
43 Countries
I'm fairly open to suggestions, but currently thinking of having 6 continents (4 rim world sections - need names to differentiate - and the core and border worlds), plus Angel as a special in itself.
Continent bonuses
Thinking :
3 armies for rim worlds (individual systems)
5 armies for border worlds
2 armies for core worlds
1 army for Angel
Lines of attack note:
The fact the core worlds can be protected by the border worlds should hopefully be balanced by the central position and chance of other players ganging up on a centre-hogger.
Within individual systems needs sorting.
Intra-system:
Hera <-> Jiangyin & Whittier
Dyton <-> Liann Juin & Beylix
At least, probably more
Angel <-> Londinium & Harvest & Regina
Rather thematically, if the Independents fight together, they can overwhelm an Alliance player, but the Alliance's centrol position and power means they can overwhelm fractious Independents piecemeal.

(I base this on the way continents usually end up gathered by players, and then the real fighting begins)
Oh, And I might need a hand clearing that text off the top (but then can also reduce map height, making resizing a little easier).
And I'll openly state now, whilst I can play with the image, I cannot do xml, so I'll be needing a volunteer if this proves popular enough.