[dogscoff]

No! Don't introduce money! We already have 3 resources, and they represent money perfectly well as it is. If you want more resources and micromanagement, ask MM for improvements to supply and population. Let _them_ be your fourth (and fifth) resources. Here's my wishlist in that area:

-Limited supply generation and storage for facilities (instead of just the "quantum reactor" resupply depot we have now)

-Auto redirection of fleets and ships to supply depots if they can do so at no extra movement cost. (reduces micromanagement)

-Minimum population to operate facilities. If there's not enough population for all your facilities, you have to shut some of them down.

-Population keeps *all* of it's attributes when repatriated, not just the atmosphere it breathes.

-Facilities that can increase/ reduce the maximum population limit of a planet.

-independent migration of population. For example, population would automatically move from dangerous to safe planets & systems, from poor to rich, from settled to frontier - in extreme cases moving from one empire to another. (Economic/ political/ war refugees) This would move population managment from the realms of micromanagement into macromanagement, and make you empire feel more like a dynamic, organic society. Just imagine what it would do for roleplay and diplomacy, too...

-A more complex plague model. Not just level 1, level 2 etc. Perhaps have a "plague severity" percentage. I think I'll open a new thread on this...

-Maybe introduce other social problems too. Famine, Drought, Crime waves? Allow plagues and similar problems to spread from planet to planet, including allied planets. Could create some interesting diplomatic situations.

-Allow a planet to go beyond its maximum population limit, at the cost of reduced happiness and greater plague/ famine etc probability (think refugee camp)