so, while the team is fixated on 2.2 for ICW, I have thought of potential non-SSD expansion for 2.3. Mainly, the Hapes Consortium. the team has announced that for ascendancy 1.2 the Hapes consortium will be the 5th playable faction. thus, the faction is going to be fleshed out. I had the thought that the main focus(other than bug fixes and EoTH ground units) could b making a new faction playable, while avoiding another imperial faction. and, unlike the Ssi-Ruuk, we know a bit more about Hapes, so this is feasible. if i'm wrong, or the team doesn't want to plan ahead that far, then oh well.
the second part of this is completely redundant if the first is rejected. a new HFZ GC was what I had in mind, but the start date would be pushed back about a couple months or so. playable factions: NR, IR, Hapes consortium(join into Solo alliance/command week 20, whose color would be decided), Zsinj empire, Greater Maldrood. non-playable factions: CSA(start of GC and after Zsinj's death), Antemeridian sector, Hutts, Kosh's FTU(joins his brother after zsinj dies, planets start locked). new feature would be intersections(kinda like mist/asteroid fields, has no income, but can be used as a planets/ hyperspace route blocker), which would be needed to make this work. it would be a 60-70 planet GC. Zsinj starts with 12-15 planets, the maldrood have 10-12, IR 6-7, hapes 3(plus 3 mists), Antemeridias 1, CSA 3, hutts(start in open conflict with maldrood. but connected by closed intersection to Mon Calamari as well) 5, Kosh 2, and NR the rest. mists, intersection to nal hutta/Mon Cala, intersections between Zsinj and NR are all blocked.
politically, this is a quagmire as whoever you play. the NR starts in open conflict with the IR, until turn 10 when the paths to IR lock and paths to zsinj unlock, creating war. as the IR, you start in a 3 front war with Zsinj, NR, and Maldrood. with week 10, all attacks stop, and you get a 10 week rebuild/breather. the Hapes consortium starts a 10 week long negotiation period with the NR week 10, resulting in NR, IR, and Hapes to join into the solo alliance week 20. week 22, all space lanes(except to kosh's territory) unlock and your in open war.
as zsinj, you stsrt trying to conquer a few neutral systems, the CSA, and are in open conflict with IR and Maldrood till week ten. by then, you should have the CSA and the neutrals, but still, the switch from IR to NR as enemy is one you need to be prepared for. after this, all your enemies do is get stronger.
as maldrood, you start in the hardest situation. fighting everyone at once, you get a little bit of a breather when week 10 comes and the IR woun't attack you, but still, fortify everywhere and lose as few units and planets as possible. when Zsinj dies, you regain all your planets plus 2 zsinj planets and Kosh, so keep this in mind.
when zsinj dies, a whole lot changes at once. Solo alliance breaks apart, back into NR, IR, and hapes, and all of them start fighting. Maldrood regains all lost ground PLUS extra, which puts them, as zsinj also loses the CSA, the strongest imperial faction.
in total, this is suppose to be difficult for every one, no matter who you play as.
again, this is suggestions, and for 2.3, NOT 2.2. I would love to hear your thoughts on this though. I will probably revise this as more info comes out