I must admit, theres nothing out there that truly satisfies though, Ferrium will carry a lot of the seeds for doing this stuff
I suppose if I were to define my own dream game it would be...
A game with Freespace type pace, a mixture of Frontier and X type trading, where you have planets/stations in a huge system, and factories tend to get built near these for protection. You can buy at the factories or stations.
My own idea was that, because Space Sim and Space strategy don't mix, because of the 'lives' thing, it might be better to buy RC Combat Drones. which you can leave to the AI to fly, or opt to pilot one from your ship. If you run out of drones, it's up to your point defences. Drones come in types from Interceptor to Bomber
Your own ship is big, slow,cumbersome and modular. but has jump drives. You can buy extra 'modules' on planets, for race specific fighter/point defence enhancements, extra cargo space, space for more more drones, point defence turrets etc etc, though some types of pod will not always be compatible with the central shell. You can even buy a new, larger shell for more pods.
There are 3 tech types, Electrical, Optical and Biological, they are not always intercompatible, and have tech levels. Tech levels can be reached by building research pods.
Anyway, I've gone on too long already, I literally have folders of stuff about how this would work, but it's kind of a mixture of Freespace (Flying combat drones), Elite (Trading) and Homeworld ('Mothership')
