Would really like to see better multi core support so I could play some really huge games without hiccups.  2 4ghz cpus are better then one if the game knows what to do with them!

I would like to see moving planets. I don't know if this is possible at all, but still... I like the idea.

Planets rotating around a sun. Phase lines thus might break down if a distance get's too long or the star is in between two planets. You would have to exactly time an attack, otherwise you might have the trouble of your supply route being cut off and your main fleet might strand in hostile territory. It would change the whole tactical situation quite drastically and players would have to react to a dynamically changing environment...

And I would love ships to actually miss a shot once in a while.

I noticed today that SINS has no in game help manual. I think that should be added with the very next patch. I want to be able to look up things like how shields work and the difference between beam weapons and missiles without searching the internet for it. even a mediocer help manual that tells you general information as found in the paper manual would be nice. although i personaly would like something that will tell you what all the capital ship special abilities are as well. there are ships i have never used because I have no idea what the 4th ability is and didnt want to play a game long enough to level it up just to find out.

on a side note. I really liked that they added a mini underground tab allowing you to buy from the black market and raise bounty without chaning screens. that was an awesome additon to 1.1

A story/campaign mode.

1) No betas that require me to download stupid new software suites I have no intention of ever using. [I will note this isn't anything wrong with the game itself]

2)A unified version would also be peachy, so people can play and mod again [if they ever come back, don't know at this point]...

3) A campaign would have been mighty nice, especially considering the number of desync issues in large games. Also it gives the players a little bit of "why" behind each of the factions... makes them more emotionally involved.

4) I would have liked to see a little more movement in space combat... It doesn't need to be wacky weird and all over the place... just as it stands now it seems a little static, to me... again, just my opinion.

5) The AI could use some more polish [what AI can't right?]

6) I wish the use of fleets was more relevant... They don't seem to do much for me that ctrl-1 can't do... why's it there?

7) More diversity of sounds and effects ... for a long game it can get mightly repetitive.

8) No "hero" units... I was extremely disappointed when I heard about capital ships essentially being hero units... especially after all the bru-ha-ha about Sins not being about micro-management. Couldn't resist the allure of WC3 micromanagement? The whole thing just reeked of imitation to me.

9) The empire tree just seemed like clutter to me. Im probably just newb... but the use it got out of me was practically zero.

10) Planet battles [terrestrial, not orbital] would be f'awesome. Maybe something to consider for Sins2? I don't know, and Im sure quite a few would disagree... but you can't lose with more places to fight and plan and exploit right?

Edit:

BONUS) If you really wanted to wow the hell out of me, the entire map would be fluid... a living universe where planets orbit stars and moons orbit planets, etc. Would make game dynamics very interesting Im sure... but it would be very lively.

for my taste, too many decisions are at the planet level and too few at the empire level. basically, research is empire level stuff, diplomacy, but this part is not the game's strongest point currently. arguably, fleet positioning is empire level too. so, yeah, I'd like to see a few more choices that effect all of your planets alike, something with trade-offs, a few government options would be nice or a comparable thing. nothing uber-fancy, just a few options how you want to run your place.

another thing: if empires start stretching 15+ planets and possibly multiple star systems, you kinda start losing the overview and - useful as it is - the empire tree isn't suited to provide enough information readily about your planets' status. what I would like to see is an interior management screen. basically a spreadsheet like table that includes planet name, type, current, used and maximum number of logistics and tactical slots, production capability, population, income rates and (in abstraced version, so for example as a fp count) local forces. you could maybe include empire tree options and modifications to expand it with the info you need if you want to improve on an existing system rather than doing something new that takes ppl away from the main action.

I know there is a search function which could use some of it and that you can hover over planets in the tree for info, but neither is all that helpful if you want to compare many planets, get a quick overview and make a fast decision.

uhm, an idea how to implement diplomacy without taking players too much from screen action (I think its not untypical for tbs to spend quite some time in foreign relations manager figuring out who likes who and what anyone has to offer, etc, etc.): a tree like structure like your empire tree, just on the right hand side. collapsable and with all the info you need. at the highest level you pick the side, then you pick the type, for example, planets, ships, treaties, technologies, etc. and then the indiviual unit. with that selection you could for example demand it, or propose an exchange with a selection from "your" tree. also, relations with the faction could be displayed at that top layer, so we can see how much the like us and possibly why. just an idea for cool diplomacy that you can control without panicking about other issues while you think about it.

