DarkReality: you can grind metal in multiplayer or by beating bosses. vasasos: for beating missions in campaign mode. You can also get more units there, so you don't have to buy more in game money. Multiplayer is so slow because your internet sucks.
One Phalanx turret will keep your base protected from artillery. Play the campaign first, collect parts, only play multiplayer when you feel ready to compete with people who regularly beat campaign level 300.
Biolabs make short work of approaching heavy ships. They're basically 2x2 turrets shooting lots of spores. Infect them so they turn against your enemy.
Maybe implement an easier way of non-warpgate navigation, and circumstances that would preclude using the gates. Maybe a gate fee based on ship size, or an option to go renegade.
Major point of criticism: level scaling pirates make larger games pretty much unplayable around level 40. Best ship with artifact battle core and matching shield gets destroyed in under five seconds. Not even the time to afterburn into the next station!
You should add special ships, and bounty missions. Also, you shgould take the Autocannon/Assault Blaster idea into a new weapon class. Special versions of the standard weapon systems, with separate ammo. Low damage, high rate of fire. I'm talking 2 damage, 0.1 fire rate Gatling cannon, for instance. Same for a Gatling laser, just with a lower damage rating. Revolving missile launcher should have the damage output of one of the larger launchers, just launch 1 missile at a time with a high rate of fire. Lastly, there should be a wave motion gun or similar. Plasma cannon, maybe. VERY high damage output with splash damage, with a rate of fire of at least 20, that consumes around 100 energy per blast. Should be high enough in output to kill capital ships or swarms of Recons and Stingers. That thing should be a visible physical addon to the ships.
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i am currently adding something that will cover this... not gonna spoil it though ;)