I would especially like to see Science and Technology separated.

Science should be researched in different fields and lead to break throughs which should then make new technologies available for development. Certain technologies should open new fields of scientific research as should certain Scientific achievements themselves.

This would mirror the way Science and technology interact in the real world. Scientific research should be the same for all races although some races might have an advantage in certain fields because of how they experience the universe. Technology is influenced by culture so should be species specific like the technology trees in GC2.

I would like to see interactive turn based space combat, and multi-turn ground campaigns for control of planets.

I would also like a make your own alien editor similar to the ship editor but with animated contactable deformable parts. These could be animated for the break through screens. Actually a variation on the unit building engine in Elemental should be able to manage something like this by treating some body parts like it does clothing.

In Combat I would like to see ship damage that exceeds armour applied to the ships systems causing systems to randomly fail as the ship takes more damage. I would also like to see combat drone carriers.

I would also like to see an end to so many humanoid races, but I know this is part of the lore in the GC universe so I guess that is unlikely.

From what I've heard they intend to use a version of the Elemental engine so I expect great things.

I think the thing that's always bugged me the most about GC is the great (mostly tactical), mostly in depth economic, and space faring part of the game.

And THEN you go and land a transport on a planet and what you get? Either a) A bunch of troops on a 2d screen charging at each other in DL, or in ta, the same thing, just more flashy and symbols, but hey, least there's smoke now! ... There's no tactics to it, there's no effort. Just mass driver the planet to hell with 2-3k troops and ur ALWAYS gonna get the planet. Really sucks alot of the fun out of it. Or if you wanna preserve the planet? Use tidal. Same thing.  (But that's not my point)

You know how some people would kill for a klondike bar? Well I'd give up my klondike bar to see a real-basic, turn based invasion mini-game for planetary assaults. What I have in mind, is keep the already given invasion bonuses for choosing mass drivers, tidal, info war etc but THEN go to planet and wage war with some basic units (Possibly even based on research into lasers, and, missiles for attack/defense scores) to take over some basic points on the planet, ie the colony, spaceport and maybe all the planetary factories? Either capture them all, or eliminate all resistance.

Of course, if its to long it'll piss some people off, so have a "skip battle" button on the bottom of the screen and allow the comp to do some basic algorithms to calculate. Just expect the cpu to do a tad worse then you prolly would


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I also like the:
- Deterioration of ships with heavy damage - This almost seemed like a duh when I saw it. Someone tell please me why HP are NOT directly associated with the effectiveness of the ships components? "If its venting atmosphere, it should be able to launch neutron deathbeams at full power without itself ripping apart..."

 - better fleet improvements/modules - Pretty straightforward. I'd love to see more improvements and modules for fleets. Stuff like "fleet scanners" (Sensors), "fuel tankers"(Range), and possibly weapon/defense bubbles aswell. But you gotta watch how you do those, or you'll make Military RB's obsolete. Already hard for me to find a purpose for as is.

- Carrier Module - Now, I like everyone know stardock hates the idea of carriers. But the idea seems so simple. Have a series of modules (ex:1/2/3),  that allow you to hold (x) amount of "Tiny" (yes only tiny) ships within the hold(Up to 10 or until max logistics of fighters(in carrier)). One module per ship, and it should be big and costly. The module would in effect work like a planetary orbit thingy... Just it moves. And has smaller range from which the fighters can operate. (Lets say 5-10 parsecs in "deep space" for consistency ) In fleet battle, the fighters in the carrier would be deployed as part of the carriers logistics (so basically you gain little bits of awesome for less logistics) and could be destroyed like normal ships. (However, if you loss your carrier, the fighters would be destroyed, maybe?)
In theory it would work. You'd just have to figure out how to make the AI use it effectively.

- some basic "pre-battle" options for fleet combat - Prioritizing targets is a great stategical idea. Especially if you have that randomizer for hits I read somewhere in the thread to, when weak ships are hiding in a big bad fleet. But it should be only available to the attacker. Making the defender pay attention to how they deploy their fleets when their trying to hide their logistic forces.