I group ships together using CTRL+#. When I zoom way far out, I would love to see a number floating on the map to tell me where each group is, and have the number move to reflect each group's position.

Here are a few suggestions that top my list.  Some I have mentioned before, some are new.

1.  I would like, during multiplayer battles, the ability to designate targets to my ally. Something like having an option that I could use to click on an enemy ship/platform that would highlight the target on my ally's screen. It would provide an easier and quicker way to coordinate attacks on different targets, especially if I could highlight a few targets at a time.

2.  Would it be possible to show the names of a capitol ship on the side of the hull? I know it doesn't affect gameplay, but I think it would be a neat little feature that would make your capitol ships look just a little different from each other.

3.  This sort of goes along with the above suggestion, but could the emblem you have chosen for your faction be displayed on the side of your ships' (all or just capital) hulls?  Even if the suggestion above was not possible, could this be done instead?

4.  Could the different voices of the ships be a little more random? While once again not crucial to gameplay (and even though other strategy games do this as well), it would be nice to have different commanders answer when I click on multiple ships of the same class (especially in the apparently all-male TEC military).

5.  I know that this has been suggested before and that the developers have mentioned considering/working on it, I would like to know if radio chatter will be added in the expansion. When my bombers attack a target, it would be nice to hear something like "Munitions away!" or "Successful hit on target!" As you may well imagine, having a large fleet of ships and strike craft in a battle all reporting target,weapon, ship, etc status would add a new layer to the game's combat, which is why I saw fit to bring this up again.

6.  I have heard of some strategy games (End War and Red Alert 3, I believe) that will have cooperative campaign modes. Might this feature be in the expansion's campaign if it does indeed get one?

7.  I know others have requested that moons be added to the game.  Might this be done (sorry if anyone has already suggested this) by removing the resource asteroids around planets and replacing them with resource moons?  Some moons could be larger with both metal and crystal, while other planets may have several small moons with only one resource each.  More variety could be added because each planet would not have the same number or types of moons.

8.  Could there possibly be random events?  It be interesting if every so often a comet flew by or even more rarely a nova exploded in the background.  I may be stretching this a bit, but what about solar flares being animated on the stars?

9.  Mobile repair ships.  I refer to something similar to the cradle repair platform in the book "Halo: the Fall of Reach".  While it probably wouldn't be too smart to tow it into battle at the start, you could leave it at the previous planet while your battlefleet took out the defenses of the enemy planet.  Then, you could jump the mobile repair platform to your newest addition to your empire and quickly repair your fleet for that inevitable counter attack or your next mission of conquest.

10.  Another suggestion that others have mentioned:  planet-based defenses.  This could be done by (and again, I'm sorry if this has already be suggested) giving each planet a number of build slots (like refineries on resource asteroids) that these defenses could be placed in.  There could be multiple types, such as surface to orbit missiles to destroy ships and ground based laser point defense systems that could perhaps take out some of the incoming orbital bombardment.  By having a fixed number of build slots, which could possibly be expanded with the infrastructure researches (more people on the planet = more people to crew the weapons), you would have to carefully pick and choose which weapons you place there.  That surface to orbit missile base may take out orbital ships, but it can't defend against the missiles launched before said ships are destroyed.

That's all I can think of for now.  Let me know what you all think.

MIght I humbly suggest "Stay on target!"?

I'd like to see more to do with planets, they should be much larger, and should contain much more to do within the gravity well. There should bee moons, astroids, and many other things. I know this might sound a bit over the top but I think it'd be interesting to see planets orbit around there stars, changing up the battle ground constantly, I think there could be some interesting strategy used with this, I also wish there were alot less planets, there seem to be far to many.

Capital ships should be alot stronger, right now mass numbering a certain type of frigate or cruiser pretty much dominates the game, I also wish there were a bonus captial ship, something much larger, and much more powerful then your normal captial ship.

Races need to be more distinct, every race right now has about the same amount of ships, and nearly the same type of rolls they play as a ship.

What I'd like to see from the expansion:

1. Better defence options.  Fortunately Ironclad heard the community on this one and is doing this in part 1.

2. More interesting pirates.  I'd like to see them come with a capital ship late game, and possibility just steal resources instead of bombing planets (you know, like pirates should).  Also, an ability to 'direct' the pirates to some degree if you win the bounty.

3. Better AI and diplomacy options.  The missions are so crap that I just use locked teams if I want a true FFA.  I can't speak for the beta, but the AI really needs to stop running away so easily.  In 1.05 it seem to run from any engagement that it doesn't have at least a 3-1 advantage over you.  Also, it needs much better priority targeting.  It will ignore my two repair bays and try to fight the 7 turrets around it instead.  It will also ignore that it could simply leave that turret farm alone and go to the planet behind it with 0 defences.

