Perhaps Steve could introduce spanish space pirates and give them a secret pirate base on Pluto.

But it's:

Spanish Galleons. (Hiss!)
English Pirates. (Hoorah!)

Ha Ha! (Bump, bump, bump).
Or something like that IIRC.

That's possible, too.  Doesn't have to be associated with Spain.

I just think it would be really interesting to see how Steve would manage a military based on boarding tactics -- how he'd design the ships, what tactics he'd use, and so forth.  He knows the game better than anyone and he always gives good information in these fiction threads.  If he were to create a pirate faction, he could try out some of these tactics without throwing Spain into a war that will likely destroy them, and that would give us a chance to see the tactics evolve.

Also the game will run in bloody minute increments as long as something is moving in and out of sensor range.
What would stop any other power from sending a few ships there to beat them up?

Joe, the problem with that is that the program will automatically identify them correctly.  As things stand, "fog of war" is not a game factor. 

We loosely discussed a graduated identification system at a tactical level a few years back.  It will take a modest amount of database changes before it can be coded.  Until Steve thinks it is worth pursuing it's on a backburner.

I'm not sure they even need the technology.     The real win would be capturing an alien homeworld with its wealth, industry, shipyards, etc.   

I thought it was pretty clear that the French were the bad guys in this scenario!  I guess it goes to show we all have different points of view on these things.   

Aye, and I thought the Japanese would be the real big baddies biding their time in the shadows, while the cruel French, dogmatic Spanish, righteous Brits, and ambiguous Germans bleed each other white.     Always interesting to see these different takes. 

As a general rule I don't root for the bad guys, who the Spanish kinda seem to be in this scenario. That said, it would be nice to see a major turnaround in one of these games, where say Spain goes forth as the little guy, defeats the precursors and maybe conquers and converts an alien species or two, then uses the advanced alien tech they've obtained to demolish the French and Japanese navies when they try to interfere

I'm not sure they even need the technology.  The real win would be capturing an alien homeworld with its wealth, industry, shipyards, etc.

I thought it was pretty clear that the French were the bad guys in this scenario!  I guess it goes to show we all have different points of view on these things.

I'm not sure it wouldn't go the other way.  The true Church would remain in Rome and endure the French, recognizing that the French and Italian people are largely faithful even if their rulers are not.  The "Spanish Church" might presume itself more Catholic than the Pope, ignore his appeals for peace, and start treating this Cardinal Ximénez fellow as an unofficial antipope.

For my sake, of course, I hope Steve will keep the Spanish powers authentically Catholic, name the stars after saints, and kick ass in the first interstellar Crusade.  More fun that way.  I hope he's given the knightly orders a few boosts in ground force combat strength and we'll see them playing a major part in the story.  Maybe the Spanish will specialize in boarding tactics?