First of all, Fighters need inherent defenses when those big ol' cap ships come in to play. Too often I find it that a single dreadnought can just own 6-10 small/tiny hulled ships with little effort in one go (though this is better than them wasting their awsome firepower on a single fighter). Maybe you would seperate ocmbat on the basis of hull types. I.E...
Fighters (Tiny/Small)
-Forward Firing (Basically when you just attach the raw weapon, can only be used on other small/tinies and are more effective then forward fires.)
-Turrets for small (Corvettes, bombers.)
-Bomber weaponry. (Requires a weapon to be 'linked' to a bomber module. I.E: Laser attached to Westinghouse 33x Hyperion Fusion Engine turns one laser cannon in to a bomber weapon that can hit Medium-Huge hulls.)
-Easily mass produced (Tinies produced in squadrons of 5, smalls in 3, or you can choose how to produce them. May be required in a tech?)
-Inherit 5/3 Pc speed.
Frigates/Light Cruisers. (Mediums)
-Forward/Broadsides (Same, except these can only hit big ships, Medium+)
-Turrets (Self-Explanatory.)
-Capacitators/Reactors (Like the Bomber Modules, these boost up weaponry to maximum effeciency against Large+)
-Carrier modules F/LC. (Ok, here's how it works. It basically boosts the repair rate for another small/tiny in the same sqaure by 3 HP, more CMs increase the number of ships healed.)
Cruisers/Battlecruisers (Large)
-Forward/Broadside (See above.)
-Turrets (See above)
-Bomber modules (Once again, see above)
-Carrier Module, C/BC (Basically a boosted repair rate of 5 HP per turn to 3 fighters per module)
The Mother of All Ships...er...Dreadnoughts (Huge!)
-Do I need to repeat the first three/Four?
-Main Guns. Basically, you have a choice of a Main Gun module, one per ship, but one for each of three weapon types. It basically increases that one weapon type's output by 10-20% depending on tech.
-Mobile Shipyard (Acts as Carrier Module, but heals Large and Mediums by 10 HP per turn to 1 ship per Module)
Shipyards (Starbase, seperate type.)
-Research modules that allow you to build up to medium ships or mass produced tinies (I.E: It can pump out a squadron of 5 tinies, or construct a single medium.)
-Acts as a planet for combat purposes (can be garrisoned.)
Starbases.
-Garrisonable.
-Streamline this thing, please. And make them more powerful as time goes on. Maybe after a certain research their base structure is linked to the huge hull and not the large?
-Capturable.
Planets
-Ditch. The f***ing. 10 ship limit.
-Ground combat needs to be beutified, and maybe throw something in like what they do with Sid Meir's Pirates!
-Ecumonopolii (City-Planets, like Coruscant.) basically, when you have a 20+ square planet and cover every square, it becomes an ecomnopolis and gets increased land defenses. And industry. And economy.
Economy
-What the hell is with shipbuilding? I see a 104 Trillion Credit income go to -23 BC from building a single ship! Ok, maybe a bit exxagerated, but you get the point.
-Throw a dab of Sim-City (Zoom in close enough, and you get to see the ships moving about on trade routes and stuff.)
That's all I have for now...