It would be cool if a percentage of the cargo you are carrying was destroyed, when you die. This way there would be a point to getting traders to jettison their cargos.

On the same note of cargo; I think it would be nice that when a ship gets destroyed the cargo moves away from the spot and slows down to a halt over time for about 3 seconds. This would make big ships, such as hive queens, have their cargo be more logically laid out after destruction instead of in a neat little clump.