Universe is a supposedly "hard Science Fiction" game. To change the game- hack the science.
One of the issues I have with Universe right now, is that it is very unlikely that characters will actually travel that far. In terms of Light Years away from Sol.. monetary and "travel-time" concerns, and the inherent limitation of how high you can roll on a psionic Jump Rig check simply limit how far of a jump system check you can make.
So if you accept this, it makes Universe a bit more mundane, because players aren't actually going to go that far. The entire 'universe' is within reach of the players by concept, but in reality? We're only talking about the sphere aybe within 20-30 LY of Sol.
And that's probably enough, I guess. But once you start building star systems, the area might strike you as a bit cramped after all.
What you need here is some Trash Science!
That's right. You need wormholes. Don't even bother explaining them. Just say "You go to this sector and make the equivalent of a 1Ly Jump. You end up on this side of the Starmap. From here you can travel to all of these areas.. within 20-30 LY."
Just by doing that, you have effectively doubled the 'playable' area of space. You've added tons of interesting detail and an interesting strategic resource to players.
Also, you can make an adventure out of it. Becuase who controls the wormhole? Well that guy just became amazingly powerful.
Another idea; have one of the players be the guys that discover the Wormhole.
My collector´s cd just arrived. I´m still in the processing of digesting it. It´s different, it reads like the wold in flames rules.