While the randomness of the specials (such as natural wonders, etc.) make a certain amount of sense; the randomness of the tile locations do not!  Granted, I realize it's not really all that important; but it gets to me when an ocean tile says "grassland" in the description.

Also, while I do understand that the randomness of the tile locations make for a different placement strategy: the truth is that the planets are what they are and that shouldn't change.

You might consider this idea: Starting worlds should always have tiles in the same locations (with specials being random within those locations); but allow us to choose (activate) tile locations on newly colonized planets.  I'm not sure if this is self explanatory; but it boils down to selecting (activating) tiles one by one (first green, then yellow, etc.) until the maximum usable have been chosen.

It's just a thought.