Actually, there's no need for a special 'trade federation' at all. Only one very small hard-code change is needed. We need some way to track how much of a given resource another empire has given you, and how much you have given to them. With a 'running total' of the positive or negative balance, of course. It ought to be on the diplomatic information screens somewhere. Then, everyone can 'trade favors' reliably -- if they feel like being reliable.
Once the resources are in your hands, who knows what might happen?
I can see certain players deliberately building huge amounts of storage space and using their ability to store resources for diplomatic advantage just like you would use any other ability in the game.
[ June 06, 2002, 18:00: Message edited by: Baron Munchausen ]