An extremely silly question, buut...

[dmm]

HighGryphin, BaronM, and Lupusman:
I like all those ideas. Some comments to sharpen our focus:

BaronM:
Money would be cool, but even with money you still wouldn't have a galaxy-wide Trade Federation as I've been describing it, unless you were allowed to sell tech and info also. If money were important, then that would lead to some interesting decisions about tech. Do you keep it to yourself and retain your tech advantage, or sell it for much-needed cash (and thereby make it immediately available to anyone who can pay)?
Of course the problem with the money idea is that it requires a re-code by MM.

Lupasman:
It is TF, not FT, unless you're French. (Federation de Trade?)
I really like that scarce minerals idea. But do you think the game would work if the TF wasn't bound by a strict neutrality code and was trying to conquer the galaxy like everyone else? What is to stop them from colonizing a few planets and then cutting everyone else off from minerals?
Regarding allowing attacks on the TF: so a player could choose to become a "rogue state" by attacking the TF, huh? I don't mind the idea of letting someone seize stored minerals, but it would be a game-buster if someone got control over the TF's resource converters. Those had better be on Planet Fort Knox!
(BTW, if you capture a planet with Mineral Storage, do you get the minerals that were stored there?)

HighGryphin:
I like the idea of competing TF houses. That would give you a game within a game. Maybe could combine with Lupasman's ideas? Like maybe one TF house wants Rads and the other wants Orgs? Or maybe it's just that the neighboring galaxy isn't big enough for them both!