[Strategia_In_Ultima]

Halo Ring World/Dyson Sphere SYSTEMS.

Think: you have a star, and perhaps a number of planets, but the edges of the system are not just normal edges - YOU'RE IN A MASSIVE HALO RING WORLD/DYSON SPHERE!!!!! Would have to be a special type of system... You can colonize it, and another can too at the same time, without you making direct contact. (if you're on opposite sides of the system) It should be able to hold TRILLIONS of people, with perhaps a limit of one per galaxy/sector. You still need to be able to build ringworlds and sphereworlds, and they will still be very big, but not the biggest you can get - just the biggest you can create yourself. Would certainly be nice if coupled with "ancient relics" of a "lost pan-galactic empire with technology beyond our comparison". It's been proposed before. Ancient derelict ships, massive super-weapons prowling the galaxy, ancient colonies that get reactivated when examined, cryo-chambers containing the sleeping bodies of those ancient beings...

Campaigns/map goals. Say, if the above is true, your goal could be to get at least five trillion people on the Dyson Sphere, and oter colonies must be under 1 billion. Or, your goal would be to revive the ancient beings from hibernation - a (constantly) ongoing project that you need to divert resources to manually. Think: "To revive the ancients, you will need: 100 million research points, 10 million intel points, 10 million minerals, 50 million organics, 100 million radioactives, 500 billion Star Credits, and at least 50 generic alien artifacts and the following specific artifacts: Alien Cryo-Chamber Blueprints, Alien FTL Starship, Alien DNA Bank, Alien Cryo-Research Data Storage Dump and any number of Alien Cryo-Chambers with a total of at least 100 aliens in hibernative state." Or: "To assure the safety of the Galaxy and the state of peace between your allies, you must destroy or conquer the [%RaceName1] and have at least the [%RaceName2] and three other allies left alive." Or: "The Galaxy is getting unstable. The Galactic core anomalies are in a state of quantum-chroniton flux, and the Galaxy will be destroyed in three hundred years. You need to either stabilize the anomalies or find a way to escape destruction by opening a warp point to the Greater Magellanic Cloud. To stabilize the core anomalies, you will need to research "Quantum-Chroniton Stabilizers". To open a warp point to the Greater Magellanic Cloud, you will need to research "Interdimensional Warp Points"." Where the two techs are WORLDS apart from each other, and you will not be able to research them both since they start off with different base techs from the very beginning.

Or series of maps (and thus games) that together form a campaign. I.e.:

-First Scenario: Early Exploration. Goal: a total population of 500 billion. Briefing:
We stand at the brink of a galactic adventure. We are ready to traverse the warp points at the edge of our system and explore the galaxy. However, our home planet has massive overpopulation, and we need to bring many people to new colonies. However, since population growth is so slow, we will need to GROW our population before we can start exploring the galaxy in earnest.

However, deep space probes have discovered two large, well-established other races in our vicinity, who appear to be at war with each other. You must be wary of sudden and unexpected attacks. We do not know if their attitudes towards us are hostile or not.

-Second Scenario: The First Wars. Goal: eliminate the [%RaceName1] and [%RaceName2] presences in this area. Briefing:
We are now well established. Our population is growing steadily. We are poised to make great breakthroughs in many fields of science. However, two large colony ships have recently arrived in this vicinity. Their early expansion is alarming. They have already eliminated one of the races in this sector, and are now firmly established in their former territory. The two races appear to be allies, so little chance of them wiping each other out. Also, the other race in this vicinity will not respond to reason and says it can take care of the new threat itself, without our help.

Regardless of whether or not the other race here will choose to ally with us in the coming conflict, we need to eliminate the two newcomers if we are to push further into the Galaxy. It would, however, be easier if the other race here would ally with us.

And so on.

Would be really fun.