Hello,
i also think that ship upgrades are heavly needed...how about a simple "Turn ships in" interface...where you can exchange your ships into stronger ones...like medium (5), heavy(12), super heavy (25) or cruisers, battleships etc. For me, it would make the game way better, cos there will be situations like: "Oh xxxx, 10 battlecruisers heading towards me!" Or make it so that planets can be upgraded differently, like producing fighters (the ones we currently use) than cruisers, battleships...so it would be like 10 fighters or 2 cruisers or 1 battleships. If the planet has only small capcity than make it so that battleships will take more turns to finish one.
you cant split the more powerfull ships, this would also mean that there should be an advantage...i would say, make it slightly stronger than the equal fighter amount...like one medium sized ship (costs 5 fighter) will be as strong as 6 fighters etc.
You could even make it so that the bigger ships will be slower than fighters = more strategic options
Btw english isnt my native language