Rather than have just two options for difficulty, Easy and Normal, I would like to see individual game elements have difficulty settings, in a "Custom Difficulty" menu:
Enemies - Easy/Normal/Hard
- Determines the difficulty of generated enemies as you progress
Rebels - Easy/Normal/Hard
- Determines how fast the enemy fleet advances through each sector
Scrap - Easy/Normal/Hard
- Determines starting scrap and how much scrap is earned at each encounter
This could allow for some fun game modes:
Explorer - Normal Enemies, Easy Rebels, Hard Scrap - You have to explore more areas to earn your way.
Race - Normal Enemies, Easy Scrap, Hard Rebels - You gotta blast your way forward, and fast!