In regards to the price, I'm not too broken up over it, but it depends on the situation a bit too.
5 people sign on via a faction to add a docking ring/mooring fixture for their corp to a previously unsettled planet, that's 200 million credits each. If it takes time to process it and people are working rather than in game, those processing can still split the money and earn creds. But for something so expensive, you'd think you'd get your yes or no first, not submit the money, then get your vote.
At the same time its the same old system. Ask first, if you get a yes, you might go ahead, might get the same answer from a vote...or not and still lose the credits?
But if we had it set up in listed outlines in advance, it would work the other way. Say for constructing a docking ring they knew they simply had to ship 10 commodities of X thousand units each, combined with RP around the project the whole time (documentation by members, rp with other factions if necessary) and knew going in that if they simply do the shipping, have it all documented, and had their credits saved, they'd get it unless someone had a serious reason to question it, which I'm sure would be very rare.
So instead they just look at the pre listed requirements, and know that when they have them met, they file the request with credits in the bank, and again unless there is a reason held by staff that they wish to say 'but so and so said they cheated' then the vote could be held to double ratify the decision. If there is serious evidence of wrongdoing brought up and seems legit, it just gets voted to be held or denied based on that. Most of the time it would seem likely that if groups were meeting the criteria they followed going in, few changes would be denied, and players could just pick their option and go to work instead of so much pre negotiation. I've suggested this for a while, sell RP development as achievements to stimulate activity.
In other words, make these options standardized and make them 99% gauranteed as long as the work is done, and people will go to work first, and file when they get there. It will also make the cost feel much more worth it, as players will know there would have to be a damn good reason for stuff to go wrong and not get their money's worth, or risk losing it to a bad request. If people knew colonizing a planet with a base was as easy as meeting a list, many will happily go get to work on those goals today! All we'd need then is to allow some factions to claim unused worlds for laying bases, maybe even outside their house territory, and it will create all sorts of pvp and rp around those projects. Almost every planet and moon in the game could be 'colonized' by someone, which sounds great to me. It wouldn't happen overnight, but still breathe some life and ambition into activity again.
Then, let the battles over territory begin! As the rest about players fighting other players' efforts takes place in game, and not at votes. If you want to stop DSE from settling a planet, you'll have to follow their RP, and cleverly get in the way of some shipments, try to deter. In the end it may not work but it gets people interacting, at least pirates would have a reason to play the cat and mouse game again!
There are many planets and moons that could be built onto by house corporations all over the map. We could unleash a corporate colonization of these places and let the cards fall where they may. Gallia in particular has many places that could be colonized like that, maybe we'd need one new edited animation for underground bases when it comes to small moons, but when you think about it every moon could wind up with DR's or a mooring fixture, and every planet could be like Pecos with multiple bases of more than one faction (depending on size). That is definitely the type of thing people would happily grind for if they knew it would work save for a really important reason to deny. Using pre determined options, and pre determined lists for each one also keeps the Devs checked and balanced, as it takes away personal voting in favor of a system everyone follows except if odd problems must be dealt with.
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