I'd like to see a series of supplements that showcase and even enhance the flexibility of the system by introducing a few homebrew settings with very different motiffs. So maybe like a hard sci-fi setting set during a colonial war between Earth and the inner worlds against the belters and the Jovian moons. Maybe you could introduce new rules for limited delta-vee, solar flares as in-game events, intership computer hacking as a new form of attack, etc.

Then you could do a full-on space opera supplement with rules for psionic crews, unobtanium shielding, warp missiles, and other such implausibilities.

One other thing I'd really like is a set campaign system for linking multiple scenerios together into a branching narrative. If there is a single official campaign system you could even run organized events, allow player groups to register to different factions and then the results of the various tournament events help guide the development of the game world.

I must not be understanding right.  If landing equipment takes the same amount of space, why would anyone bother with them instead of just getting the engines?

That is definately a game-changer.  My group and I are still fairly new with this game but we recently instituted a new limitation.  We all noticed that each session was becoming a "who can design the most insidious weapons" contest, games were getting shorter and shorter and really most were decidied by who got to use their doomsday weapon first.  So we all decided that we would put an arbitrary limit of 1 positive weapon or fighter trait and one negative trait.  We were all making 800su weapons that ignored shields and did 20-30 damage each hit.  SO no matter how much protectiona  ship had, if it got hit, it was dead.  I am anxious to try it out with the new limit just to see how much it changes, hopefully there will be more room for tactics and manuevering.

House Rule #3

Anti-Fighter Batteries

Anti-FIghter Batteries may attack any flight that comes within their range DURING THE FIGHTER PHASE.  Anti-Fighter Batteries may preempt any action by a flight with an attack of their own (works like combat interception).  These attacks are resolved and damage is applied immediately.  Individual batteries are fired allocated seperately.  For example; a ship with 6 AFB is attacked by a striker flight, the starship player elects to fire 2 AFB at the fighter flight and save the other four for other possible threats later in the phase.  AFB may no longer fire at starships, even if they are within range during the fighter phase.  In addition, a ship is limited in the number of AFB it may purchase during construction, it may only have no more than 1 AFB per hull point.

This is another rule that has not been extensively tested yet, I realize that this makes AFB's much more powerful, perhaps too powerful, but I just like the idea of flights having to dodge a wall of flak before they can launch torpedoes or strafe or whatever.  Very cool image.

Ok, House Rule #1

Firing into a Dogfight.

Any weapon that can engage fighters normally may be fired into an active dogfight.  If doing so, resolve attacks normally and for each successful hit, roll a d6, on a roll of 1 or 2, the hit is applied against the friendly flight, resolve impact/damage normally.  If a roll of 3 or higher, resolve the hits against the opposing flight. 

The reason we decided to use a simple 3+ instead of trying to do it based on the relative numbers is to represent the fact that you ARE aiming at the bad guys, so it should be at least slightly more likely that you wull hit them, even if there are fewer of them.

I've always hated gimmicks like that.  GW games is notorious for making a new more powerful special rule for each new army or fleet they design so people will run out and buy the new range of models.  I like to think that I am a fairly good sport, I don't mind losing at all, but when I lose because of some weird advantage that I could not have taken advantage of, it ticks me off.  That's one of the reasons I like Starmada, I can lose a game because my friend found a neat little interaction of weapon traits that works really well and he blew me out of the vacuum with it, but I know that I'm not stuck with the same force next time, I can change and adapt to the new threat and develop my own superweapon.  With those other games my ability to evolve is limited to buying new models that have different stats. 
I gues I'm just opposed to a rule that only one player can use, and I don't think you can really put a points value on what is essentially a change to the fundamental structure of the game, there are too many variables, that could either be a gross overadvantage, or a complete waste of points. 
Whew, rant over, on the other hand, house rules can be very cool and my gaming group has already implemented a few of our own.  I am thinking I will start another thread where people can list theirs and comment on everyone else's, maybe put this extra movement rule up there and see what everyone else thinks.

Well, the thing is, the only time you need to emphasize speed over firepower and protection is if you are playing an "escape" type scenario.  Otherwise, it all comes down to trading fire at the end, so why bother filling up 1/3 of your ship with engines that won't help you once the beams and missiles start flying. 

Of course, that is only for regular Starmada games, if you are attaching a campaign game of some kind then there might very well be a reason to make a fast ship over a heavily-armed one.  Because then you can complete objectives beyond the destruction of the enemy.  But in a pitched battle where the only way to win is to destroy the enemy, it is better to be slow and nasty because at one point it will be a stand-up fight.

Type: APOLLO-class UNION BATTLESHIP (862)               
Hull: 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1               
Engines: [TL0] 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1                             
Shields: [TL0] 5 5 5 5 4 4 4 3 3 3 2 2 2 1 1 1                             
               
Weapons: [TL0] 1:[V] 2:[W] 3:[W] 4:[X] 5:[X] 6:[]               
Battery V: 150gW Anti-Ship Laser, 6/12/18, 1/3+/2/2, Increased Hits; Increased Impact; Starship Exclusive               
               
[G] [G]                
Battery W: 40cm Mass Driver Cannons, 6/12/18, 1/3+/2/3, Extra Hull Damage; Starship Exclusive; Piercing +2               
               
[G] [G] [G]                
Battery X: 20mm Close-in Railguns, 3/6/9, 1/3+/1/1,                
               
[ABCD] [ABCD] [ABCD] [ABCD]                
Battery Y: , , ///,                
               
               
Battery Z: , , ///,                
               
               
Special: [TL0] Countermeasures; Fire Control; Anti-Fighter Batteries (3)               
Fighters: [TL0]

Type: AJAX-class UNION HEAVY CRUISER (342)               
Hull: 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1                
Engines: [TL0] 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 1 1 1                                   
Faceted: [TL0] 20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2                                   
Facets: (4,4,4,3,3,2)               
Weapons: [TL0] 1:[VX] 2:[V] 3:[W] 4:[W] 5:[W] 6:[X]               
Battery V: 25cm Mass Driver Cannons, 6/12/18, 1/3+/2/2, Extra Hull Damage; Starship Exclusive; Piercing +1               
               
[AB] [AB]                
Battery W: 8cm Multi-Purpose Railguns, 4/8/12, 1/3+/1/1,                
               
[ABCD] [ABCD] [ABCD] [ABCD]                
Battery X: 20mm Close-in Railguns, 3/6/9, 1/3+/1/1,                
               
[EF] [EF]                
Battery Y: , , ///,                
               
               
Battery Z: , , ///,                
               
               
Special: [TL0] Countermeasures; Fire Control               
Fighters: [TL0]

This was my star player up until my last game.       
Type: WOLVERINE-class UNION DESTROYER (128)               
Hull: 5 4 3 2 1                
Engines: [TL0] 4 4 3 2 1                                        
Faceted: [TL0] 15 12 9 6 3                                        
Facets: (4,3,3,2,2,1)               
Weapons: [TL0] 1:[VW] 2:[VW] 3:[VW] 4:[V] 5:[W] 6:[W]               
Battery V: 24cm Plasma Torpedo Generators, 4/8/-, 1/4+/2/4, Piercing +3; Starship Exclusive; Carronade               
               
[G] [G] [G]                
Battery W: 20mm Close-in Railguns, 3/6/9, 1/3+/1/1,                
               
[ABCD] [ABCD] [ABCD] [ABCD]                
Battery X: , , ///,                
               
               
Battery Y: , , ///,                
               
               
Battery Z: , , ///,                
               
               
Special: [TL0] Countermeasures; Fire Control               
Fighters: [TL0]