Credits. They will have starting credits to build with like everyone else.

I'm suggesting the Founders homeworld not be just an entire planet of goo, but a barren one, with areas of land between the goo to build stuff on. I'm saying that maybe this planet is one the Founders share with the Vorta. I understand that the changelings can travel in space by themselves with their shapeshifting ability, but that can hardly be incorporated into the game. The Dominion Battleships and Attack ships etc are nuts and bolts space vessels, so obviously they need nuts and bolts industry/structures/shipyards, like anyone else.

Yes the Dominion are ancient, far older than us. But again, not something that can be incorporated into the game at all. It is but a game, and some things have to be overlooked. The Vulcan separatists for example were flying through space destined to discover Romulus and colonise it before the Roman Empire even conquered Britain. So in the same way, this can't been acknowledged in the game play either. Guys, I'm a canon purist as much as the next fan, but please, certain aspects of canon have to be overlooked to make this game playable. Balance is all important, we're juggling so many strengths and weaknesses together to give each empire a good chance. Everyone will start on the same level playing field, and advance along the same tech tree and build the same kinds of structures providing them with the same resources. Depending on human player skill, victory or defeat will hinge on how well those strengths and weaknesses are played. Just remember it is based on Star Trek, that's all..

I dont expect the 9800 year gap to be compensated for in game either. All empires have to have a balanced starting platform, theres no way to do that and give the dominion a 9,800 year head start. I still however dont think we need to have vorta or jem hadar as a minor, theres no need to rip up cannon and do that.

I favour a semi barren planet or a completely barren planet for the founder home world. Either will suffice as long as some aknowledgement is made to it being the greta link.

lol, I definitely didn't mean the history of the Dominion should be a part of the game. I just meant we should give them as developed a system as the other empires.

dafedz, why should the Dominion be so underdeveloped? I mean, they look like $h*t compared to the other races in the beggining. No structures, have to BUY farms. Unless you meant this for ALL empires.

The whole history post was just to point out that the Dominion should have an equal starting position and not have to start off as a 3rd world country compared to the others. I got the idea, defedz had that in mind

Well each empire had to start off somewhere, and logically the Founders would have started off with nothing but their pond. But it does depend on what people want, what the popular opinion is.

*addressing everyone*
Do you want the Dominion to start off with little or nothing at all (except the Great Link), and then building structures to feed and occupy their loyal Vorta and Jem'Hadar, or start off with food/industry structures already in place?

Just a note, all the other races start off with food/industry structures already in place

They should have some things ready, of course. As I suggested maybe only the Great Link and the Vorta homeworld of which the last one has buildings and such. In order to keep it as canon as possible, I realy don't want the Great Link to be anything but goo as, well, it isn't.

right o i have an idea that could help satisfy most camps.

make the founders homeworld and the vorta homeworld in the same system. Make the founders hw a small barren planet (popn 20), and the vorta hw small jungle (popn 80) then give them some filler planets up to a respectable (but low in comparison to the playables) level.

This way, you can choose a period where the founders have flown to the vorta planet, eingeneered their loyalty and ability, and built up to a tech 1 level. Canon has no explanation as to where the vorta originated so we may as well do this.

I think Mark's last idea is a good compromise for the Dominions starting system.

One thing I find funny as I read this thread is people really wanting the founders planet represented as the Great Link, with no structures or anything. But how the hell could we do this? Each system is a whole. We cant go to individual planets and see whats built there.

All this bickering about the Dominions starting system is pointless. All the empires starting systmes need to be roughly equivalent (such as in the original), or the game just wont work right. We cant have 4 normal systems, and one freak system.

BTW, I noticed no one responded to what I wrote about the Ocampa, but then again, I suppose this may not be the place to discuss it, so I think I'l open a new thread on the subject.

I realize this topic is being dominated by discussion about the Dominions homeworld but I just though of some intresting things concerning the Xindi... While I admitingly am not anything more than a sci-fi fan that likes Startrek, I did watch most every episode of Enterprise, and notice that while they are a minor race, they have multiple home worlds long before they 'meet' the humans and each have more than one type of ship per race of Xindi. The Reptilians, Aquatics, and the Insectoids, all had at least 2-5 ship types while the others (Primate and Arboreals) had at least one or 2.

