Space Traffic Controller: Set Permissible Routes for Civilian Ships

   Sire, Grand Viceroy BeatYourHeadIn here, I have an urgent issue to bring to your attention. We have lost a population transport on route to our frontier colony containing the entirety of our Haroshem population! Five million souls lost to a pirate fleet! Furthermore, without the farming expertise of our dearly departed Haroshems, the Amblyr settlers at the colony are facing mass starvation! What's worse Sire is that this humanitarian crisis was entirely preventable! My investigation into this disaster has revealed some shocking revelations.

   It seems, Sire, that civilian ships currently take the shortest route between point of departure and their destination. Thanks to the ascendancy of cheap space-freight insurance policies, transport companies care little if they lose sensitive empire shipments to hostile action. Thus, Sire, the companies have opted to blindly focus on maximizing efficiency and profitability by using as little fuel as the shortest route allows. If there is a pirate lair or enemy fleet stalking that route, there is nothing the Imperial Governement can do outside of direct military intervention to ensure the safey of our important civilian assets. Think of it, Sire, millions of innocent Haroshem, mothers, fathers, children... all lost to save Sheredyn Shipping 3 units of hyperium!

   Sire, the time has come for change! Our private colonial shipping sector has long prided itself on the high level of autonomy granted to it by the wisdom of Imperial Government. It appears however that this priviledge is being abused: the association of shipping companies has developed powerful friendships with some key senators.

   Last year, a bill that would have banned travel along dangerous shipping corridors following recommendations by the Imperial Transport Safety Board was voted down in the Senate. In light of this shady corporate alliance with the Senate, it is highly unlikely that similar future bills will survive the private sector lobby against the government taking direct control of navigation of the various civilian fleets operating in emipre-controlled space. Enter the Space Traffic Controller Executive Action!

   Sire, by signing this executive action into law you give the empire the flexibility it needs by designating specific star lanes and nodes as "no-go zones" for civilian ships. Once in place, the Space Traffic Controller will deny civilian fleets starlane access to resticted systems. This way we can ensure the safety of our population transports in the likely event that our military assets are tied up in the service of advancing the Imperial Manifest Destiny Doctrine.

Thank you, Sire, you have saved many loyal subjects needless deaths with a simple stroke of your pen! Long live the Emperor!

***Addendum on trade routes issue brought up by commenter:***

   My only concern about including trade route management in this particular idea was render blockades nearly useless. Blockades on trade routes are an important strategic action and I don't want to see them nerfed. Therefore, I reiterate that I only want to see civilian food and population transports affected by the Space Traffic Contoller idea... for now.

  I could be convinced by the trade route management arguement if there was some sensible penalty applied to deviations from the default shortest trade route. Re-routing trade routes should be an action that can get around a mid-route blockade, but that doesn't give the empire that owns the route a "get out of jail free" card. To that end, sticking to the lore of hyperium or antimatter as engine fuel, I'm thinking that maybe a hyperium or antimatter per-turn cost per extra system traversed makes sense. Example: if you extend a trade route along 4 extra nodes, you have to pay say 4 hyperium per turn to maintain that route.

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tl;dr please add an option to designate systems as no-go zones for civilian transports to prevent them from dying needless deaths to hostile fleets!