by tswider
Interesting discussion. Not normally a Risk player (prefer Apocalypse) but thought I'd take a peek.I think when you contemplate improving a game, you identify the problems the original has and if what you are adding to it (or removing from it) makes it "better" (which is subjective).
I've seen people try to improve Chess but rarely are Chess variants better. Same for Titan.
There is something to be said for having some variety and a different (but somewhat familiar) experience.
To me, it seems that the idea of the moon, Antarctica and sea cities all try to break up traditional bottlenecks and think about next best alternatives.
The player order may also be a way of breaking up a perceived problem of a fixed player sequence. I've actually seen variants to games that makes player order "non-fixed" but ends up creating other problems (such as the ability to do any form of planning).
FWIW,
Tom