After playing some beta I finally managed to piece together what I do not like in Ideology system of Galciv3
You have to do a lot of planet hunting or waiting for events for Ideology points that are limited and depend on you aligment choices. Small maps may not have enough such events to progress you anywhere down the chosen tree.
I compared this to the policies system made in Sid Meyer's Civilization 5 and thought through a way to improve GC3 by mixing both systems.
So here is the basic idea how to make it far better:
1. There should be a culture branch of buildings in the game that you can construct on you planets.
2. Each building will produce a culture points into culture total like it is with the money and influence points.
3. When civ has enough points for the next upgrade it can select it from a tree with several branches spending its choice to obtain a certain (and sometimes unique) ability.
4. Each branch has its own impact on aligment so that every choice influences you relations with other races accordingly.
5. Every next choice costs higher so that civ should focus on unlocking a few chosen branches that are needed for it.
Example:
You built 5 culture buildings and in 20 turns accumulated 100 points. You then go to Ideology and spend them on the "Deception" branch of the "Evil" tree choosing a "Privateer" ability to build your own pirate ships with hidden nationality to harrass your enemys without a war being declared on you (although I do believe shat every sne civilization will shoot such ships on sight 
). For such a choice your aligment will slide closer to the evil end of the spectre and will impact you influence with good races who will be looking at you with more suspicion.
That will balance the Ideology finally IMHO.
Civ 5 screenshot in case some1 haven't caught the idea
