Hear me out 
With Gateways in mind, I was thinking about movement-centric mechanics that don’t quite require micromanagement, BUT give players a reason to look out into the universe.
What if there were contraband commodities?
No, I’m not suggesting space-drugs. But rather, I’m focused on the fact that while all the factions are ideologically unique, they’re mechanically identical (spare for exchange rates).
Elevator pitch
What if there were a variety of mid-game and late-game commodities that outperform regular ones, but require unique reagents, AND are outlawed for production in most (but not all) faction space.
Core concept
This would help give factions their own unique identity, in that the faction takes an actual stance on production of certain things, while giving balanced and challenging-to-attain benefits for highly invested players.
Because production would be outlawed, but not transport, it created a highly valuable new revenue opportunity for long-haul shippers, as well as a new reason to settle away from hub areas, at the fringes of territorial space.
Finally, it also gives a BIG reason to settle unincorporated space, far at the edges: there’s no authority telling you what contraband-items you can or cannot produce. It creates a true, in-lore “wild west” at the fringes of known space.
Because Gateways greatly accelerate cross-universe travel, Contraband would also create a real driving necessity to use Gateways, which could drive markets for Gateway Fuel and construction materials, as larger late-game players / partnerships seek greater access to Contraband.
What would contraband even be?
Let’s take Insitor Cooperative as an example: very agriculture and bio-tech focused. It would make sense that they’d be on the cutting-edge of food and medicine production.
Insitor could have hops and herbs that grow faster than anyone else, attainable only through bio-engineering. And sure, these might require special, hard-to-get components – ideally components that don’t readily occur in Insitor space, further emphasizing the need for travel and trade.
Other factions, like the more industrial Antares Initiative, might scoff or disapprove of such bio-engineering and outlaw production of, say, Clone Hops or Synth-Herbs. On the flip-side, Insitor might suggest that the Antares Initiative’s experimental mining equipment is too ecologically disastrous, and outlaw production of it in Insitor space.
Alright thanks for coming to my TED Talk 
