@MattyD:
That is one of the best finite element maps of sphere. Great find! Only trouble is, that would have to be a one-size-fits-all solution to planet mapping. I can't think of any way to scale just the triangles of that to different sized planets without subdividing it back up to the original hexes. Are people ok with a map tile representing vastly different areas from one planet to another? For example, applying the same map to both the Earth and the Moon would make the Earth tiles 13x larger than a lunar tile.
If we want to keep tile size some what consistent we could try using two polar-projection maps of north/south hemespheres for each planet. For example:
If we exclude dwarf planets, small moons, asteroids, etc from having a map (those are single-region objects that can't be shared) then:
1 tile/hemisphere: 1,200+ km radius: Triton, Europa
3 tile/hemisphere: 1,697+ km radius: Moon, Io, Callisto, Mercury, Ganymede
7 tile/hemisphere: 2,939+ km radius: Mars
15 tile/hemisphere: 4,490+ km radius: Venus, Earth
31 tile/hemisphere: 6,573+ km radius: Any alien rocky planet even larger than earth.
A bit clunkier, but this would hold size range per tile to 6-18 million square km per tile for a 3x maximum area difference.
Q: Anyone have thoughts on if a uniform map or a uniform tile area is better?
As for minerals:
a) each region has a couple of minerals
b) each region shares the same planetary mineral pool, but each region has a unique accessibility bonus/penalty for each mineral.
@Wealth:
I imagine financial centers generate paper-assets (stocks, mortgages) that facilitate and encourage wealth generation/consumption.
The simplest way to model renting civilian industry would be to grant the 'unemployed' manufacturing sector conventional-industry like productivity that can be rented in part or in whole at double the normal imperial production rate cost. Placing a cap on stored wealth would also be easy to implement.
Keep the ideas coming.