[Baron Munchausen]

Maybe we need something that's present in most other 4X games: money... If you could just sell surplus resources on an 'abstract market' and keep the money, then go to the same market when you were short of something and try to buy what you need it would amount ot more-or-less the same thing a the 'trade federation' idea. Supply and demand effects based on what all the empires are actually selling or buying would be nice.