I would recommend doing a AAR of a "homeworld" ship.
You just -SM- Build a gigantic ship, with docks, the ability to extract gas from places, some colony stations and so on - then just fly off and let the AAR write itself by what you meet. Withhin the ship you can dock a handful of player-build ships.
I've tried something similar with a Space Battleship Yamato type idea. Actually.....hmm. I just had an idea. What about a Battlestar Galactica-type idea? Each player is a ship captain in a ragtag fleet of freighters, colony ships, etc. Government could be "by quorum" (and if you had a ton of players, they could even elect council members). Some could be civilian players and some could be military (An Admiral in charge of the Battlestar itself, other players as leaders of Viper squadrons or Raptor FACs).
The goal of the entire group would be to get to Earth (Which could be added via SM and positioned a suitably long distance away). Problems could include scarse supplies, periodic Cylon attacks, and not knowing where Earth is. Scattered ruins could provide map clues, but cost the fleet valuable time. Civilian players get more points for surviving, whether it be on Earth or on a new colony world they settle (or even under Cylon occupation). Military players get more points for fending off the Cylons, finding Earth, and remaining free of occupation. This would lead to divergent goals over time and some nice internal friction.
Imma have to work up some rule ideas for this, but I think it could be fun. No research or colonies to worry about (at least early on), and it'd be like a hybrid of Aurora LP and Mafia, ESPECIALLY if one or two players also happened to be Cylon infiltrators.