Arrgh. stupid browser ate my post.
1) I think that having all the AIs act the same would be very boring...
IMO, it would be best to have each one specialize in something different, such as missiles vs torpedoes vs slug throwers, etc.
2) Disabling all offensive intel would be good. Informational ops only, such as the census reports should be allowed.
Leave technology theft out of the list, though, since it will doubtlessly be abused.
3) Put in many levels of stealth. 10 levels would be good, for then you have to start wondering when to quit the cold-war escalation and actually research weapons & armor
Anybody who researches all 10 techs in stealth and sensors would be whooped by the unstealthy army of mass destruction some other player has equipped with WMGs and Armor 15s.
4) Yes. I could see the system-wide bonus coming from a dedicated lab, full of hardworking planners. They would design the most efficient mining tunnels for the specific terrain of each world, breed different farm plants and animals for each world, etc.
The System-wide Lab would be dedicated to that one system, and concentrate on the sun & orbital effects.
Single-planet Labs would work on the gravity, surface structure/terrain, ambient temperature effects.
5&6) I really like the propulsion system I designed for P&N v2.0 (and the AIs do decently in it too!)
By making the propulsion requirements based on mass, it pushes the optimum shp size down to LC & smaller.
Big ships can still be useful, and effective, but they are slow and expensive, so it is advisable to have many fast, expendable LCs and FGs to defend it.
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