of them? The limit of four of each type was OK in MOO II but that was a small game with only 80 systems max. I'd say about a dozen will be the absolute minimum required for SE V given the scale of the game. It would be best to provide for the possibility of every single system having a 'hero' governor and every single fleet having a 'hero' commander. Not that we should _expect_ to always be fully staffed like that...
But the game should allow for it. That could mean hundreds of them.
As for their effects in the game, I hope we don't go 'overboard' like MOO II and have magical renaissance erm, creatures who can do everything from fleet strategy to engine repair to original scientific research. They should have specialities related to their 'profession' (fleet strategy for the fleet commanders, population management for politicians) and not much else. What would make them interesting is if they have
loyalties to their species and their home planet/system -- and populations should have loyalty to them, also! -- so that they can have reactions to events in the game and their reactions can have effects in the game.