The Aquatics for the most part had command ships and I honestly dont remember what the rest of them had. What I was thinking would be nice is that each Xindi race could have their own system that would all be located next to or very close to eachother eachother and that if you made contact with one of them, you also make contact with the rest of them because they all have one single council. Because of this in order to get the Xindi to join you, you would have to get on fairly good terms with at least 3 of them to get any kind of treaty because it took that many votes on the council to get something done in the show I believe. Here is the way it could work...

Friendship Treaty Requirments:
1. Must be on good terms with at least 3 of the Xindi races
2. Must be on ok terms with the other races

Affiliation Treaty Requirments:
1. Must be on very good terms with at least 3 of the Xindi races
2 Must be on good terms with the others

Membership Treaty Requirements:
1. At least 3 of the Xindi races must be worshipful
2. Must be on very good terms with the others

Each Xindi race would have no less than 2 bonuses.
The first bonus would be a sort of mutual defence bonus that would have a blanket effect over all Xindi homeworlds and the Xindi would have them at the start of the game and could rebuild them on their own. The bonus contibuted by each Xindi race would vary depending on the race that built it.
For example:

Reptilian Defence Structure Bounus:
1. +5-7% & *rebellion bonus for all Xindi
2. +20% ground defence
3. +5% ground defence for all Xindi

Insectoid Structure Bounus:
1. +3-5% rebellion bonus for all Xindi
2. +10-15% ground defence
3. +3% ground defence for all Xindi

Aquatic Structure Bounus:
1. +1-3% rebellion bonus for all Xindi
2. +5-10% ground defence
3. +2% ground defence for all Xindi

Primate Structure Bounus:
1. +1-3% rebellion bonus for all Xindi
2. +10-15% ground defence
3. +2% ground defence for all Xindi

Arboreal Structure Bounus:
1. +2-4% rebellion bonus for all Xindi
2. +10-15% ground defence
3. +2% ground defence for all Xindi

* The rebellion bonus is only a factor if a Xindi homeworld or conlony is conquered by one of their enemies and will not count against you if the Xindi joined by membership treaty.
(The total bonuses of the blanket bonuses mentioned above are:
1. 12-22% Xindi rebellion bonus
3. 14% blanket ground defence not including individual bonuses)

Then comes the Xindi Council. Since Xindus is destroyed I doubt that it would have a very large Xindi population and its main function would simply be a place for the Xindi council that would have either a morale bonus for all Xindi or an empire wide bonus. In addition to the council the Xindi could have some sort of memorial that could be consturcted on Xindis that would give the Xindi an exclusive moral boost. On a side note, in order to build either of the two Xindi moral boosting structures, all Xindi homeworlds must be members of your empire and Xindis must also be in your control as well. One final idea I have been toying with when it comes to joint Xindi bonuses is that since Xindis is essentially a desolate planet, that it would only seem natural fo some top secerate intel gathering structure to be hiddin in one of its caves somewhere.

Last but not least, each Xindi race would have their own unique type of bonus structure designed to reflect the race it belongs to. For example the Reptillians bonus structure would give a weapons research bonus (prabably something around 20-50%), the Arboreals would have something like an overall research bonus (possibly something like 10-15%), and the Aquatics would either have a bioengineering research bonus (possibly 20-50%) or a sturcture similar to what the Antedeans have in the original BOTF game. At this point I haven't decided what would fit the Primates and the Insectoids without making things too repetitive. I suppose that the Insectoid bonus could have something to do with the fact that every insectoid ship has its own hatchery just to make for a truely unique bonus.

Another thing I came accross while researching to fill in details I wasn't sure about I discovered that the Xindi have some colonies of their own making them an even bigger prize than I had previously thought. In order to balance things out I added in the requirment to actively pursure diplomacy with all Xindi races in order to obtain any kind of treaty. Another way to counter the large amount of bonuses would be to simply increase the difficulty of reaching the Xindi in the first place. This can be done by including the distortions and even a few speres in the Delphic Expanse area. The distortions would be very dangerous to any Federation ships that didn't have good enough scanners to avoid them or that didn't have an escort that did. The reason I singled out Federations ships is because the Xindi joined the Federation in the show, so I decided it would make sence to make the other races ships overall more vunerable to the distortions and put the Expanse in an area where it is most easily reached through the Federation territory. One last requirment to gain the favor of the Xindi would be to actually destroy a shpere to trigger the destruction of the network and free the Expanse of distortions created by the speres.

