If we want to add some realism to the game, we could add that a ship looses some attack/defence/speed when he is a 50% of hit points, and he is a sitting duck if he reaches 25% of his hit points.
In a battle, when a ships reaches 25%, the other ships doesn't consider it a treath anymore, and will change target. If the winning side has crippled ships left on his side, he could either:
- Leave the crippled ships in the middle of space until tractor ships (see below) arrives (or an ennemy fleet seize the opportunity for an easy kill)
- Stay with the ships until repairs are made.
So, a new module could be added to everyships: Tractor beams. It allow ships to haul them to safety.
At the end of a winning battle, you would be left with the choice of:
- Destroying the ennemy crippled ships (free action)
- Leaving them.
You could haul ennemy cripple ships to nearby military starbases (or planet) to capture them... Maybe even working reverse engineering on them, or just using them. Etc... Superpowerful ships such as Dread Lords' could not be captured.