I'm getting sick and tired of 90% of the maps I've generated sense the game was released having me start to close to the edge for my taste. 8% of the time getting started a good distance from the edge to make me happy but have NO planets I can colonize anywhere near me with the planets, stars, and habitable planets all on abundant and the last 2 percent starting very close to an aggressive opponent (Yor, both Drengin, and a custom race I made) and haveing them get warships out quickly and just destroying me... not fun. I need a map editor to beable to enjoy myself.
What i usually do is press CNTRL+N. as soon as the new game loads, i just look at the minimap and see the distrubution of stars. I keep pressing CNTRL+N untill i like the look of the star distribution. This saves me allot of heartache, and the need for an editor.
Also, if i'm not in the mood for another civilisation up my ass at the start, i will save the game on the first turn and then quickly explore with my ship without doing anything else. Once i am satisfied with the positioning of my neibours or not, i simply reload or restart.