I gave previous examples of space stations. What kinds of gameplay opportunities do you have with a space station that you do not have with a missile?
- Ranged strikes, perhaps from a variable amount of hops away
- economic opportunities, specifically for rebuilding after striking the core worlds (currently a pain point). Think trading, banking, and maybe someday even entirely new screens focused around space stations. It's another knob you can tune that would solve a lot of our existing endgame problems while still providing challenge and enforcing the commitment required so far to play this game.
- mobile hanger
I'm sure you can come up with your own as well. Space stations are configurable and some of the most fun you can have in other space games. X, space Rangers, and to some extent the Master of Orion games, trade wars, etc. etc. Customizing planets or space stations is fun. Yes, a giant explosion that changes the background of a planet to an exploded moon or something, lasers, that's the stuff trailer dreams are made of (and would move copies by activating the imaginations of your audience), but I'm specifically describing the differences between a missile and a space station.