So many games get cluttered up with inane mechanics that don't add anything but more buttons to click and numbers to track because more = better and of course a game in Genre X needs to include Y!
i'm the one who made the suggestion to shoehorn something in, in this case, but i still very much agree in general. ^^ the game is incredibly well thought-out and polished, particularly for a game still in alpha!
Militaries operate on a completely different scale and philosophy than private firms. They would repair disabled ships simply because it is faster than building new ships, costs be damned.
even if cost isn't really a factor irl, it very well could be in the dystopian setting of Starsector. plus, part of why i think many fleets might not do much salvaging is because i think it would
not be fast, especially for fleets who aren't specialized in doing it. maybe major factions have their own scavenger fleets that seek out debris of recent battles to bolster their own forces, but that could still allow the player a window of opportunity between when the combat fleet leaves after only minimal salvaging and when the nearest scavenging fleet arrives to strip the debris of anything remotely useful.
again though, i'm not saying you are entirely wrong. i agree, it could be argued that military fleets should always salvage as much as possible. i just feel the possibility of allowing the player to recover some ships from a battle they lost (or weren't even involved in at all) isn't totally nonsensical to the point where it would feel completely out of place if there were gameplay mechanics in place to allow it.
Any thoughts on having supplies have a more regulated price than other commodities? Some hidden damping factors that drive them back towards a value that balances the industry playstyle?
hopefully the economy revamp should already take care of that, part of its goal is to make prices less fickle and volatile.