Good Morning All,

Multiplayer is a great aspect of this game and I've enjoyed playing it since release of the base game, however, the current state of the Multiplayer game is not a good impression.  Now I know several of the things are being worked on, yet other options are not investigated.  Below is a list of multiplayer changes I would like to be looked into and why.  

• Custom Factions - Not going to dwell on, I know this is a top priority and will be brought back soon, thank you.
• Ideology Events - Currently Ideology is a no go for Crusade and Multiplayer.  (I know it's a known issue but, this needs to be bumped up as this eliminates this aspect of the game.)
  • Planet Colonization does not currently provide events (Except for Precursor Worlds) therefore no Ideology in multiplayer.
  • Please allow for some random Ideology events in multiplayer to make the game a similar experience to Single Player.
  • Allow for alternative options for Ideology in multiplayer such as anomalies +1 or +2.
• Unstable - Yes, the multiplayer game is not as stable as single player as we've continued to crash at least once in 50 turns, and last night after about 20 turns where the crash is unrecoverable.
• Turn Timers - Frogboy has stated he would love tournaments.  If a tournament style would be put in place this would need to be looked at.  Why??  Mainly because there is nothing in place that would prevent one player from snailing the game out (especially in a tournament if loosing) and as the game gets going turn times start to lengthen.  Now with a good multiplayer friend this may not be an issue but, that may encourage me to hold my diplomacy or ship designing outside of my turn versus during my turn to help keep the game going.
• Addition of in game turn notifications for additional screens - Why??  Again to help keep the game moving.  If a player is placing buildings on their planets, using diplomacy, designing ships they have no indication it is their turn.  This would help keep the game moving because they would know it's their turn and can make their moves.
• Save progress in ship designer - Why??  Similar to the above.  If I get an indication it's my turn and I'm not finished with my ship, right now I have to save and exit the ship designer.  If instead it just auto saved your current progress allowed you to leave the ship designer, then when you went back it just loaded back up where you were that also would help keep the multiplayer game going.
• In game chat in UP/Diplomacy between human players - Why??  right now the players have to use the steam client (which can be a pain if the player only has one monitor) to communicate while in these screens.  This way the players can better negotiate trade deals or come to an agreement in the UP votes.  

I'm sure there are several other suggestions to help improve the multiplayer game and, feel free to add to this post.  Once again, this is not a bashing post, just a post to help improve the multiplayer experience.  As it sits the game leaves those interested in this experience frustrated.  I appreciate everything Stardock does and hope to continue to work with them as they continue to update this game as well as new games in the future.

Thank you.