2.0 patch notes have been released.One of the more interesting things that caught my eye was this:
• Becoming Federation President now requires an empire to own at least 10% of a Federation's total planets, OR at least half the number of planets of the largest member. Empires who do not fulfill this condition will be passed over for leadership.
Needless to say I immediately started wondering if cheesing things and becoming El Presidente for life would be worth it, by forming a Federation with nations 10 times smaller than yours. The upside is that at least one fifth of your fleets (or one third with the Entente Coordination civic) become maintenance free due to being Federation Fleets. You will always have access to these fleets since you're always El Presidente, so you don't have to worry about them vanishing or being redesigned by the AI. I wouldn't expect much fleet power or advanced technologies from the other members of your Federation if they're small enough for this to work, but they're there.
The obvious downside to such a plan is diplomacy. You have to finagle your other members into supporting your wars while ensuring that they don't grow large enough to snag the title of President from you. With the new war system I think it might be possible to do such a thing. Since your fellow members are so small they should have trouble taking planets, so you just have to focus on your own claims. Then you hit the button that goes 'Leave the borders as they are' and bam. You get all of your claims while your allies get none.
...
I'm sure there's a ton of flaws in this plan but it might be worth a shot. Just think of how many minerals and energy you'll save with your maintenance-free fleets.