In regards to the question, "What could have been done differently?"
I think one other options would have been to have a bigger skip.
Instead of only going 70 years into the future, go way more. Add on
one or two centuries and really break with the past going forward.
Doing this would eliminate the whole "hot corpse" scenario, as even
Virus would be beaten down and be very rare in the new scenario.
It also eliminates much of the "transfer scenarios" that are suggested
to help players bridge the gap (as it is a lot harder to get a situation
where you can successfully sleep through 150-250 years instead of
"just" 70 years). It can still be done, but it is harder to set up.
However, it would let you have the chance to do a few good things,
too:
- Stone cold dead worlds with their artifacts are their own special
types of scenario, and would be more prevalent in this setting.
- You eliminate a lot (if not almost all) of the precarious worlds and
ground the setting on actually habitable worlds. Dangerous worlds
are now actually dangerous (not being able to breathe should be
dangerous).
- You can lock down the TL a lot more so that you don't have to
worry about whole fleets of TL15 ships floating around waiting to
be found and either used or kill you. The old stuff can now only be
found in very small quantities. TL11 or TL12 *means* TL11 or TL12.
- You can force a small ship universe, if you so desire. TNE seemed
to be an attempt at that direction, but there were too many big
ships remaining. With all of the old stuff now completely gone (or
nearly so), you can really have a truly small ship universe.
- Virus can still be there, but you don't have to worry as much about
all of the intermediary stages anymore. Now you can just have the
evolved strains. They are also much, much rarer, which makes them
all the more terrifying and real when finally encountered.
Oh, and the Regency would have been harder to do, but not impossible.
It definitely would no longer have been a "Regency", but whatever
form the Regency ended up in would be OK. It would still allow a tie
back to the Imperium of ole, even if it was still just a vestige of its
former self. It could also serve as the last remnant of high-tech
capabilities. (Along with the conniving Hivers.)
That is not to say this would be a *better* solution. But it is a good
alternative that could have worked.
Mike West