[Strategia_In_Ultima]

Another thing I'd very very very much like to see:

Shared Planets.

I know I've stated it before in my first post as "Planetary Surface Use", but this is slightly different:

Have the option (selectable/random) of whether or not you start off on a planet together with another (or more) spacefaring race(s). They could be high-level Primitives (or low-level ones), Neutral Empires or even full-blown Empires of their own! Think like, for example, the Earth: As it is, if SEIV (or V) were to suddenly become a reality, you'd have at least three to four Empires:
-The US (duh.)
-Europe (with the ESA)
-China (they just launched their first space mission, remember?)
-And perhaps Russia.

Maybe even more.

Now, they all start off on the same planet (the Earth) (duh) and so in SEIV there should be a sudden ground conflict between these powers (and other Primitives - think India (relatively highly developed, with nukes), the Middle East, South America, Africa, the Amazone Indians, Micronesians and so on) where one would emerge victorious after a while. Is this realistic? No. The US versus China and India alone (leaving Russia, Europe and all others out) would mean nuclear doom. Instead, it's perfectly feasible that multiple nations continue to exist when interstellar travel is discovered (provided we don't almost wipe ourselves out with nukes first, in which case the world will unite into a happy nation, yeah right) and so in SE you'd have multiple Empires of the same race originating from the same planet.

Why not put this into SEV?

Would also be nice if coupled with a sudden alien invasion - the aliens land on the planet and attack the humans, who will then almost certainly seize the opportunity to settle differences once and for all, so you've got several parties fighting at once:
-The USA, Europe, the Russians and the Australians. (After all, we filthy rich countries (Russia somewhat excluded, but perhaps not in 2400) must stick together to prevent the hungry, poor masses getting their filthy hands on our precious money, no?)
-The aliens.
-India.
-South America.
-and so on.

This would make for a VERY interesting game.