[Barnacle Bill]

>I would prefer specific counter measures
>like a special loyalty component for ships
>and facility for planets.

The Political Officer component and Secret Police Station facility?

Seriously, there should also be a "Psychic Shield" component a la Traveller to counter the loyalty subverter weapon.

>a feature to the game that alows the TURNS
>to process automatically after a set amount
>of time in SINGLE PLAYER mode

Does this mean your turn would automatically end after some real-world time interval? I would HATE that! If you mean a time limit on turns generally, sometimes there is just a lot of micromanagement to do. For example, the turn you discover atmosphere converters you have to hit every domed planet in your empire to add it to the que, often having to scrap an existing facility to make room. If you mean the turn ends automatically after a certain period of no activity on my part, well with a wife & kid I often have to walk away without warning and can't get back for hours. I don't want to find the game has gone on without me when I get back!

>A feature that would display the type and
>amount of ships an enemy fleet has so that
>the player can determine if they WISH to
>engage the enemy.

You have this today, except for going through a warp point when you have no ships or colonies in the system on the other side (in which case you SHOULD be subject to a surprise). Stop one square short of the enemy fleet in question, then left on it. You will see the ships listed by name (for AI ships or human ships that have not been manually renamed, that will be class name & "hull number"). Right clicking on any one of them reveals its class (useful if it has been renamed), hull type (destoyer, etc...) and hull size in ktons. Actually, that works regardless of range as long as you have something in the same system that can "see" the contents of the system. If you have a ship with long range scanners that is within long-range scanner range of the enemy fleet, you get all sorts of additional details when you right click, like how much damage it has, the ability to look at its components to see what they are & which are damaged, etc... So, you can look before you leap.

>SCRAP ALL FACILITIES OF THIS TYPE feature

This already exists as well. Bring up the Colonies screen (left click on the icon of the white dome on a green base near the upper left corner of the screen). On the menu forming the right side of the Colony screen is a button labelled "Scrap Facil Types". You can scrap every example of a given facility empire-wide with this. It won't stop the AI Minister from building them again, though (I'd like a way to do that!).

>More Single Planet Neutral players

I second that motion. Similarly, I'd like there to be a bunch of "generic" _main.bmp files (the ones with the empire flags) so that planets could rebel and become independent. Rebel planets would keep all the same race & ship graphics as the race comprising the majority on the planet, but use one of these "spare" _main.bmp files.

>A way, if at all possible, to set the TECH
>level of EACH empire at the set up screen.
> So if you want a few AI players to be
>advanced tech, and you beginning tech, you
>can set the game up that way.

You could do this in SE3. You could independently set tech, number of starting planets and homeworld characteristics independently for each player, including a generic setting to apply to random AI players. I think this should be added back into SE4.

>Add a few things to the RANDOM events. Such
> as PIRATES

I was thinking about that same thing in some detail Last week. The random event would create a pirate fleet made up of troop transports loaded with troops and warships BC or smaller heavy on boarding parties (but not so heavy they can't shoot). Pirate ships would all have an small inherent repair capability (maybe one system per turn, affecting only the ship itself). Pirates would be built with the best "general" tech available to any player at the time the pirate fleet is generated (nothing that depends on racial traits, though). The pirates would have a natural stealth which would cloak them against the best sensors. It would hide them if going through minefields, satellites (except at planets), etc..., but not from ships or bases IN THE SAME SECTOR. The pirates would select a fleet or planet they can beat within the system they appear in and attack it, without regard for who owns it. Captured ships would be scrapped on the spot (pirates wouldn't need a shipyard). Planets would be invaded an pillaged (scrap all facilities & cargo), but would revert to the previous owner's control as soon as the pirates leave. The proceeds from all this would go into a special "account". When the pirate's account reaches two times the original cost of the pirate fleet, the pirates disband. Pirates will move to an adjacent system after each raid, and look for a new target (taking ships/fleets that appear as targets of opportunity while in transit). They would lay low in the same system (or select another target there) if exiting means engaging a superior fleet that is blocking the warp point, though. To catch them, you'd have to either lay an ambush with cloaked warships at a likely target(assuming the pirates lack the sensor tech to defeat your best cloak) or beat around the system where they Last struck (and adjacent ones) with fleets hoping to bumble into the sector they currently occupy. Or, wait until they get enough loot to disband. If a pirate ship is damaged such that its strategic movement capability falls below 3 and the pirates can't get all ships back to at least 3 in one turn of repair, the sluggards will be split off into another fleet that will try to catch up later after it is repaired.