I've been trying to evaluate Act 1 goals to be useful. Chris hasn't put forward any specifications on how long Act 1 is intended to be, but we can still make some observations.
Based on playing experience I'd predict the following
Estimated Act 1 Stats for Median players
Length: 50 ~ 100 turns
Territories: 3-5
Income: Too variable, 30k by turn 50 is easy enough as it stands
Buildings: 100
Problematic Act 1 Requirements
Player has 0 basic requirement buildings (e.g., police, fire, etc). This is just too handcapping for the player. Push come to shove, build them and then bulldoze them when you want to advance.
World cannot contain basic building (e.g., No police in the world). This is just too difficult. The player has to scout the entire world and then destroy all of these buildings. Alternatively, the player can finish this goal very quickly by reaching the other requirements before anyoen builds the required building.
Build later tier buildings (e.g., Riot Police, Embassy?) Rather than make special cases for these events, perhaps restrict it to just Act 1 buildings? It would save on development time.
Build terrain restricted buildings (e.g., fishery on Mars). Perhaps specify which planet types each Event is allowed on?
Scouting Percentage (e.g., have visibility of 75% of the world). Scouting is currently limited to being build only in your own territory. Some depends on how scouting is changed, but territory building restrictions and scouting station range may make this one infeasible or too easy.
