This may be rather technical to design/script, but to make the game a a bit more realistic, why not have some items on your ship malfunction/stop working after taking so much damage. E.g, thermoblast after 3/4 damage stops working. Repair droid, blaster, collector, and afterburner will always work. Maybe only the 4 "custom" items for each ship (e.g storm's 4 items, shock's 4 items etc.) will be able to malfunction.