I figured it would be best making people go through so much trouble to find the Xindi and for them to be brought in as members because of the number of vessels they are likely to have and the amount of bonuses they have to offer. Then there is the fact that the Xindi joining your empire would mean gaining the homeworld of each race, their desolate ancestoral homeworld but the Xindi colonies as well. Also, because the only members of the Xindi that don't start liking the Federation after contact would be the Reptillians and the Insectoids. The Reptillians would essentially be the Xindi version of the Sheliak; stubborn and expensive to court. The Insectoids would have a similar disposition but wouldn't require nearly as much coaxing to finally see the light. Essentially the player will be forced to realize the fact that in order to gain the bonuses of the other more friendly Xindi the Reptillians and Insectoids would first have to be won through diplomacy or deal with having to invade all Xindi homeworlds, overcome their groundcombat bonusses, and deal with their combined fleet. All while simultaneaously building up infrasturctur and preparing for war against any unfriendly major powers you may come accross.

One last thing before I forget... Check out this website.

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Search_ ... uperweapon

This is the site I used for my reasearch and I believe it contains enough information for at least 3 or more other races from the Expanse to be included in BOTF2. It looks like is enough information for the the V'radian, Triannons, Xanthan, and Oran'taku to be placed in the game and possibly the Osaarians and the Illyrians.

It would also be nice if the trellium mining planet and Tarquin's planet, as well as his original homeworld be placed in the game... I am not sure if there is enough information to go on though.

If you are having trouble finding information on the races I mentioned try using a word search on the website I placed in this post earlier.

I would bring up some other stuff, but this post is long enough as it is.

BTW: I think I have figured out how to help fix the balance problem between the Dominion and the other major races that might fit in with what happend in the shows and movies but I would rather save it for some other time when it isn't 2:25AM.

Rigel we can have the homeplanet represented in the system view menu and we can have t with a special tag such as founder homeworld the great link.

FoxURA: I do think the xindi should have different types of ships too but i would be prepared to buy into the fact that xindi's origional planet hasnt been destroyed by the time you find them or that they are spread out amoungst their system. Or have them as an expandable minor. But it wouldnt be very cannon to have them acting independantly of one another the way you suggest. i dont recall them doing it in the series till archer reveales to the mammels that the sphere builders are misleading them and that splits the council.

They didn't say it out right... If you can go back and watch that episode on tape and if you read the events properly, you should see signs of conflict between them. What I was describing was that reflectin how even though they were all working together through the council, Archer was able to approach them individually to win over th Primates and the Arboreals, who then used their influence in the council to help win over the Aquatics. Keep in mind that while the Xindi are all one race in Enterprise, they all had their own viewpoints and expressed them on the council. What I described was designed to reflect that fact in that you could not win them all over as one whole but would have to win them over one at a time to gradually sway the Xindi council in your favor. I just dont think it woiuld fit the canon if you will. According to the site I mentioned, the Xindi civil war that ended with the destruction of Xindis took place in the Mid 21st century while Humans didn't even become of the Xindi's existence until the test weapon attacked Earth in the 22nd century, in 2153 to be exact. It just wouldnt fit with the timeline to not have Xindus destroyed because that would mean that the Avian Xindi wouldn't have been wiped out, that the civil war didn't happen, and that the Xindi council wouldn't exist. That doesn't even come close to fitting the timeline. Xindus would have to have already been destroyed and the Xindi have their own homeworlds before comming in contact with Humans.

Also here is a quote from the website that I linked to in my previous post concerning the Xindi council.
"The Xindi Council was often on the verge of breaking apart." It then goes on to describe how "It finally did so in February 2154, when the Arboreals, Primates, and Aquatics voted to delay the launch of the superweapon based upon evidence from Jonathan Archer."

From that you can tell that disputes were common on the council even before Archer... He was simply the perverbial straw that broke the camels back.

Here is a more direct link to the information about the Xindi council. http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Xindi_Council

Poor Camel!

The only way that I can see your ideas being implemented, is if each of the Xindi races had their own system. (Clustered together of course)

It would be hard to get them all together then though, as the game would count them all as separate races, not one unified race.

FoxURA, you also have to remember that anything that you find that is not in an episode or film, is not 'canon'. Not even books made by Paramount can be considered as canon, no matter how good and 'accurate' they were.

Because of this, you have to take everything you find with a pinch of salt. No matter how unbiased a person may be, they will still have their own opinions, which will still be shown in their writing (Intentionally or otherwise)

This is why anything that isn't on screen cannot be taken as canon. It's the best way to avoid most dissagreements about what is 'real' trek.

