I had noticed that the Jarrasul really get creamed by the pirate gangs crowding around it as it tries to jump out of a Pirate base gravity well and it made me think of something for the game.

Why not create a "barricade class" of "ship"?.  Simply a very, very slow, extremely large mobile wall with some light defensive guns on it.  These could be placed across a gravity well to force ships to use the Z-axis to pass and allow defensive guns and ships in the system more time to engage them.

I think it could be interesting to experiment with.  Imagine the effect on Titans trying to pass.