[Strategia_In_Ultima]

I still cling on to my idea of resource freighters and independent organizations. That way, if a system is being heavily used (think like homeworld system, interstellar trade hub, large-scale fleet yards, etc.) you see lots of small ships flying around. This can also be an indicator if a system is being used heavily commercially as you first enter it. These ships should not only be freighters and organization's ships, but also randomly generated things (like interplanetary cruises, interstellar passenger ferries, luxury yachts, and so on) that increase in number as more people are in the system. This also makes it easier to spot a trade center.

Also, you should have the option of building a "Ring Station" around a planet. Designs for these have already been made. This would be a ring around a planet, with surface-to-orbit cargo lift tethers, docking bays, habitation quarters, storage spaces and the like. This would have to be very expensive, but when it's finished you should be able to have more population and cargo space (say 10% more) for the planet.

And btw it looks really nifty, to have a ring around a planet with all sorts of small ships (as described above) docking/landing/launching from it.

It might be too much animation, though, and it might cause you to lose the general overview later on in the game (especially in your homeworld system and trade centers) when hundreds of small ships are present.

However, it still should be implemented, I think, so you can have blockades of systems or even sectors. That way, it's more realistic.