I've played galciv, galciv2, and now DA. The games have definitely improved substantially over time. I've been irritated though at how the human's handed a huge advantage over the players in what the game makes visible as part of the interaction.

First, espionage. It has already been brought up. You place a spy on a planet, and as part of placing a spy you see what's on the planet. You're forced to affect production, and you get substantial knowledge you should only have after gaining higher levels of espionage. Here's my attempt at a fix:

1. Placing a spy on a planet should not force you to select a location for the spy.
2. The planet should become explored only after the spy has been there for a while.
3. You should have unused spies to be able to even know you're being spied upon. The more spies you have, the more easily you can see spies.
4. The more planets you explore, the higher your intelligence level. Gaining intelligence in a larger civilization becomes much more difficult than a smaller civilization.

As for tech trading, it doesn't make sense that you get to pick the technology you want if you don't have sufficient intelligence to know what technologies the opponent has. Instead, it makes more sense if you were to offer a technology, and the opponent gets to evaluate its worth to him/her, and then decides whether to offer anything back in return. More frustrating, but IMHO a much more realistic experience.

Any thoughts?