Space stations that the player finds and renovates could act as an effective transition between the early and the late game where the player is financially stable, has a lot of loot to store, and needs more supplies but is not ready to invest in defending and developing a colony.
Basically, instead of having these abandoned stations that are either useless or are free storage, the player instead renovates old orbitals to act as both storage and a small source of fuel and crew. Perhaps even marines to encourage players to explore the raiding mechanics.
Like colonies, it would require some upfront costs and make an initial dent in your annual profits as everything is set up, but overtime would turn a small profit. Unlike colonies you don't have to babysit them constantly. The idea is that stations would be gradually ease players into the colonization/end-game by giving them a staging ground and a way to generate some steady income.
