Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Save/Load UI, Autosave, Intel Map Markers, and More (04/10/24)
New blog post up - What's Next?.
While isolated battles are nice appetizers, I suspect most of us would agree that once we have a full sandbox campaign, they aren't gonna get that much attention from us anyway. 
Focus on what is gonna make Starfarer a true classic: the immersive sci-fi campaign. 
I was thinking that one thing I would REALLY like to see in SF at some point is an in-game news service. It would be really cool if periodically, or perhaps only at certain locations, you could read some news stories. Like, to use your example, a headline about a depression hitting the sector. Or a viral outbreak on a colony. Or a battle being fought somewhere. Ideally, these headlines would serve to point the player in the direction of new economic opportunities. Also, it would make the galaxy seem much more alive because you would have a real sense of a vibrant world where things are happening outside of your current area.
In my mind, this is extremely important. Getting good information should be crucial to making an impact in the sector, especially if you have to do much with limited forces - and as you mentioned, awareness of happenings outside your vicinity makes the world feel more alive. I don't want to go into the details, as they may change, but this is something we're considering very closely in the design.
It certainly gives it a history and change of pace. If the economy of the setting is hit by a depression of some kind, it would be very interesting to see the majority of the fleets flying around in corvettes or frigates with their capital ships put on ice and the number of carriers severely limited.
Just want to chime in with a "Oh man industry potential in this game is huge".
I'm not sure to what extent the devs are planning to run with this game in terms of industry/crafting/resource management/gathering, but I see such insane potential for a game with the awesome groundwork of ship-environment interaction. Maybe we'll have to wait for a modder to do something with it, but I think it'd be supremely awesome if it was possible to embark on non-ship combat paths to success in this game.
I have been toying with the idea of implementing the actual Sidewinder target tracking algorithm, though. What's in the game now basically does the same thing, but the way the real algorithm does it is just so elegant.
Maybe we could get some C4 in the game?
The new website was the last straw: I have now bought into the game (I was gonna do it sooner or later ). )!