[Jmenschenfresser]

By Version, i don't know if you mean a hopeful SE5 or just the next patch, but here is my contribution to the future of SE. A couple I don't think are on here:

1) Larger systems (not galaxies, systems)--might be interesting to have larger or different sized systems possible (bigger and smaller than the 13x13).

2) Some sort of empire moral, which can vary. For example, Empire X has two enemies, Y and Z. X has many victories against the Y empire, so it has a +N as moral when fighting them. But against Z, they have lost quite a few ships and battles, so when fighting Z, they have a -N. Another item which I think would be neat to add to this would be size and distance of war. If a particular war requires the use of 50+ warships, you take a moral hit. Same as if the war is 5 systems away from your nearest planet. And when empires are assaulted on their own ground their moral can jump because they are fighting for their own soil. but I have mentioned all this before, so I'll stop.