more stuff we need

[apache]

Like the topic says...yet more brainstorming on making the game better/easier/more fun/more logical/whatever.

1) In the planets screen, there should be a way to filter out specific types of planets to colonize. In other words, be able to set some filter so you only see gas/rock/ice planets. I would also like to see the 'breathable' filter changed to be able to select specific atmosphere types. This would help for late in the game when your empire is breathing oxygen, but you have a bunch of conquered peoples that breathe methane or something.
2) Updating facilities in a large empire SUCKS!! There needs to be some sort of 'update old facilities' button somewhere, probably in the colonies screen. This would simply check every planet, and if they have facilities that can be upgraded, the upgrade should be put into the queue. Also, I can't seem to think of any time where you actually would want an obsolete facility to be built, so this should also update all queues that are slated to build outdated facilities, and modify the queue so that all those old facilities in the queue are now the new facilities in the same spots in the queue. If an old facility is currently being built, well I guess I don't know what should be done about that.
3) Change the feature that doesn't let you change prototype designs once they are added to the queue to make it so you can't change prototype designs once they are currently being built. Its really silly to have your shipyard building a cruiser design, and you just get battle cruiser technology, so you put in a prototype battle cruiser as the next item in the queue, but you can't change the design next turn when that old cruiser is still not finished, and you have some brand new jacketed photon engines to equip the battle cruiser with. Run on sentence, I think, but you get the point.4) Mines. Make them less pointless to design. I suggest adding some sort of sensor package (say it takes up 5kt or one slot on the mine design) so they can be either dumb mines which blow up no matter who goes through, or smart mines which have less explosive power, but won't blow up friendlies.
5) I find it incredibly annoying when the AI colonizes in my space. I know the AI is programmed to colonize a system, and claim all adjoining systems, then colonize them, but something needs to be changed so that it does not colonize or claim an ally's territories. Maybe it should discontinue claiming surrounding systems if they are already claimed by an ally, if it has a trade alliance or better with that ally.
6) Make technology trading less hit or miss with the AIs. Sometimes I may want to get say Physics 2 from an AI, but they accept the trade, and all I get is level 1, which I already have. Maybe if you can specify a level of that technology that you want when proposing a trade. So you could offer level 1, 2, 3, and 4 physics in return for level 2 astrophysics, and level 3 and 4 propulsion.
7) Another thing I want when composing a message is the ablity to bring up a map with system names on it and other stuff, pretty much like the map in the corner. Its a real pain when you want to suggest a border with a human player, and forget what systems are which, or maybe you want to trade a sytem with the AI, but can't remember if you are giving him a border system or your home system. Also, in addition to this, for trades, it would be really nice if, next to the names of ships for trade, it told you what system they were in.
Well, thats all I can think of for now.