Anyway, you really should send a PM to Dafedz and see what he thinks. He might like your ideas, he might not. Even then though, it will ultimately be down to what gavin cn program, so it might be a good idea to get in touch with him as well.

They might be able to help you develop your idea even further as well.

But fox Archer doesn't gradually win them over he splits them quite suddenly and when he does it splits the council. Gradually winning each individual race over would mean some sort extra diplomatic option just for the xindi as a friendship with one race or affiliation would split the council. When archer does it its a unique event that require evidence from a different time zone to do it. Im in favour of winning them over as a whole with them being an expandable minor with the different ships you mention. Id rather and disagreements between the council be refelcetd by their diplomatic ressponses to the empires that by winning them all over sepperatly a sif they were different races.

Also about the avians not being wiped out. Im well aware of that fact, the same thing occurs with the dominion being something like 9000 yrs old but we are starting them with one system like any one else. Id love to find a cannon way of doing it but we simply cant so we have to do it this way for gameplays sake, its a shame but thats the way it is.

Will the empires start out with just one system, or more in the new game? If that is so, then you could have a fixed core of beginning systems, and each set would have similar capacity, so one empire is not too disadvantaged at the start.

This would also help with the Dominion, since one system could be the Founder's Homeworld (the Omarion system, for want of a better name), and another 'normal' system for the Vorta.

So if people would accept this as a compromise, here goes: (populations not precise, since I am not programming them and don't know exactly how population will work in BotF II - so I just made them all total to about 600.)

DOMINON founding systems:
1. Omarion system - red dwarf with one barren planet, population 50. Nebula also occupies system, with the usual sensor and shield problems. Special Structures: Great Link (you get immediately) and the 'Dominion Subspace Relay Center'
2. Vorta system - red main-sequence star with several terrestrial planets, various types (at least one either M or L class) and various gas giants. Population: 550. Contains all other Dominion specific 'Home System' structures and primary shipyard.

FEDERATION (Human) founding systems:
1. Sol - pretty self explanatory. Population 400. All Federation-specific structures, primary shipyard
2. Alpha Centauri - yellow main-sequence star with assorted planets, at least one class M. Population: 200. Secondary shipyard, trade center.

KLINGON EMPIRE founding systems:
1. Qo'noS - yellow main-sequence star, assorted planets, at least one class M, preferably other inhabitable planets. Population 450. All Klingon homeworld structures, primary shipyard.
2. Boreth - white dwarf star, at least one arctic planet, several gas giants. Population 150. Boreth Monastary.

CARDASSIAN UNION founding systems:
1. Cardassia - white main-sequence star, various planets (at least four inhabited [I, III, IV, V]), at least one class M (I). Population 375. All Cardassian 'homeworld' structures, primary shipyard.
2. Sarpeidion - red dwarf with at least five planets, Sarpeidion V is inhabited. Population 225. Second primary shipyard or industrial center, high resource content.

ROMULAN STAR EMPIRE founding systems:
1. Romulus - Yellow main-sequence star, at least one M class planet (Romulus, II) one desert or arctic planet (Remus, III), at least two others. Population 415. All Romulan homeworld structures, primary shipyard, reman mines.
2. Romii - red dwarf, several planets of various levels of inhabitablitity. Population 185.


I would really like to see something like this, and since the map is so much bigger, I can't see how it would hurt anything! Any thoughts


Sources: Memory Alpha: http://memory-alpha.org ; esp. for Cardassians, Klingons, and Romulans.

Jarok: That does sound intriging and might be kind of nice but not for if you choose to start off at the lowest tech levels... That just doesn't seem right for some reason.

horadrim: True. But the Xindi that were talking with Archer about what will happen since the council broke up did seem very sure that the Insectoids would rejoin the council now that it was obvious that the Sphere Builders had decieved them and that the Reptillians would eventually come around.

Oh, and I think the only Xindi that actually broke away from the council were the Insectoids and the Reptillians. It seems like the Arboreals, Primates, and Aquatics all remained. Which still leaves you with at least 3 out of 5 Xindi races being on the council.

