This exact same argument could be used to confiscate legally owned guns and profits by gun manufacturers that sold guns to people who would end up using those guns to go on shooting sprees like the exact one this case refers to.  Are you sure you want to continue down this rabbit hole?

Godwin's Law!

Whiter than a GOP convention at the north pole!

Because she's the stock photo in a wallet he bought?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urglg3WimHA

Seems appropriate.

Okay, this is a 100% different development, and I'd say there's balance issues at this point.  Why?  Because generating income from having cash just sitting there is not a game move players can counteract.

A good game mechanic generally has multiple methods by which they can be countered, allowing players the capability to change up their strategies to exploit enemy weaknesses.  LQ income is susceptible to direct attacks, nukes, and magic ops.  Stationed forces are susceptible to direct fleet attacks or the Destroy Units op.  (The exception in this game has generally been that there's no direct counter to oppers except to throw more agents at the problem... a thing I've never liked, incidentally).

The above administration idea... the counter is limited.  I could op your cash and iron, yes.  But you're already a tiny player, meaning: (A) Morale restrictions would limit the amount of ops I could place on you, and (B) you would probably put a decent amount into agents and/or wizards, respectively.  Moreover, if you put your savings into the other resources, there's absolutely no counter.  In fact, particularly with the administration idea, it's not even a strategy that encourages activity.  I could literally log in only enough to ensure my account wasn't deleted, and the game would be playing itself.  It's utterly nonengaging in the world around the player, and frankly, not something we should encourage.

Moreover, in regards to pretty much everything here, you're still missing my fundamental point.  Everything you said could be done by a fam bank strat.  The team strat would simply have one guy as the fam bank, who'd invest in administration and also get 500m GC.  "Hey, this worked for that SS player, so I'm going to do that.  Also, send me your spare resources so we can multiply that too."

***************Every tool you have provided above can be used by a team strat player as good as, if not better than, the solo player can use that tool*************

That is my only point.  "SS players can use this" isn't responsive because team players can use it too.  They can do it better due to specialization.

So... bringing this to the simplest point.  Is the starred statement above correct?  If not, show examples... not of stuff SS players can do... but of stuff SS players could do with the above tools that team strat players ***would not*** be able to do, including why those team strat players would not be able to do it, and how it gives them an edge above team strats.  Unless you can do that, the above idea would simply serve to better team strat play.  Not that they're necessarily bad ideas, mind you... but they don't serve the purpose initially articulated.

*hurls out a generic response because the massive post that was being typed got lost in a computer freeze*

I love this idea.  It would absolutely kill SS strats, and I like team play, so yay, go this!

Seriously, though, why would this kill SS strats?  Because you're giving team strats more tools for players to become more specialized and do even better at what they were already good at.  Hell, I see at least one entirely new team role this would create.

Let's take your example above of how a partax pop banking SS would research.  Okay, cool.  Now how would a banker who didn't give a crap about ops research?

Military:
ground defense (improves attack strength for ground forces when defending)
ground offense (improves attack strength for ground forces when attacking)
armaments (improves attack strength for fighters, bombers, and lasers)
engines (improves fleet speed)

Income:
production (improves cash factory income)
administration (lowers cost of bureaucracy and other costs associated with empire size and net-worth)
*5%infra maintenance (lowers cost of building upkeep)
*5%unit maintenance (lowers cost of unit upkeep)

Welfare:
*5%longevity (improves population growth rate)
*35%prosperity (improves income per capita)
*15%education (improves research per capita)
*15%spirituality (improves magic per capita)

Resources:
storage (lowers food, iron, oct, and end decay rates)
mining (improves iron, oct, and end yields)
agriculture (improves food yields)
exchange (lowers market fees)

Construction:
labor relations (faster building)
*5%engineering (build more with available resources)
*10%architecture (lowers overbuild penalty)
*10%logistics (lowers construction costs associated with empire size and net-worth)

A pop banker won't be producing resources, so no need for that white noise.  Also, in this model, the fam bank would be a small player who could research more... so upkeep/decay is of limited use.  More important, though, this means that while the SS player gets more tools to spread out their benefits and make up for their weaknesses, a specialized player can outsource things like holding the fam bank and put more research into what they do best: make money.  Meanwhile, the resourcer is going to do the same thing... ignore the sciences that don't help them and focus on resourcing.

Moreover, looking at this, I could visualize at least one entirely new role a team strat would get out of this.  A small player who dumped science into labor relations, engineering, architecture, logistics, and maybe the bureaucracy/decay sciences could effectively function as a fam construction worker, getting planets in a fam's core sent to them, building those up at dirt cheap prices, then passing them back to the banker/attacker those planets are supposed to go to.  This player might also double as a fam opper.

Long story short, this idea has it 100% backwards.  Adding more options doesn't make it easier for SS players to compete with a team strat.  While it gives an SS player more tools, it also gives a team strat group more tools that they can divvy up among each specialized player, ensuring little research is done unless that research is part of the overall fam strat.  And, like with the current sciences, TOs, and race bonuses... long story short, the specialization is what gives the team strat its edge.

That's not necessarily saying this is a bad idea.  But be careful what you wish for. 

Well, when someone said "Someone should make a PvC," you immediately said "No."  Twelve days ago, after already collecting a ton of info based on an assumption that you were going to make a PvC, you cancelled the PvC you were planning because you had too much info (sort of like someone starting up a kickstarter to create a product, then cancelling it because they got too much money).  Also, there are 6 days in the round left, so "Who is a contender and who is a pretender" has almost been decided.

Long story short, that is quite possibly the most unconvincing method to have other people do your fam surveillance work I've ever seen.