Drawing on Map
I have always enjoyed being able to draw on the map when playing with friends. It's a lot easier to say "build defense line a here" and then drawing a defense line. Or maneuver your unites along this path and then being able to draw a line on the map showing the proposed path. It becomes even more useful when random maps are in play because its much harder to describe verbally a map that you haven't played before. I think the Spring engine had this feature.
Just wanted to throw it out there as an idea!