What are your top 5 most important *new* additions in Star Control reboot

>5)The ability to merge 2 ships races into 1.

>There's a reason why, I want to see this. What better than to see a transformation of [2] weaklings into 1 pretty darn scrappy aliens.

> Or maybe I create 2 ships that suck? But instead of deleting them, I merge them together, into one tough ship?

The problem here is that if you have, say, 20 base aliens races and ships you now need to invent, create and *balance* however many different permutations/combinations of ships mixing up 20 allows. Do you see how much extra work you've created? Rather than having a game with 20 races, you've now got, like 400 or however many (it's not that much but the point stands) in the game. All balance would be thrown right out the door. 

I see where you are getting at, but from a game-mechanics point of view it would have to be something simpler like merging two of the same ship to give a stat boost to the one ship or something perhaps. 

1) Multiverse - Ability to play an alternate universe where races traits are different

2) Expansive Universe - want lots of exploration

3) Ship Customization/Upgrades - not Galciv style, on a smaller scale, weapon, shield, engines, experience upgrades, maybe even different skins, but keeping the core frame of the ship

4) Not to fond of realism for Star Control, keep the wild art style, doesn't have to be super cartoony.

5) Primary and Secondary weapons and maybe 1 or 2 ship skills, like afterburner or power to shields.

1) "Full Featured" multiplayer with at least 1v1 & 2v2 dueling, Base Defense, Capture the Flag, and Space Hockey as a bare minimum.

2) ...#1 is so important too me you can just call that all 5 of my wishes:-)

1)  Tech trees for each ship type

-Maybe not for every individual ship in the fleet, but maybe as you acquire each racial blueprint you can do maybe one or two upgrades to each.  Maybe ranging from simple things like bigger battery, better thrusters, to more complex things like a third (fourth?) weapon, or bonuses against certain damage types.  These can be unlocks from story mode or maybe point adjustments during Melee.

2)  Lots of multiplayer options for Melee

3)  More locations for space combat.

-One gravity sink to fight around is fun, but I think more locations would be nicer.  Maybe dual gravity wells (planet + moon), Asteroid belt (impacts can damage), Nebulas (reduction in scan range), Sun (insta-death if you aren't careful), and on from there.

4)  More unique alien captains.

-Have some alien ships be flown by specific captains that may have slightly different personalities than the basic aliens.  They may attack more readily than the generic versions, may have slightly better ships (different modifications than standard), may form alliances with you before their race does, may have specific information about the constellation that is helpful, etc.  Lots of room in this one.

5)  Keep the feel

-Flat 2-d graphics can look great and are simple to work with.  Don't mess with 3-d (unless it's done super well, of course .  Keep the same huge, open universe.  Keep the aliens colorful and genetically implausible.  The music must be off the wall and fitting to the encounter.

Wow, that's a great question. It's hard to think of ways to improve on a classic like SC2! My top 5 are

1) Ship variants or upgrades

Imagine having a ship variant that had a resistance to beam weapons, but turned slower, or maybe a technological discovery that grants a slight homing ability to the primary attack of a particular ship design. I think it would give super melee some added depth and could make the singleplayer story more engaging. 

2) Ability to help allied races 'level' up

I think it would be great to be able to help an allied race (through questing?) develop financially or technologically and see that translate to their spheres of influence or battle prowess. Even more so if the races are under threat of extinction and need a leg up to turn the tide. Maybe not all can be 'saved', ala country panic levels in XCOM.

3) Some randomisation 

Earlier Star Control games had a number of star systems which weren't integral to the plot that I imagine could be randomly generated fairly easily. Maybe resources locations and quantities, or tech locations could be randomised? I think it would lend replayability to the game. 

4) Encounters with more than one race at a time

It could be two factions engaged in combat or trading, conversing etc. Something SC2 excelled at was giving a sense of the universe going about its business with or without you. I think anything to develop that further would be great.

5) Deep conversation trees

Okay, well this isn't really new, but with a lot of games offering simplified dialogue (*cough* Fallout 4) i think a deep and detailed conversation tree could make the Star Control reboot stand out as a great story telling game like its predecessors were.

1. Objective based Melee would be awesome!  Even if it's a multiplayer only feature. Destroy/Dock With The Starbase anyone?

2. Large universe!  -  I know I'm not everyone, but I could do planet landings/explorations for days on end, simply because they were there!

3. A little more in Hyperspace. Could we have rare native life forms and the *occasional* Easter Egg or explorable system in hyperspace itself?

4. Game doesn't end with main story does. (Already promised - I'm so happy!!!)

5. KEEP top-down super melee!

"We share a dream.  A dream that one day all the ships of star control will come together, in base defense, capture the flag, and hockey.  I may not make it there with you brother, but I have seen the mountain!"  -- Martin Luther King Jr.

Or it was a least close to that, I could have it a little wrong:-)