[PvK]

I've not seen such problems with the editor, although I haven't used it extensively. How frequently are you seeing that, and under what circumstances?

As for spreading out start locations, it's fairly simple if you don't mind the map author knowing where all the potential start locations are. Just specify the valid start planets for first homeworlds. During startup, these planets will be changed in value. I think depending on your game setup settings, the atmosphere can either change, or only the correct type from the original map will be chosen for each empire. Someone might post who know more details on how that works, or you can experiment.

PvK