Nexus and Aurora are certainly different games, and their scope differs considerably... Often by orders of magnitude. Nexus was much more of a tactical simulation than the strategic glory of Aurora.
However I did enjoy the level of control Nexus provided with regards to ship power management. Sometimes I need to drop all weapon and shield power and redirect all effort to engines in order to escape a powerful enemy. Aurora allows the player to assign individual weapon fire controls and targets but restricts power management. If I can target a ships weapons, why can't I control the engines? Or the shields?
Just seems to make more sense to me. Obviously there is development effort required to bring this sort of mechanic into reality, so I am content with the present system. But sometimes I day dream of something different...