This is conclusive proof that Magnetic Clouds are underpowered, for the few remaining doubters.
The game is allegedly set in space, yet some maps are more like seventeenth-century siege warfare in Flanders, battle over one planet, move on to the next. Where's the vast dark void element?? Let's buff Magnetic Clouds! Add Time Distortions, a Flux Nexus or two, perhaps an Irregular Vortex or a cheeky Spectral Disturbance. And where's a Radioactive Burst when you're desperate for one? Hidden away with the Active Rifts, Variable Auras and Rogue Cascades that could all see useful applications, that's where!
It's the lack of room in space that makes trade interdiction such a little-used aspect of the game, though it was extremely important our history. Magnetic Clouds are the only area that you can prey on trade ships without running into starbases or planetary defences. Also the destruction of trade ships is undervalued if its a flat rate- does it increase with trade value? What would the destruction bounty be with these kind of trade empires? And trade ships seem to be rebuilt very quickly, perhaps that could usefully be increased?
I've long wanted trade to be reorganised, I'd hoped that the second expansion would implement it. The current trade route system seems artificial and not very rational. There should be bonuses for trading betwen dissimilar planets, not for merely shipping from one volcanic to another, over a greater distance.
