lack of support - move to trash

The main concern would be tempering the ludicrous amounts of dust and science generated by trade.

Indeed. Trade just doesn't mean between the species, but it's also an indication of how the supply and support system is working for each of your solar colonies.



Take a page from Warhammer 40K. Individuals solar systems get cut off from Imperial Trade, and the results are usually catostrophic. Some survive if they had the infrastructure. Some regressed, some went away, some joined with other species to survive. (I realise this example is extreme given the darker nature of the setting, but it shows that inter-system trade is vital!)

Basically each system should be trading on it's strenghts and weakneses. Some systems have more terran planets, others have more gas giants, while others are damn near in-hospitable at first. How do these budding colonies suddenly get the same research improvements and technical equipment to make everything when they are younger and haven't built anything previous to the new upgrades?



On the flip side, this adds more...Ugh, Micro-management at times. I mean you'd have to worry about upgrading each system without the 'sinplicity' of our current every system gets everything, just build it. But maybe trade can just be a factor for FIDS like you're saying. It's certainly more then just inter-species influenced.