I hope the collector's edition will have an awesome box (preferably made of paperboard or metal) with cool screen shots on the back or inside and maybe a great manual inside with little pictures of the ships (in color) and that tell a little bit about them (just like the original Sins of a Solar Empire manual, I loved that thing even though it was still in black and white).
But what I would really really love in a collector's edition would be a soundtrack CD. I bought the Game of the Year edition just to get the soundtrack CD, and with the new additions made by Rebellion and Entrenchment I think that it is time to make a new CD with all of the music from Sins of A Solar Empire and all of its expansions. And please, whatever you do, do not shorten or cut out tracks from the collector's edition. I would pay more to get all the music, because often when I get home from school and sit down to study I need some good music to listen to, and I've listened to the original CD hundreds of times.
Throw in some cool item like a pewter sculpture of the Kol or another memorable ship (maybe a titan, because this is Rebellion), and I would gladly shell out whatever it takes to grab one of these.
"Direct" does mean it comes in a box and is shipped from Stardock, right?
I am really excited that they are doing a collector's edition for this game, this is exactly the news I was hoping for from Rebellion.