[jars_u]

"2) Anti-Fighter/Anti-Missile Missiles: (Say that fast three times) Use these birds for wide area defense of your fleet. They would be bulky and fire slow, but could mean the difference in a long range missile duel."

Point Defense Cannons already fullfull a similar role in the game. Even 1 PDC on a ship is very effective aganist stopping incoming fighters and missiles.

"4) ECCM - This would be like cloaking, but of a more limited nature. One way to do it would be that if a player turned it on, then other players in the system would see a different hull size for the ship. This could be useful of luring in an enemy to a trap or bluffing off a large enemy invasion force."

There are ECM's in the game but they only give a defensive bonus, without researching sensors it is not even possible to "see" an enemy ship outside of combat - as far as I have seen at any rate, I understand in the full game cloaking/stealth devices are available for research however.

"5) Towing Rig - Use this to pick up stranded or damaged ships, or even better, use it to tow a few battle stations to your opponent's favorite entry warp point."

It is possible to build ship that is capable of repairing other ships so you would not have to tow it to say a planet with a space port on it. Although I have not tried it there is also a tech area that gives a ship unlimited supplies - it may be possible to supply other ships without this feature with a full load of supplies.

Jim