an issue i see is an old argument about auto combat vs manual combat
essentially if auto-combat gave you a better outcome then manual combat always choose auto-combat
if manual combat was better always use manual combat
the point here is if the governor sets up your planets better then you, then you're no longer playing the game but watching it play. if it sets up your planets worse then you then no one will use it.
Alright, let me respond to that issue and see what you think. I disagree with this only because of the nature of grand-scale games after a long enough period of increased scope.
Namely that as time goes on, there are more planets to colonize, just as much if not more strategic need to colonize them even if they are not particularly desirable, and yet manually constructing them for some purpose is not something you're invested in. By not something you're invested in, I mean the time taken to figure out where it is, what you might need to build or avoid building is no longer fundamental like your first few planets, nor particularly engaging like the expansion rush planets that follow.
Instead, to avoid the concern of watching the game play itself, you turn an aspect of the game into an ongoing, ever-expanding, late game chore that slows and detracts from the grand scale you've finally reached. I.e. for fear of what I will call the Master of Orion 3 effect, you substitute an inability to automate less important tasks with a requirement to engage in an activity that is an aside from what you hope to accomplish, replacing automation with boredom.
At least with my governor idea, you would have to manage them and keep them in line so that your granular control over planets is replaced with a balancing act of managing governors which is one step up on the scale, it is one thing to focus on per planet rather than trying to identify what to do with every individual tile, then remember to upgrade and terraform tiles, then remember to return to those planets and place more things on those newly terraformed tiles.
When your primary concern has become the front lines of a galactic conflict, having to stop to try to find a purpose for that new 4 tile planet near the front that you don't want your enemy getting hold of is a detraction from the experience, rather than a part of it at that point. Of course, I think planetary governors should have some work, and perhaps even overhead involved, but to assume that if it's not as optimal as manually dealing with every planet, no one would use them, is to assume that people would not be willing to pay some overhead to avoid having to deal with minor issues while running a large galactic empire.
Personally, I would be willing to pay that overhead, and I'm not certain that I'd be in a minority in that regard.
Okay, let me know what anyone thinks!
