This is critical. As i said in my last post here, the whole reason I started with combat stuff is cause someone captured every outpost I had in an entire sector. I had no idea I was even being attacked until I loaded up my turn one time and had a whole lot less outposts all of a sudden. I'd already been building a fleet for defense, so as soon as I noticed I was able to start taking them back, but if I'd known I was being atttacked when it started I probably could have prevented him from capturing a lot of them...
The other reason I switched over to conquering. FAR easier...
Not sure if someone said this, but there needs to be a way to abandon a planet! If I start a game and two of the planets in my sector are ice, I would like to have a function to abandon a colony on those planets. That way it does not count against my total planet count.
I'll comment on each change section separately. Land grab: I like the idea of keeping us from rushing out and grabbing everything in site. With this change I would like to see a change to the teraformer. Maybe allow the teraformer to actually change planet types. This would be a looooooonnnngggg process, but it would allow those who get crummy starting areas to change a few planets to accommodate their play style.
Massive armies and super capitals: are we going to keep the super capitals a warlord only realm, or open them up to the other specialists? I would like to see all but the PK open up to the other specialists. Not having gone down the combat line to far in my main game Im not 100% sure if this is currently the case or not, I'm just going off what my factory screens say I may build, and what I havnt met the requirements for yet. If we are a trader or scientist and we max out at dreads I guess I would feel really left behind if we want to stray from our specialist end game or defend from a warlord fleet. I would really have to reread the combat revision thread and spreadsheet to get a full understanding.
Love the research/building slider! I had been trying to figure out what would really make this feel like I was making a more interactive choice in the game and this screams it. The Ro evening out is a great idea as well. I would have to say I really don't think the production bonus is in the spirit of the trader. It really seems like it should be the warlords bonus, warlord should be the one cranking out ship after ship on a production war factory line. The idea of getting ro/co from ship destruction is nice and would maybe make a nice skill for anybody to take. Maybe a scavenger skill, not sure. I would like to see the trader get a trade bonus from actually trading, this would get them actively getting routes going. With the production bonus it just says crank out more ships, well more ships is only really good for war, huge empires, or your stuff is getting blown up alot.