I personally love the "Space empire" grand strategy games.  Just got the new Solar Starfire, waiting on the 'new' VBAM, and currently working on my 9th iteration of my own system.  To me, they give purpose to all those battles I fight.  Still, they are not needed for a quick pick-up game with friends who don't want to go that deep to fight others in SPACE, instead of some other Genre.  So Starmada as a battle scenario builder, or an alternate combat system for the Grand strategy is viable for BOTH.  Some basic empire building rules would be cool, but that is all that is needed at this time.  If Dan gets a ton of feedback saying, We want a more complex system and are willing to put our wallets where our mouths are; I'm sure he can think about that and come to his own conclusion as to where Starmada can expand to. 

I'm gonna have problems getting someone (other than my daughter) to play Starfire due to its complexity.  But I'm sure gonna enjoy some very complex solo campaigns playing it.  VBAM looks almost easy compared to it, so I might get others to go to that level, maybe even include some of the Campaign Guide rules (I also like the multi-planet rules).  Different complexity levels isn't really an issue to me, it is a godsend that there is something out there for everyone, because some days I feel like working on my empire and other days I just want a fun 'Blast em' battle.