Add fuel trap component, that can gather sorium from space dust and burn it as raw fuel (see ramjet) to use for commercial ships, surveyors and raiders, especially NPR (will reduce disbelieve with no-fuel-usage NPR rule exception, and/or simplify strategic scripts for NPR). Maybe usable for other TN minerals gathering in nebulas.
Add more dangerous "wild" aliens, that can be generated in any new system, or make their generating probability customizable. (Especially significant for early C# AI - those hi-tech wild gees might be much simpler to code, comparing to growing race, that have an economy, strategy, shipping system, shipping lines, colonizing, ammo supply and so on, that is complete coding nightmare.)
(And that is duplicate from C# Aurora subforum)
Another suggestion that can limit the overusage of energy/kinetic weapon:
Every shot triggers a roll to maintenance incident, so firing vessels will consume supply much faster and have good chances of disabling weapon, if there is no sufficient supply value.