Improvements to gameplay

The most obvious would be to add food and water. There is a mod that adds those, as well as sleep. The economy needs an overhaul so there is more use out of it such as the ability to sell ships rather than just the components.

The ability to sell ships could increase friendly player interactions as well as provide players returning to a server a way to jump right back into the game with a decent ship. My idea for a ship storage\selling block could do this with the added benefit of giving players more reasons to build as they could simply store the grids they arent using and withdraw them with a fee based on PCU as well as only allowing a set amount of PCU to be stored per block. Allowing each player or faction to have just 1 block would prevent a lot of exploits I could think of for the block.

If you havent already, fix laser antennas on servers

More animals would go great with new survival mechanics. You could also allow the ability to tame these animals to allow renewable food sources. Just think about it. Cows in space 0_0

Wood harvesting would be great. It could make early game a bit less grindy on planets, which have the slowest start in my experience do to the limitations gravity give players. Wooden crates could provide storage without the need to hunt down cobalt or spamming connectors. This would also open the door for furniture for those that love interior decorating.