Speeding up the game when you're a freelancer should be simple enough, I just worry for people with slower computers. It runs fairly smoothly on mine though even at 30x speed.
I've been wondering about freelancer and I might also make the AI lords more aggressive when you join them so that the player sees more action. Even in the early game when it's crowded, the AI is so wimpy that it can take half an hour of sitting around to so a good battle.