ok, I though up some way of creating a bit more immersion for the game. it's purely for ambiance, not gameplay effects. how about a small window with a planet descriptom based on what happened to that planet during the game? at first I considered just randomly assigning descriptions based on planet characteristics, but then I though it would be much cooler if the description took the planets role, history and equipment into account. it's of course harder to do, maybe not even economical to do it, but it would rock I am certain. just a few examples below how such descriptions could look like.

home planet: 'epsilon prime has a long and proud history as the homeworld and centre of government for the arn consortium during its rise to galactic power. an old world, the terran planet boasts favourable living conditions and an accordingly high population density. it is also home to a series of orbital shipyards which produced the infamous TDN Behemond and TDN Peresov. Furthermore, a number or research stations has been set up to focus on the development of new weapons and defenses for the consortium. Militarily, the planet has seen little action, which is due to it's relatively guarded stratetic position inside the territorium and thus relies mostly on its mobile fleet for defense, sporting only limited fixed defenses.'

first asteroid: 'though durnheim may not only play a minor role in the arn consortium, it is still revered as the first colony set up during the government's expansionist campaign. a small, asteroidical world, durnheim is only home to few colonists, yet the world is know throughout the consortium for its civlian reserach institutes and trade centres. In the course of the colony's existance, a moderate defense grid has been set up which has been useful in thwarting the occasional attack by the forces of the verlin descendants, though the colony was never in any serious danger.'

some ice world: 'hoth is perhaps best know to the galctic residents as the battle ground for several conflicts between the arn consortium, the verlin descendents and the kor sul armada. in the last battle, the armada has managed to wrench control of hoth after a fierce battle with losses on both sides. since then, a extensive defense grid has been set up around the world, including a class 2 starbase. the planet's bloody history is mainly due to its strategic position between the three empires and its extensive crystal deposits and has continously ravaged civlian infrastructure so that the planet is currently only sparsely developed.'

and so on ... former enemy hw. has a story. backwater trade centre. another story. gas giant, can have a story, f.ex. battle over neutrals, etc.

as I said, maybe difficult to implement and relatively little gameplay value (you could argue that the history is useful in keep track of what is going on, but that's relatively marginal I think), but a great tool for creating atmosphere and maybe give the game some story.