My Idea is to remove player creayed planets and start with a limited number of preplaced ones in the galaxys,

if they arnt claimed quick enough then the host faction grabs them, and starts building them up.

this would help create competion over the limited planets and may bring more action, so basically if you raid a planet down to 0 defences its avaliable to be claimed by anyone, once claimed it would have to be raided again,