I've been playing the game for a few days now, and after the many trials, successes, and failures I've had, I'm left with an intense desire to have more direct control over the behavior of my ships.
I'd really like to be able to code my own conditional actions for my ships, possibly even some sort of state machine type setup.
I've always dreamed of being able to write missile targeting code in a game, or freight management code, but I've never found a game more ripe for it than this one.
Thus: I would suggest you implement a scripting interface into the 'special orders' section of the task group page. Lua has been integrated into VB6 before -- there are plenty of web resources on it -- and it would make a very good drop-in for exposing some internal ship control functions directly to the user. I'm not saying it would be easy -- It would take a good bit of research and coding, but it would be well worth it in the end, and would probably attract some new players as well.
It could even be as simple as evaluating the script(if any) for each task group once per interval(possibly user specified).
Once implemented, the possibilities are endless. I could have my scout fleets explore the universe without my constant nannying. I could have my logistics fleets move around mining fleets to boost production of key resources when shortages arise. I could automate training and patrol fleet rotations. I could automate fighter launch and targeting.
In short, I could write code to eliminate the micromanagement that at times makes this game tedious, and even better, I could share it with the other people on this forum.
Depending on how well the above works, you could implement lua in other parts of the game as well, and maybe even open the game up to modding someday.
Anyway, the above is just my $.02, take it as you wish.