Sorry I didn't take the time to read all comments but basically:
- destructible cargo holds and pods are cool and good and should be applied to more transports
- make matrices cheaper -> easier to get jumping reinforcements (works for both sides)
- make ships hiding in nebulae and asteroid fields appear only as region on the in-game list, or make cloak last longer
- cargo insurance! Basically, an interaction-meter bar. A perishable commodity that takes little space, and while it's present and the player dies, the player respawns with all cargo and no cargo is dropped. This would mean pirates would have to talk before shooting if they wanted to take cargo (by force or by choice). It would also add a commodity for IC reps to sell in-person to people in a pinch. Ideally killing components would still drop cargo, but it would mean a simply killed trader would be teleported back home with 0 credit loss.
- make escorts worth it. And by this, I mean give tools that give bonuses to escorted traders. One way would be to allow formation with smaller ships and give speed bonus to escorted traders flying in formation. Other way would be to make it possible to go full pulse loadouts and keep the assailant suppressed enough time for the transport to escape unharmed
- give a way to suppress trade lanes to pirates without having to constantly shoot them while typing
- give more unlawfuls (partial) TLAGSNET (cargo only)
- give ways for transports to defend themselves long enough without the possibility to destroy the assailant (something like defensive EMP flak - kills shields and core, but no hull damage - they'd need an escort to kill the pirate)
- more lane chokepoints
