Creating a galaxy

I am working on a new map generator, and would like to hear any ideas that you might have. (Just post them in the comments.)

The goals:

• Where you start should influence your strategy.
• Map features should cause interesting strategic situations.
• The map should be visually interesting.

The tools:

• Objects in space (e.g. stars, derelicts)
• ‘Terrain’ types (e.g. nebulae)

Current ideas:

• Younger stars near the centre, older stars on the rim.
• At least three types of nebulae: dark, reflective and luminescent.
• Stars inside or beyond dark or reflective nebulae are invisible over long range.
• The galaxy has a number of arms depending on its size.
• The gaps between the arms are large enough to be hard to cross.
• Nebulae cover the core and the gaps between the arms.
• There are cracks in the arms, creating choke points.
• Wormholes occur, as shortcuts and choke points.
• There are different kinds of ancient alien remains:
• Ancient Wreck – Free tech
• Ancient Ship – Free ship which can be scrapped for tech
• Ancient Ruin – (Guarded?) A planet with a significant research bonus
• Ghost Colony – (Guarded) Free colony with infrastructure and artefacts
• Ancient Factory – (Guarded) Free factory space station
• Ancient Refuge – (Guarded!) A planet inhabited by an ancient race
• If I add ‘exotics’ as a resource type, the sources will be black holes, cosmic strings, etc.

Depending on how the ‘huge galaxy’ idea goes, I might even add the option to have multiple smaller galaxies instead.

Eventually, there will also be technologies to allow civilizations to modify the galaxy in various ways.