Regarding where the Xindi would be on a non canon map, I think that all the Xindi systems should be kept pretty close together regardless of the system providing that the system is big enough to fit them. If it is a smaller galaxy, than the Xindi should be the first race to be taken out of play so to speak. Because of the dificulty of engaging in diplomacy with the Xindi races and having to go through the council for any treaties it wouldn't really make a difference that them joining your empire meant a minimum of 6 minor worlds (including Xindus) joining your empire all at once. Not to mention the cost of developing so many new member systems all at the same time... Defiately a good thing that the Xindi would not normally be located near any home systems on the canon map for the begginners sake...

As far as the diplomacy screen goes, here is what I have in mind...
Here is what the list would look like for the Xindi
Xindi Council
Xindi Arborials
Xindi Aquatics
Xindi Insectoids
Xindi Primates
Xindi Reptilian

When selected, the Xindi Counsil option would have a fully active diplomacy interface in all areas. The only differenc would be that any gifts given to the council could actually work against you if you dont give them enough to easily divide up amongst the 5 races. The description for the Xindi Council would give a breif desctription of the Xindi race in general similar to the description that is given for them in the other races thread.

When each individual Xindi race is selected you would see that all but the Gift option would be unclickable, similar to the way everything is when a minor race already had an active treaty with another empire, because all treaties would have to go through the council. The description would be some information unique to each race such as the Insectoid ships having hatcheries.

The reason for being able to gift them all independently is if lets say, all ot the Xindi races like you except for the Reptillians (which seems very likely to happen) and you want to make a treaty with the Xindi of some sort which would be blocked by the Reptillians if you don't get on their good side. By going through the council the gifts would be divided up between the races and would do very little to influence the Reptillians unless you gave an enormous amount of money. Solution, skip the council and get the money to where you need it the most, in the hands of the Reptillians.

Another thing that would make diplomacy with the Xindi more difficult is that if you are on good terms with all but one of the Xindi, that one Xindi would be fairly likely to attack you if they have an aggresive nature like the Reptillians and the Insectoids.

Hey dafedz any chance of a list of planet population/size/terraform points?

im just wondering because i wasnt sure if you were doing with UM2 stats (my preference) original stats or new ones, probs should pm u but i think others might be interested too.

The Xindi situtation here seems quite complex, and believe me there's a milltion other complex things yet to work out. I don't know what might be possible with them in this regard, seems almost over-complex for what is essentially a single minor race.We'll have to wait for gavin and see what his thoughts are about it. But keep the ideas coming whatever they are.

Mark, in the Races htm file there's a brief and quite basic guide (in the table) to minor race planet types and sizes. I don't know what they'll eventually be though. Terraforming hasn't even been looked at yet. I can't even say for certain precisely how the numbers for terraforming and relative terraforming strengths worked in the first game! Does anyone have a concise knowledge of the system?

Jaork, I really like that idea for starting systems. Not 100% certan of Romii though. I know it appeared on the Neutral Zone map in 'Balance of Terror', and in proximity to Romulus, but is it not generally believed that Romii was an alternative name for Remus, ie a planet, not a star system? I'm not sure, don't believe anything canon is known in this matter (not even from Nemesis, and I'm actually loathe to ever watch this dire film again:)

There is a current project in work regarding star systems and planet types etc. I'm still gathering data, but some sort of announcement thread should appear soon. I want to concetrate on one things at a time. The next three things to appear will be the Federation Objects/Structure database list, the Tech tree list, and a Ship Balancing master table (still in work).

I have a question about the B’omar Colonial Fleet. The bonus is listed as "Up to 12 Colony Ships (type II)". Does this mean that their bonus sturcture would become useless once you have the colony ships?

Also, ther is one race (more of a system really) that I think would go great in the game.

I originally posted this in another topic but it died and I don't think anyone noticed the last post... So here is the idea excerpt.

I think the system that had the giant Bazare floating around on one of its ocean planets has got to be in the game.. Can you imagine the possibilities of that? Everything from technology, intel, and any goods you can think of were being bought and sold ther!!!

Can you imagine having a universal research bonus, cred bonus, and general intel bonus all from a single minor race structure!!! It would have to take a while to build though...

The system that the planet is in is the Xanthan system.

Here is the description from the site:
"The Xanthan homeworld is a Class O planet located inside the Delphic Expanse. It is home to a gigantic floating trading bazaar where shopkeepers such as B'Rat Ud and Zjod make their homes. One of the planet's native animals is the Xanthan marmot.
In September 2153, the NX-01 Enterprise visted the Xanthan homeworld to do business with B'Rat. While there, Jonathan Archer helped one of Zjod's slaves, Rajiin, to escape. Rajiin had actually been planted in Zjod's shop by the Xindi a few days earlier."

