Since Steve is already putting some stuff out there for non conventional start, would it be possible to have conventional geological ground units? It would make it a blast for me to be able to make a conventional start with virtually nothing, low population, low birth rate and 0.3 research rate (Which i think is closer to what it would be in real life, considering that each research lab has a *lot* of scientists in them).
Or at least make it in a way that geological missiles can make this work for them, like it could on earlier versions of the game? (I think that in theory it should work, but i havent had any luck with that so far).
Also, and i know this would be better at the suggestions, but im already here, would it be possible to have a little more macro options? For instance, in v6 we had the option to make training exercises with a button, it would be nice to have the ships actually patrol a system or several systems, based on the decisions the player makes or the route they decide to take? That could be tied up with the idea of planet protection, which now we dont have ships sitting on orbit doing nothing, they are actually patrolling colonies and mining spots gaining some crew grade in the process. (Heck, there is even space to make the risk of the ship taking damage to systems double or being multiplied by something while doing these, so that it requires some rotation and we can RP damage from piracy and etc).