Command C&C3 Kanes Wrath
Strategic faction diversity, i.e. this faction is better at raiding or this one is better at defence, is bad for map diversity. As a result, maps need to balance the factions rather than the factions balancing against themselves. An example is any map that gets too big not being balanced because the raiding faction's strength is over expressed. Each map needs to allow each faction to express it's strengths equally by allowing it's strategies to work or the map isn't balanced. In a way it prevents stupid map designs from being playable but I don't think raising the mapping skill floor makes map makers better.
Starcraft is another example where map variety is limited. A map with more than one entrance to the base is not even considered. Starting resources are also always the same. Even the dead area behind a base needs to be balanced so air units can't hide in it too well. This was around HOTS btw in case it's somehow radically changed since but I doubt it.
FA doesn't have much problem since the factions copy each other a lot but it's a reasonable thing to remember. Diversity is different ways to do the same thing not one faction doing something another can't or doing it much better than the others because 'it's the attacking faction'. I'm not saying all the factions should be clones, but when they are different other factions should have a means to compete in a 'balanced enough' way.
One example I personally dislike in FA is T1 hover asymmetry since it prevents a lot of 5x5 map designs from being viable that could otherwise work. I'd prefer if all or no factions had T1 hover. Even just hover labs for uef/cyb could help ease the pain of hover on 5x5. I know this stuff is more suited for a mod, it's just an example of the idea.
Someone mentioned global skills like artillery strikes. C&C3 KW has these and they are awful. Faction with the best 'one clicks' (since they win the game in one click) also has the fastest units. If you spread your army you get picked off, if you clump all they all die to the kill button. The game also has other cancer like making a group of units invincible but they can't shoot but units can crush others in this game, so you just have some stupid invincible units driving around your base like a bunch of drunks that you can't kill for however long the ability lasts trying to crash into everything. Also there's an aoe skill for 'cybran' that gives all units in it's range stealth/cloak permanently, and this game has something of an equivalent to T4s. You have to use game audio to hear T4s driving around your base so they don't drive over all your units and crush them. You can probably guess I don't play this game anymore.
The FA campaign did have some extra abilities that added some fun like unit reinforcements, a nuke, the princesses eye spy thing. Maybe galactic war could have these support powers. UEF could summon a novax for 30 seconds every 5 mins with an ACU upgrade. 8v8 could then be 8 novax appearing over you and killing you instantly for being so stupid as to invade the defence faction on their home turf. Cybran could have Brackman hack the other players computer preventing them from playing for 10s as well as resetting their hotkeys. And aeon could drop an acu anywhere on the field that instantly blows up for 2.5k damage like a mercy but an acu instead since they are the terrorist faction.
