It's complicated, and I'm not sure entirely what you are saying. So...

'so i just think it would be cool if i could make my own federation of planets rather then being penalized for leaving the united planets and see if i could convince other like minded (or not i guess) civilizations to join.'

Well, there are alliances, which allow races to ally together and fight against common enemies. That could be expanded somewhat to make a 'Coalition'. To use your example, the Federation is allied with several other empires or races, but has many member worlds of many races. If you took it one step further from Alliance, your current allies would have to be allied with each other. In the GalCiv universe, the Terrans, Torians, Altarians, Arceans, and Iconians are (were) part of a Coalition against the Drengin and Dread Lords.

If you want an United Planets similar to the current one (able to make decisions affecting its members, then I don't think that's a good idea unless the aliens could do the same-form their own Federations of Planets.

Trade penalties? Hmm, that might be interesting. But why? To use your example, the races of the Federation, such as the Vulcans, Andorians, and others, traded with the Klingons, Gorn, and Cardassians. The Federation itself (STARFLEET) also carried out trade.

Are you suggesting that the AI could start a secondary federation of planets and invite others to join that one as a rival to yours?

"Are you suggesting that the AI could start a secondary federation of planets and invite others to join that one as a rival to yours?"

yes i was confusing federation quite abit there but you got it i would want the AI to start there own federation. which would allow more larger instella wars between races, rather then 1 on 1 conflicts. it would open up the borders abit too allowing you to survey more and possibly the sharing of technology.

Maybe the trading penalty would be abit to far, more of a tax off your profit because your going outside your federation of planets (or the other way round if you trade within your community). but even that does seem abit harsh.

I mean i would'nt mind the defense pacts and alliances but i want my own 'federation' so i could influence policys rather then vote on issues generated by the computer.

I just dont like the united planets lol its too limiting and unrealistic, i understand that its like the UN but this is on a galaxy scale, you couldnt possibly ask all thoses planets and civilizations to agree on a topic just because they lost the vote. i would just leave so they policys wouldnt affect me but would wnt the option to make my own.
am i makeing sense or am i talking bollocks lol

I totally agree. now we just got convince the creators of GalCiv 2 to agree with us lol



hmmmmmmmmm im not quite sure, i don't want it to be like the UN. why make a federation if its just another mini UN.
what if when you create a 'federation' you can set your own rules or guidelines, say for instance; colonization of planet if you set up the federation to be "good" then they will opt for good side of colonization to carry favor.
Now the decision process would have to be similar to the united planets but i wouldn't want the influence points, make it simple, 1 vote per civilization on a topic. say for example, the federation is voting on the number of starbases allowed in each civilizations space, you will still have A,B,C,D options but you will only have 1 influence point (or vote) and the majority will win. after all your in a federation, 1 empire shouldn't out weigh the other. at least i think so.

The one thing that i hate about United planets is waiting 24 weeks or so to vote on pointless topic, if you've got issues to discuss why should you have to wait so long to implement them. If your the founder of your federation then you can create your own issues up (maybe from a menu) or suggestion from the other civilizations within your federation and you can decide whether to put it to the vote.

I really cant think of another method of implementing the decisions made within a federation without using a similar voting system used in the united planets. maybe if your an evil civilization you could be dictator like and force other civilization to your rules by force, i guess.

What different type of method of decision making process could there be, theres got to be something else besides the voting. any ideas?

Thats an interesting point, i still wish they would include this option in.