The reality is that this game is a war game - period. The strategy is/was to build your empire and climb one's way to the top.. which eventually means you need to attack others and bring down other empires in the process. As you get closer to the top, there's literally no other way... or there wasn't until now 
I know we all want more players. Sell me 51% or more of the game and I believe I could help you achieve that. 
But by changing the foundation of the game... changes everything.. and if I started getting pushed down because of a player's collecting massive unearned resources.. then you'll start losing your loyal players this will change the entire face of the game will change.
This game, to be honest, is mind-numbingly boring. The ones who play this game enjoy it because we're true fans of the game.. because of the way it is / was. But NO, I don't like the idea of being passed up from another player because he's collecting massive unearned resources. I don't like that at all, personally.
How to attract more players and keep them ?
Let's map the pros and cons of the game..
Pros:
- Enjoyable to build an intergalactic empire
- Strategy to play this game isn't as obvious as it seems, once you really get into it.. we have to observe online times, building styles, aggressivity level, some psychological play too, be mathematically smart for more advanced attacks and strategies, etc..
- When the game is active, the drama of being in an alliance possesses its own type of fun too
Cons:
- It's 24/7 - literally no breaks.. which does have some positives to it, true. But it promotes an imbalance in a person's life... like social media does, also. Personally, I feel that's unhealthy unless that person has some really special circumstances that allow such an imbalance. But in general, it's not a positive thing.
- It's slow !! I should be able to hit a planet in the same solar system in less than 10 minutes if my engine techs are decently high.
- Cost of send flights doesn't seem like a big deal, until you have a fleet that consumes more spice than the player produces from their mines in an entire day. So the mine production or flight costs are out of balance.
- Some of the Rules
---> I know I'll hear it for this.. but restricting players by how they manage their account is ridiculous. ...how to handle trade profiting (although I always do fair trade values when I trade), multi-accounting, account takeovers, "Pushing", and even some of the censorship is a bit too extreme.
Now perhaps this is a different admin from when I played this in the past. I don't know, I just recently returned to the game a couple of years ago and so far, so good. But I remember the punishments to players who broke the rules were wildly extreme... giving no regard to the hours of those players have poured into this game.. supporting it... promoting it, encouraging existing players to participate more, etc.
As I've said in a separate thread, in the past the admin started banning people left and right.. which is the real reason this game died years ago. we had good and influential players who drew other players to enjoy the game. I was wrongfully banned twice, also. Now it seems to have changed, I don't know. I have noticed some mutli-accounting in the game, but I really don't care because it doesn't affect me.
I don't do this... I don't have the time.... but people who multi-account should be allowed (for example) because it would add a different level of strategy to this game... which would add some interesting complexity to it. And if players want to give their resources and ships to another player... why should the admin care ? That person spent time building their account and their relationships in the game and there's absolutely nothing wrong with allowing people to turn over their empire to another player. Who cares ??
...or even if they want to give their account to someone else... just let them do it.
THE TIME THAT EACH PLAYER INVESTS INTO THE GAME SHOULD BE RESPECTED BY GIVING THEM FREEDOM TO DO WHAT THEY WANT WITH THEIR ACCOUNT - PERIOD. They're the ones who are investing their time, and sometimes their money. That should have a meaning to the admin more than most things.
As long as they're not hacking the system to get intel on other players or whatever.. hacking, in general, is the worst, of course. But let players trade at the rates they want, while informing everyone what the fair trade value actually is. If they want to make a stupid decision, let them !! That's their problem
...and the admin have other concerns to deal with.
I didn't want to get into great detail there.. but basically, some of the game's rules are ridiculous. It's like the concept of "freedom" is completely overlooked.
- - -
Like I said, best improvements are speeding up the ships, better optimization of the research times (for more advance research - I mean, 2 years ?? ..that's crazy), better optimization of mines (costs and production), and kill the rules that only add more unnecessary work for the admin, anyways.
There's my 2 cents... back to my corner 
What if he was given the opportunity for this period of time (24 hours or 48 hours) to have TFs made available to him directly (like the aliens spawn). In the vicinity of his planets - the distribution / range can be considered. And then he/she can also collect additional items (albeit in competition with others) 
...since the AZs are now adjusted/
good grief. Seems like everyone suffers from Tall Poppy Sydrome these days.
