While it’s probably not practical at scale, it would be cool if some advisors with an agenda took the opportunity to frame things in a slightly different way whenever you had to rely on them for a check.
Maybe Ozara really stresses the importance of predictability for economics, if you have her around when you need to decide on the Jubilee date.
Maybe Krovos opens up some spicy dialog if he’s on board whenever Arrahil discusses her passion, or vice versa. He could also subtly describe information as about the “old” religion, if you’ve made Plans.
Maybe Branekka or Milan or both proactively ask you to spite the other, if you brought one along to where the other is present. (I’m curious about what was going on here, too!)
I’d especially hoped to see some consequences from Erilotti taking a very important position in cabinet. Maybe if she’s around, she frames species greeting sequencing by describing Mau as co-founders of the empire who expect to be acknowledged, or describing Heru as fiercely independent at best, unlikely to be offended if left last, but with an opportunity to portray unity.
It could be really fun if I get some early scenes when learning Intrigue for myself. It’s the knowledge skill that a player is likely to experiment with first, and would be another hint that sometimes, you’ll discover more when you learn knowledge skills for yourself. I could see her looking up salacious information at Student level. Maybe the results in having more to share with Kxenia on Turn 15. There could be some really fun easter eggs if the Grandmaster Intrigue flavour was something like “you’ve made a habit of investigating everyone you could meet” rather than “you’ve read up on all Electors”. Maybe discovering a few extra details about your friends and family, where you couldn’t perform a regular investigation.
I feel like there should be more sensitive things to learn in the Quest from the Pahnei-Stooye Electors, especially if I’m taking a difficult dive for Military secrets.
I wish getting physical in neutral space would have been disconcerting enough to dislodge some interesting information. It’s a pretty hard to check to make on top of everything else!
I wish I had more opportunities to interact with my cabinet. They’re supposed to be my closest allies, yet I end up feeling closer to all the people I do personal and engaging quests for instead. What if they did get a say in Imperial Policy from the get go, or just took opportunities when they come? Probably not practical to do for everyone, but maybe Rejt comes up with a proposal for something around the Opera. Maybe that’s how you actually meet the Askold opera company - I mention meeting them, when they come up in conversation, but that seems to have happened “off-screen”?
I wish there was a way to have “close contacts in Heru II” for the epilogues. I’d beelined there to obtain one cabinet member and complete two personal quests for a fully pledged system, and it still was this remote mysterious system to me as far as the epilogues were concerned.
I haven’t yet checked to see if Jade reacts differently if you’re wearing the Domination outfit. That could be an entertaining easter egg if she doesn’t already!
Completely separately, I wish there was a way to still experience personal quests from people who really like you. I’ve finally been able to see Grojdana’s quest, and that was super fun. I had no military experience, but seized a victory in a fun parallel of what I’d been doing socially in the wider sector. :)