[dmm]

I originally thought of the TF as an ancient race or as a multi-national trade conglomerate. So I had the game starting with the TF already spread out over the galaxy, one planet per system, with lots of storage III facilities. And I made them "non-attackable" to prevent people from getting pops of TFs, planets full of resources, planets with resource converters, etc. Especially if you start the TF out in one spot, you have to have something to prevent someone from taking them over right at the beginning. Perhaps with the upcoming patch you could give them race-specific weapons platforms, really cheap, with super bonuses.