4. Make bombardment ships useful again.  It's hard to do a hit and run attack if I need to risk 10 expensive siege frigates to pose a real threat.

5. Rebalance tech costs.  Instead of having all same-tier upgrades cost the same, they should be based on usefulness.  5% hull strength on everything for 400/0/25 is awesome. 1400/250/400 to allows just scouts to ignore inhibitors is a collosal waste of money.

6. More varried planets, planet bonuses, and anomaly sectors.  It's really disappointing to see some cool nebula or magnetic cloud and find that it does absolutely nothing.  Also, more artifacts.

7. Improve capital ships.  Their cost/usefulness ratio makes no sense at the moment.  The fact that serious players SCUTTLE THEIR CAP SHIPYARD AFTER THE FREE ONE should be all the evidence you need on this one.

The one thing I really wanna see? An AI who isn't such a wuss. Most of the games I play with my friends are against the computer. Our biggest complaint is that even on unfair they aren't all that difficult to deal with.

My request is for an AI that doesn't run as often. Wait how about this an AI that will engage me when we are on even terms. As it is the only time this happens is when they are backed into a corner. I would also love it if they attacked more than one world at a time. Maybe not with the massive death fleets that they send to one world at a time like the do now. Something more like smaller raids simultaniously on multiple worlds. I mean throw some randomness into the AI.

Me and the 4 friends I play with would really like to be kept on our tows. As it is after maybe the first hour of a game it gets to the point where it becomes only a matter of time. Sure there might be one or 2 spots that are aggrivating. But a win for us is assured more or less every time after that first hour passes. I would like to be able to play against the AI and not know for sure I was going to win until I completely break thier back.

@ lbgsloan:

ad 1: yeah, we'll see improvements

ad 2: partly agree. I wouldnt favour more control over pirates - that would be more like unmarked mercenaries doing your job without anyone knowing, which makes little sense in the diplomacy we currently have. what does make sense is more of a concentration by pirates on stealing stuff and destroying infrastructure rather than getting slaughtered. in earlier version I in fact did them see focus on trade ships and ports to the point that they ignored combat ships. stupid, stupid idea. what would make much more sense would be to give them something like a short range "embargo" ability. all of their ships. so what they would do is to get into vicinity of planet and trade ports and steal income from them and destroy infrastructure for bounty. but as the owners' ships start showing up, they should get out, at least if they are totally outnumbered. that way,the pirates could get their own proper economy, with a factory and more, and not relying on massive spawns every time the counter runs.

ad 3: agree again, we'll see the diplo still, hope its worth it.

ad 4: hm. have you played version 1.01 or 1.02. the ai tended to spam them massively and it sucked big time. you could defend, but it was such a pita. though they may have been nerfed too much. try treating them apart from any other fleets. move in, destroy defenses, THEN move in your siege frigs. they are so weak and expensive now that you should almost always awoid getting them near a battle in the first place.

ad 5: hm, not so sure, most of the higher techs are fairly useful. not a major point for me. keep in mind, information is power in strategy and if that tech gets you information easier, it may very well be valuable.

ad 6: specify variety, there are bonuses. I made a different suggestion too. you might also check out some mods. as for the non-colonisables: pretty much every one has an effect, just check it out. I think only the junk yard doesnt. the dead roids don't have effects, but can support military structures.

ad 7: might use work. there is a thread in the beta forum too about this.

@ antforest: discussed this. point is: why would you do that if in space you don't necessarily expect attacks only from the front. today's ships and subs dont have it as far as I know (I brought up your point a long time ago too and this is what won me over). and even if, you think with the turn rates it would make that much difference anyways? if most of the time it takes an enemy a few moments to come from his position in the grav well to yours? substantially longer than it would take your ships to reposition to front?

a point myself: even though its more or less a futile idea, the games reminds me too much of master of orion or gal civ and other tbs and with that in mind it just seems weird to have no substitute ships at all. it kind of destroys the feeling of the races evolving, adapting, if all they do is adapt and update current ship designs and not coming up with wholly imroved versions. some kind of mark II or whatever. maybe I'd just like to research more ship specific upgrades rather than generic armour/ shields, etc improvement that apply to all ships. or some way to make you feel more like your ships are actually getting an upgrade. its just too rts for me in that respect.