All the interesting decisions are over by mid-game, and that's a problem.

[DeanTheDull]

Less of a 'decision' and more of a 'chaos' factor, but I think it'd be interesting if the mid-game galactic storm event (which currently just slows down travel) actually disrupted/re-arranged the galaxy's FTL hyperlanes between various 'pockets' of the galaxy clustered around wormholes and gates.

Create an algorythim that, say, identifies sectors of 4 jumps from any given wormhole, Gateway, or L Gate. These are identified at galaxy generation as 'shoal zones', and their FTL links are secure and won't change.

Every hyperlane outside of that area, however, is free game for being disrupted, broken, or redirected to another nearby system as the mid-game storm goes through. For some zones the disurption is more temporary than others, with lingering effects into the end-game.

This should/would be a great disruptor for the galactic geography, re-arranging trade nodes, choke points, and likely schisming entire empires (especially the bigger ones) as empires become harder or even impossible to traverse. Timed with the Khan or a galaxy war push, people could find their economies divided and devastated if attacked.

It'd also be a needed kick-in-the-balls for overly-large and organic trade empires, at least until they invest in gateways and that wormhole scramble. Which would be a good mid-game rush, as players scramble for the start.

 

[Eled the Worm Tamer]

Eh, the game already has a lot of random 'oops hope you didnt put many hours into this save' things.

 

[Jaxck]

None of which actually makes the mid to end game slog any richer in interesting choices, it just makes it harder to get to the paltry few we do have.

That's fine if you want a challenge. I lean more to playing for RP / to occupy the maladaptive parts of my brain without needing too much from the rest, the white-hot fires of struggle are a shade too intense for me. More, doing something with the mid to end game, will not actually take away challenge for those as want it.

Sure. I'm not saying I don't want more content geared for that part of the game. Politics, factions, and ethics all need a rework to my mind, because while they work as separate systems (except for factions, which have been broken since before 2.0) the way they mesh is weird if not downright broken.

However that does not mean that the game cannot be enjoyed now using available game settings & minimal modding.