Hi Joe. Here are my thoughts on your thoughts
1. This can be done with a MOD. Suggest you get your hands dirty and play around with the files.
2. View Official Carrier/Planetary Bombardment thread which is a sticky topic in the game talk section.
3. I like this idea and there are many threads dedicated to it. Do a search to see others ideas on this matter.
4. I agree but I believe some of us have that feeling of achievement when we win as well and do not really need to see the eye candy.
5. Again, would be nice but I would like to see the developers spend more time on other aspects of the game.
6. Another Idea that is decent. You have to be careful with this one though. To much and you ruin the flow of the game.
7. If you can talk, you really do not need to send a ship with one person aboard to do the talking. Kind of pointless in a way.
8. There are several people out there that have created MODS you can down load. Everything from Star Trek, Star Wars, Babylon 5, to peoples views on how the game would be better. Take a look around these forums and on the official site, you will find tons of MODS. The only downfall ( and that is if you consider it a downfall ) is that you will not be able to use them in the Metaverse games. Also, I would suggest just tinkering around with the game files. You will find that Modding the game is easier than you may think.
9. Why? Do not see the need. Again I have seen several posts with this idea and the down side is larger than the up in my opinion.
10. This is a tricky one. I believe these situation happen in the game already, there is just not a pop up that makes you aware of it. If you are not getting into the position, during a game, where you have to make some hard choices, maybe you should up the difficulty a bit. If you want even more visual clues maybe find a few MODS or create a MOD yourself.
All and all a good post sir. Hope I have been a little help.