Something I was thinking about. Perhaps nations who don't want to concentrate mass construction of ships can "purchase" ships from stronger military nations. I know sometimes civs might give you a ship or two for random reasons, or you can trade your ships for various items. But I was thinking perhaps if the AI becomes "weak" in terms of military strenght, and may not posses enough resources to mass produce their own ships they will simply ask for a variety of another civ's ships in exhange for cash or technology.
This should happen often too so races don't fall too far behind in military early on. I was also thinking about a "Market Place" of sorts. It would primarily cover ships where each race will have a bundle of ships they are willing to sell. You can check the schematics of the ships to see if your interested (weapons, armor, speed etc.) If your interested in the ships you simply contact the race and offer up (perhaps there should be a pre-set amount of wanted cash too). This way if your pooring out ship for ship and don't know what to do with them, you have a simple method of selling or "exporting" your goods.
