UPDATES: 20230122 - Incorporated updates to resource costs and move speed from the 4.5 update. 

I really enjoyed the game, but felt like there were rough edges left to be smoothed. I had seen earlier mods that accomplished some of what I wanted, but many were outdated, no longer supported, or just lacking the needed changes. With the recent updates to the game (and the way the game files work) I completely reworked a significant number of games files across different aspects of the game.

Overall, I modified the game to accomplish the following for game version 4.21:
-Remove restrictions on technology that were locked behind racial traits. Prioritizing and choosing certain tech (or not) is it's own differentiator between races and players. Races also have traits that make playstyles significantly different. 
-Increasing the speed of gameplay and access to tech, ideology, and building options. This gives players more flexibility in playing they way they want to.
-Aligning tech, ideologies, racial lore, sci-fi lore, and reality to an extent. I tried to remove the majority of "game-isms." For example, the Prolific ability to magically have 50% more population upon colonization. There is definitely some mysticism in the game, but I'd rather keep it somewhat tied to reality.
-Dramatically changed the number, type, power, and balance of the racial abilities. There were too many before, so now the choices between the abilities seem more substantial and powerful.

Included Third-Party Mods: (Disclaimer: I think all mods stated that they are no longer supported and/or give permission for others to use and upload with credit to the original authors as I am doing here. Additionally, I modified many of these mods to either update them for 4.21 or change their functionality.) 
. Added Carrier Fighter Tweaks by Rooker75. Fixes carrier behaviors by creating dedicated fighters and modules and changing ShipBlueprintDefs.
Modified Clarke Shield Module from 5 to 4 of each defense. Increased the Guardian version from 3 to 8 of each defense and moved tech to CarrierFocus2.
Moved ShipBlueprintDefs to "Common" mod folder and updated it to match game version 4.21.
. Added Dead Planet Colonization by starfuryzeta. Created DeadPlanetColonyShipComponentDefs to simply add an additional component versus overwriting.
Modified the mod to add the CanColonizePlanet attribute. It doesn't work without it.
Created DeadPlanetColonyShipComponentText.
. Added Custom Constructor Component by LordBlarg. Adds multiple build constructor modules. 
Removed the 4th and 5th modules as they were overkill.
Increased cost of the 2nd and 3rd modules to 2x and 4x of the base game module cost. 
. Added Enhanced Terraforming by Seal148. Adds repeatable terraforming improvements to maximize colony hex availability over time.
. Added Farming Freedom by iamnone. Changes TradeResourceDefs to remove Arable Land as a requirement for level one farms. Moved TradeResourceDefs to "Common" mod folder.
. Added Relocate Colony Capital by Pendrokar. Fixed filename for ImprovementDefs_EvacuatedCapital to remove an extra "i" in the xml file extension and updated the RelocatedColonyCapital upgrade attributes to match the game version 4.21 equivalent improvements..
Merged mod changes into ImprovementDefs for game version 4.21 under the "Common" mod folder.
Moved the resistance stat below the production stat. Having resistance first was preventing the relocated capitals from gaining production adjacency bonuses. 
. Added Expanded Cities by PubliusNV. Adds the ability to build and improve cities over time to better manage and increase population. 
Recommend turning off automatic upgrades to prevent approval losses.
Increased food costs of Expanded Cities.
. Added Propaganda Center by Deathwynd to remove large empire penalty. Adds a building that provide the Patriotic trait to any race that builds it.
. Added Wonderful Galaxy by doubledeviant by merging mod changes into ImprovementDefs for game version 4.21 under the "Common" mod folder.
Changes Galaxy unique improvements to be player unique.
. Added Planetary Diversity by Deathwynd. Adds a variety of extreme planets to the possible pool.
. Added Removable Buildings by Seal148 by merging changes to <IsIndestructible>true</IsIndestructible> attributes in ImprovementDefs in the "Common" mod folder.
. Added Resource Mission Mod by ScrivenerofLight. Adds shipyard missions to find rare resources. Does not modify any base games files.
. Added Unit Anomaly Mod by ScrivenerofLight. Adds anomalies that give citizens. Does not modify any base games files.
. Added Defended Anomaly Mod by ScrivenerofLight. Adds defended anomalies and modifies AnomalyDefs to change anomaly encounters.
. Added Resource Anomaly Mod by ScrivenerofLight. Adds anomalies that give resources. Does not modify any base games files.
. Added Events, Improvements, and Fixes by karlfranz3. Modifies a significant amount of files related to events (colonization, early events, mega events, crisis).
. Added Planet traits, Features, and Icons by karlfranz3. Adds and modifies extreme planets of varying types. 
. Added Moss Ideology by mossman15. Changes ideology effects. Moved CultureTraitDefs and CultureTreeDefs files to "Common" mod folder with accompanying text files..
Modified CultureTraitDefs to remove immunity to culture flip and removed the accompanying text. Cultural dominance is a constant battle and cannot be stopped.
Modified Conversion trait 4 to still boost resistance to culture flip by increasing RebellionPointsMax by 10 (doubles turns it takes to flip a colony (I think)).
Modified ImprovementDefs to account for Moss renaming culture traits and moving where culture/ideology buildings fell in the chart.
Swapped Diplomatic Relations and Conversion traits to Neutral and Benevolent ideologies respectively.

