The only problem with the auction was that there was not much of one. For most it was just the handicapping system CP decided at the beginning. There were so many powers left in the rare cases someone was outbid they did not bid again but could choose another power.
If a game was set up with few positions with those powers fixed. Say 6 or 8 then you may get more bidding/over bidding happening. But that assumes people want to play that game as opposed to quiting the bidding to play in another if the power they want gets too costly. And plenty of us simply pick the power we want to play that time rather than try and powergame with the most powerful nation we can construct.
I think this would be a very good method in a game where you know / suspect it will be over subscribed. For example if we had another mega game. It would let people get the powers they want and give some indication of how people really rate some of the powers. That didn't happen here. Good game though
with a complete range of players from first time newbies to the most experienced.