I also think some action is needed regarding inactivity.
But i dont agree on most of your proposed solutions.
Guard systems are fun and i think the make the game much more interesting.
Besides, i use them as trade routes and short cuts to move around.
I also dont like the idea of making systems smaller, the are fine as they are.
The one thing i agree upon is making Galia smaller again.
Galia was a forced idea in the first place and to expand it to get it to work was a wrong idea i think.
You would need much more players on a server, like 500+(at the same time),
to make that work.
We need to get players back to the game for shure.
Some years ago you could hardly get on the server, it was always full.
For some the reason of inactivity is the player owned bases.
In that sence that it costs too much time and effort to make and maintain.
A lot of active players are almost fully occopied with maintaining them.
And thus have no time for gameplay/RP anymore.
So i dont know the solution to that, but maybe it should be easier.
(*note: I dont know latest developments, cause havent been active last year)
But in my opinion removing Conn is a very important thing.
Conn should have been removed a long time ago.
I really dont understand its still around, it spoiles the game and RP.
Conn is completely OORP.
And all the players who are now pewing around there should have to play the game and RP again.
Conn keeps players out of the game and out of RP.
It would help a lot, i am shure about that.
After a lot of changes to the game in a relatively short time i saw a lot of players leave and i got inactive too.
But i dont really know major solutions to the problem.
But it's good to give it some thought and do something about it.