- Evasion/Accuracy bonuses - Great idea that will help ungodly amount in getting those tiny little spitfires we all know in love back in the game. Though I suggest engines should also play a (small) roll in evasion.

- "Piercing" weapons - This is on the low rung of what to add, but it would be interesting to see what would happen if you threw in a handful of "guaranteed hit" weapons on the techtree here and there. I'd just worry about exploitation. (perhaps a module limit) 

- Galactopedia - YES!!! PLEASE!!! I love worthless filler information (honest!) . Briefs on civ history, a section on rings and moons, perhaps even auto updates when galactic achievements happen? And lets not forget a "modern war" history! (Like why did the Korx and Dregin team on the Death 6 months ago?) Gives the game a little bit more depth. And I think that's something we ALL want (For the most part)

- Constructor Spam - Lemme put it like this: If I wana spam 1029823729872 constructors to make one half way decent starbase, let me. If I just wana build one constructor, with the same number of modules, lemme do that. But make the MODULES go away one by one until their used up. Then my ship disappear. Hell, with the way it is right now, I'll take it if even i it get at that at one location only! (till the sb modules are full, then it goes boom. or till you cancel, i want multiple uses dang it!)

- Space is Empty - But not that empty! We got nebula, blackholes, rouge planets, pirates, lost fleets(like in starwars, anyone remember the katana fleet? ), and a billion and one other space phenomena, not just anomolies, planets, suns and astroids... More variety stardock! You went in the right direction with the Extreme Colony gibit, though it woulda been much better if only particular factions could research particular colonial things for particular worlds (Barren being the only universal one, perhaps?) Ex: Only Torians, Drath can get aquatic worlds, while only Korath and Yor can get Toxic. These planetary restrictions would give more realistic, unfair advantages. Adding to the variety of gameplay. (OH! And before you ask "But what if we invaded those worlds and we can't have the right tech to colonize it? Simple. You nuke the colony and leave it burn asunder . Only culture revolts could give you these planets (Because the people there would technically be them...I guess))

The best thing about Master of Orion (the original) was ship design + tactical combat.

You actually get to use the designs that you've created, to fly into combat the lethal cocktail -- or fizzling dud -- that you've concocted.

Then the AI comes out with a counter and you design something better.  But you only have 5 (or is it 6?) design slots, so you'd better make your new design count.  You can actually have a doctrine, a specific role for which you design with specific tradeoffs to get there, like an unarmored missile ship that needs a move speed of exactly 2 to get its missiles into range on the first round, or a tiny ship with a single bomb designed as an expendable basecracker -- against an opponent that doesn't have scatter missiles or that design is a loser.

MoO became easy to beat even on Impossible once you learned the ins and outs, but that's true of any game.  In the meantime that feeling you get when you finally build a ship that will stop those seemingly unstoppable Alkari fighter-bombers from wiping out your colonies is unmatched in strategy gaming experience.

In game after game -- at least on Impossible -- you're constantly fighting these losing battles with obsolete ships against overwhelming odds, then you turn it around with that one scrap of stolen technology that saves you.  (Or you manipulate the AI's into fighting each other, give them gifts, and win without firing a shot.  Once you learn how to do that it's time for something new.)

I've had a technological breakthrough deliver me from near-certain extinction because I knew how to use it in combat, and that has happened in numerous games.  The repulsor beam, the warp dissipator, the Inertial Dampener, merculite missiles, every drive technology up through fusion, it has all mattered in some game I've played at some critical juncture between victory and defeat.  I've even delivered myself from near-certain defeat by a runaway Psilon civilization by taking my Mrrshans against the Guardian with ships so crude no other species could've done it then unleashed Orion's technological secrets to come from behind and win the game.  That was pure awesomeness, and no other strategy game has delivered the goods like MoO did.

Dreadlords comes close -- fighting the constantly losing battle and hitting their non-combat ships to buy time to tech up -- but ship design without tactical combat is like building a model airplane that won't fly.  Sure, it looks good, but flying it is so much better.  And GC2 makes it all the more enticing because it's almost impossible to design a ship that doesn't look really cool.  I'd just love to fly those for myself.