Feel like some Minor Faction traits need balancing. Made a google sheet that shows which I feel like could use some changes

I'm inclined to agree on several points.  Some faction traits just don't scale well or are so situational as to be useless in 95% of games.  (25% Increased cost to convert with influence?  Seriously?)  Some bonuses are so niche or designed to counter such niche strategies that they never see play--and that's if they even APPEAR in any given game.  Relying on that much RNG to counter something you might never see makes me just pass over some minor factions completely.  It's especially true when you consider that most major faction pops are superior per population anyway.

What if they just got rid of "faction traits" and changed most minor pops to give scaling versions of their current trait?  Like instead of industry, Mavros citizens could provide a % reduction to ship and improvement cost on the system they populate.  giving minor faction pops unique bonuses, rather than flat FIDSI, and removing the "trait" would streamline the concept of minor factions, give them more unique identities, allow their bonuses to scale with pop, give you incentive to LET them populate, give opponents a VERY good reason to take systems with minor pops on them and get rid of the "lockout" effect of assimilating a trait.