I only read back a little but after playing Sins for way more time then I should with people I had a few ideas or tweaks in game play mechanics that might be interesting. I figure I'll toss 'em out and see what happens.

Strike craft assignment in starbases - Would it be possible to gain the ability to assign the strike craft you want from a starbase after you purchase the upgrade? In the same sense as I can assign the strike craft type as soon as I plant a hanger defense base even though it's not built. Then the strike craft would actualy begin construction after the upgrade is in place. I often find myself picking Starbase form the drop down menu and find myself having to go back and assign like 50 strike craft squads.

Starbase upgrade reassignment - As your front shifts and territory is added it would be awesome to be able to reconfigure your starbase upgrades. There would be a de-upgrade time like a scuttle and maybe little or no materials refund perhaps. The upgrade assignment I would like to have on star base is differnet from one on my battle front versues one deeper in my territory.

Mines in magnetic clouds - Certian people are able to lay mines in a magnetic cloud, like homing ones, but if I recall right scout ships can't cast the uncover ability to remove the mines. Minor annoyance but it would be nice to even that out with either no mines or make the uncover ability immune to magnetic clouds as it doen't use anti-matter maybe.

Fleet capcity upkeep - This might be too much of a change but here it goes. Fleet capcity might get changed in to more of a sliding scale with a upkeep range. For example lets say you are at 75% upkeep and your fleet gets wiped out in an epic fail of a battle for you. Even though you have no ships your still paying 75% upkeep making it next to impossible to rebuild a fleet that fast unless you have something like 40 planets under your belt. So lets say if you are using all your fleet capcity then you pay the full amount as dictated by your research level, but it will drop some as capacity is freed up by loss.

Now you might have let's say a minimum upkeep just for the infrastructure of your system but if you have no ships to actually resupply your costs would go down. Something like if you are at 75% researched level upkeep your minimum would be 30% or something but it would free up much needed income to continue the fight.

Planet bonuses - Certian planet bonuses give off the impression that they are "found" via exploration such as massive fauna, pure glaciers, habital cavern system and other natural essence bonuses. However other ones feel more like a policy that would be inacted by the controlling party such as high security protocol, entertianment hub, or industrial wasteland. I like the idea of finding certian bonuses that would be provided as natural phenomenom but perhaps each planet would have a type of policy protocol that could be purchased or enacted, one per planet, to allow the user furhter customization for thier empire.

Okay I think that wraps it up for me. Enjoy.