Hello,
after about 15-20 minutes of brainstorming, I've come up with this: Your ship has been destroyed, then what? You either have enough money to buy a new, "starter" ship or you load the last save. How about life pods? Make there be a "captain" (or more) and after an unsuccessfull engagement, the "captain" rushes with a couple of simple crew (eg.~3) to a lifepod, which has a "crafting module" , then launches towards the current planet, in whose orbit you currently find yourself, the course being portrayed by a cinematic.
After the (crash) landing, make the crew be controlable, the player then being able to send them to search for resources to build a new ship, the price for parts being the resources mined with the equipment from the lifepod OR bought from "markets" on the inhabited (or not) planet on which you find yourself. Maybe also a day-night cycle, with raids (if the planet is inhabited) from local raiders, the crew having to defend themselves
Just to put this out there. I know Walt already has a bunch of stuff on his to-do list, but maybe, in the future, he will add something like this, along with something resembling a story mode.
Thanks for reading! (Really hope I've not missed a similar suggestion) 🙂