I looked though the links and I did not find a picture of any Xanthan though... Is it possible that the system was a joint colonization effort of several minor races? That would explain why it has such a large trading center.

Ye i can imagine it and it would have to be such a minimal ammount on each bonus so that the species doesnt becoem a must have to all majors. Or take such a hughe time to build the structure that all races have ahd time to get in contact with the race. Im pro any species that make an apperance in the series but we gotta make sure they r balanced.

Not sure what you mean about the B'omar colony ships. This basically is their 'bonus structure' - their 12 colony ships is what you get when you member them. It's possible they might be able to deliver higher pop points to your colonized system, or they'll have some other kind of advantage the other empire colony ships don't have (maybe a greater speed, or range etc) i don't know.

Xanthans? never heard of them, or this bazaar you mention. Delphic expanse, this means theyre from Enterprise and explains it. Is it from season 4? ive not had a chance to see any new Enterprise. What episode is it from?

I always thought that Remus was the third planet in the Romulus System, the second Planet being Romulus itself?

Remus was where the Remans came from.

...

I did a Google, and all I could find was a very small pic of the Xanthan Homeworld - no Xanthan race pictures.

I personally don't think there actually was a Xanthan race, it was just a market at a crossing of trade routes or something.

How could we have a race with no picture, anyway?

Quick question about the AndoriansIn the list,they are listed to have a terran class world. However, canonical evidence has their world as an arctic world. Any chance of a change over?

Matress, you're right about the Romulus system!
Canonically, it shoulc look like this:

Yellow main-sequence star
I - rocky, not class M
II (Romulus) - class M
III (Remus) - desert or arctic
IV - gas giant

see 'memory alpha' for more info....

the andorian homeworld was on a moon orbiting a gas giant, might be a good oppurtunity to excercise these moons ingame

If their home 'world' is on a moon, what would the max pop of their moon be?

Just as every moon - around 5 pop points

Think of the way minors "work" in botf: They slowly will terraform their whole system, and thus gaining the whole pop after a while. I would have no problem with them starting on a monn, but I think to have a moon use as source of pop, it's planet must be terraformed as well? So why not have an arctic planet with explicitly one big moon?

To be able to 'colonise' the Moons, you'll have to build the habitation project for your particular race.

The Terraforming of Moons will not be in the game, unless the entire thread that I set up (For Major Diarr) is thrown away and the ideas are done from scratch. (I think Iwulff was against Terraforming Moons anyway)

Have a check in the 'System-Wide Dome Construction Project' thread, the info is all in there:

http://www.botfii.armadafleetcommand.com/index.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=314&postdays=0&postorder=asc&&start=0

It might be best to start off somewhere around page four though, since we (I) wondered off on the topic for a while...

The thread is well and truly working again, so please have a read, and say your piece on the ideas. Out of the 'Domes' (Which they likely won't be called anymore, unless Defedz has his way, poor Horadrim ) idea, we got the idea for a mining structure as well, so development of this structure runs throughout the thread as well.

Dafedz has also posted a provisional structure list on the last page of the thread, o you may want to look at that and comment on it.

Not sure if the Andorian homeworld can be implemented as a moon or not, we may have to be flexible instead and just give them say a medium sized arctic world that happens to sit alongside a Gas Giant. We can also compensate by giving them a couple of large worlds including a Class-M to later colonise in their system.

Is that right, only four planets in the Romulus system? In that case Romulus itself could be a Very large planet. We would prefer home system to be reasonably impressive.

Agreed



Yes, of course! Romulus is huuuuuge! And the whole system is _impressive_

Most of the sources i've read/seen have put Planet Romulus as a very large Terran planet, whilst Remus is a slightly smaller Barren Planet.

Seeing as it is their Homesystem, Romulus should be made one of the largest Planets in the game, so they have an equal footing. (You wouldn't want me to come looking to colonise Sol, would you? )

Yes Dafedz, Romulus has four habitable Planets, but i'm not sure on the number of Gas giants; there seems to be a bit of a conflict on that matter.

...

A few other things i've noticed, is that Remus does NOT spin on it's axis. (The Remans live on the dark side of the Planet which is why the Remans are sensitive to light)

It would be cool if this was shown in the system map, although this isn't critical to the working of the game.

Remus is the main source of Dilithium in system Romulus, which is extracted in the Reman mines.