If possible, please consider implementing an option to order the construction of a ship at one of your stations.
One of the more frequent problems I've ran with when playing Exerelin is that you have no control over what ships your stations produce - it's a matter of luck. I've actually gone an entire in-game year doing tours between my faction's 10 stations and I haven't found a single Atlas (I'm allied with Hiigaraans, which have their own super freighter, which their stations didn't have either), neither have I found the Vatican Mk. IV, which is a ship included in the Project Valkyrie mod.
While not at all gamebreaking, it CAN get pretty tiresome if you go around looking for a specific ship and not finding it anywhere.
The solution to this would be to order a station to begin construction on a ship that's either A) A design belonging to your faction or B) A design belonging to a faction whose station you've managed to seize.
Obviously, placing a priority order for the construction of a ship would cost a premium, I'd say roughly x1.5 the price of the ship (which would make ordering the construction of capital ships and such very, very expensive)
Although perhaps this is something that will be implemented into the base game in time.
On a different note, I hope Alex implements some sort of "renown" or "infamy" system that dictates the willingness of hostile factions to engage in combat with you.
If you slaughter several large fleets of a certain faction, they should be unwilling to fight you even if their total fleet value is higher than yours.