1)It's a roguelike. All roguelikes have some aspect of randomness to them. Usually it's in level design, upcoming monsters, and loot.
2)It makes the game much more challenging and suspenseful. Admit it; those few moments where you're limping along with 3 health sections and low fuel, and just hoping there's a shop ahead, would be a lot less exciting if you knew there would always be a shop two jumps from your current location.
3)It helps to simulate a much more realistic and deep universe. You're not going to encounter the same guy every jump, or the same situation. The randomness adds uncertainty and realism in that regard; the only things you know for certain is that there's a final boss at the end and if you don't head in that direction the rebel fleets will annihilate you.
4)Because it's already coded in and it would be a hell of a lot of work to remove. The randomness aspect is coded into almost every feature in the game so far. The devs would have to basically recode the whole game to get rid of it.
Rhynri wrote: Enemies do not have to play by the same rules as the player, which is an indicator of bad game design... especially on EASY of all things. HARD, okay, I get it.
If you think the game is bad, you don't have to play it.
Roguelikes are meant to be difficult. Every example I could cite you right now is difficult, even on easy mode(if there is one). Dwarf Fortress, The Binding of Isaac, Nethack, Spelunky, Cataclysm. These games are meant for people who want a challenge.
And, for the most part, enemies DO play by the same rules as the player. The only time the rules are skewed is during random events. And if you look at it closely, the player usually has an advantage in that they can specifically target the enemy ship's subsystems, while the enemies have to fire randomly at the player.