[Slick]

I would also like to see some expansion on the idea of trade. Right now, trade is completely transparent to the player. I would like to see trade ships which are not really under your control (since they are free traders) but do require protection. This would not really add to the micromanagement, and would add realism since a government has far less control of free traders compared to military ships. These autonomous ships would establish their own trade routes (viewable only to the home empire and the empire to be traded with). Both empires would share the responsibility of protecting their trade ships. You could fleet your ships with them as protection, but then fleet control would be turned over to the computer.

Trade ship construction would also not be under your control. It would be controlled by some sort of suppy & demand routine. Possibly the player could have a method to increase/decrease trade ship construction over the whole empire at the cost of lowering the empire's overall construction rates accordingly.

An attack on an enemy trade ship would disrupt trade, and the movement of resourses & supplies around your empire. Maybe even be able to capture enemy trade ships. This would make the spaceport idea a little different in that you would need a spaceport and trade ships operating from that system.

There could also be trade ship related research areas. These would not be able to give the trade ships any offensive military capabilities, but would be in the areas of speed, defense, capacity, increased exchange rate, etc.

Trade should be linked to happiness and resource procurement at the system level. It should also fill the role of supply lines. If a part of an empire is cut off, it should suffer in supply, and its ability to send/receive resources.

Slick.