Base Game File Mods:
. Modified GalCiv3GlobalDefs to:
Reduce the Ideology base and exponent cost
Slightly reduce the tech cost multiplier
Increase range of shipyards and asteroids to 9 without penalty
Increase race traits and abilities to 6 and 4 respectively
Increase all colonies' ResistanceBonus to .1. This means invading armies will take losses even if not garrisoned. Planets would have at least some resistance to occupation even without trained militaries. 
Increase CommonMediumHabitablePlanetCount from 25 to 30
Increase MaxTradeResourcesByPlanetClass by one for each range
Increase PlanetFullPopulation from 16 to 30
Decrease GovermentChangeTypesCooldown to 24

. Modified ImprovementDefs.
Changed all galaxy unique buildings to player unique buildings (Wonderful Galaxy).
Made most buildings destructable (Removable Buildings). 
Changed culture trait point generating buildings prerequisites to account for Moss Ideology changes.
Removed nearly all racial trait restrictions on buildings. 
Removed Diplomatic trait as a requirement for Galactic Council and associated it with the Interstellar Alliances tech.
Modified Precursor Souvenir improvement so that it's levels are affected by tourism versus wealth. Each level still increases colony wealth by 1% per level.
Removed the Certain racial ability as a prerequisite for the Precursor Souvenir building.
Removed the Arnor Spice cost from the Certain ability morale buildings as the base game versions don't have that resource as a cost.

. Modified ShipComponentDefs. 
Increased ColonyModule cost to 150 (roughly six times the normal game and same with Torian version). The cost to build a ship capable of hosting a colonizing population should be significant compared to sensors or cargo.
Removed adminstrator cost from all ships except colony ships, hypergates, and constructors.
Increased sensor cost to 30 from 20 since I removed the adminstrator cost.
Increased Constructor cost to 50 from 30.  

. Modified TechAgeDefs. 
Increased AgeOfWar research points required from 12 to 24 techs researched. This helps to spread research into the initial techs a developing society would want versus sprinting for some narrow future tech.. 
. Modified AbilityDefs. Tried to more closely balance the abilities so that they are all worthwhile. Previously, there were worthless traits and overpowered ones. I also removed the vast majority of ability restrictions on certain technologies.
Reduced Zealot (Slavers) Malign ideology points from 15 to 10 per conquered planet to balance reduced global ideology costs.
Removed Devout additional four adminstrators on start. 
Removed Cybernetic ability as it only provided the Mechanic citizen. Seemed like a waste of an ability point.
Combined Colonizer and Prolific. Removed Prolific 50% modifier on colonization. Population wouldn't realistically increase that much on a colony ship in weeks' time.
Made all of the Scavenger ability techs available and removed Scavenger. 
Added the Interstellar Navigation tech sub-tree to the Starfaring racial ability. 
Combined Vigilant and Paranoid abilities while removing all associated unique techs. Reduced InterceptorFighterCap for the Paranoid ability from 2 to 1. 
Combined Knowledgable and Intuitive abilities (now just Intuitive) and shifted the Precursor Archive artifact over from Adaptable. Removed all associated unique techs.
Combined Adaptable and Hopeful abilities (now just Adaptable). Removed Precursor Archive artifact from this ability.
Combined Engineers and Determined abilities (now just Engineers). 
Reduced Patriotic ability initial administrator amount from 10 to 5.
Removed Imperial and Mitotic abilities as they weren't great or reasonable.
Combined Federation and Diplomatic (now just Diplomatic). 
Changed Ravenous to gain food on invasions (up to 3 from 1) instead of space battles.
Combined Sneaky and Discreet (now just Discreet). 
Combined Resourceful and Wealthy (now just wealthy). Increased credits awarded to 2,000 and changed the resources granted to four of each Thulium, Promethium, and Durantium.
Combined Inventive and Engineers (now Inventive Engineers). 

. Modified FactionDefs. Changed all of the faction abilities affected by the changes to AbilityDefs modifications. Will likely increase difficulty slightly.
Changed Terran racial ability from Hopeful to Adaptable due to AbilityDefs mods.
Changed Resistance racial abilities from Determined to Inventive Engineers due to AbilityDefs mods.
Changed Onxy Hive racial abilities from Resourceful and Sneaky to Wealthy and Discreet due to AbilityDefs mods. 
Changed Yor racial ability from Cybernetic to Unrelenting due to AbilityDefs mods. 
Changed Iconian racial ability from Paranoid to Vigilant due to AbilityDefs mods.
Changed Slyne racial ability from Inventive to Discreet due to AbilityDefs mods.
Changed Thalan racial ability from Knowledgeable to Intuitive due to AbilityDefs mods.
  Changed Torian racial ability from Prolific to Prolific Colonizer due to AbilityDefs mods.

. Modified MasterTechDefs.
Removed the Scavenger racial ability as a prerequisite for the scavenging technologies.
Moved Agricultural Adaptation earlier in the tech tree and reduced its cost. Seems like farming would be more immediately important for colonization.
Removed the Vigilant, Knowledgable, Paranoid, and Intuitive racial abilities as prerequisites for a variety of techs. 
Shifted the Interstellar Navigation tech sub-tree to the Starfaring racial ability as it makes more sense here.

20220712 All mods seem to work well at this point. 
To-Do:
- It looks like building a starbase refunds an administrator in the "Constructor" category. That means that the multi-starbase constructor modules end up creating more administrators than they use. This may be fine though as I'm not a huge fan of the administrator caps.