Quantum Reactors

[Hotfoot]

Also, as far as propulsion is concerned, you need some sort of reaction mass to push the ships forward, unless you're using some sort of photonic or gravitic drive.

I happen to think that the Solar Panels are terribly misnamed. You can't generate fuel just by having photoelectric cells gathering energy. If anything, they most represent hydrogen ramscoops, which still would allow them to function as described in the game. However, they should be even more efficient when passing through nebulae, since hydrogen is abundantly available in such systems.

Maybe nebulae systems should hide 10 stars or so to help represent that, so that when you destroy a nebula, you have a bunch of protostars that were condensing (which you just helped along).