One of the major issues with space strategy games is lack of terrain obstacles - attacking forces can come from any angle. That's alright on smaller maps or early game, but on large maps with late game - with hundreds of fleets, the gameplay becomes much less strategic and a lot more chaotic.

What I want to see is a special type of large map that is has tight clusters of stars which are connected to other clusters by wormholes, and the space between clusters being almost impossible to navigate. So these clusters and wormholes connecting them would form choke points around which most of the fighting will take place. Channel the opposing sides into a small region of strategical importance. Ideally, the clusters and their connections would form a grid pattern, something like 5x5 - 8x8

Since it's just a map design issue, it will not compromise current designs, it would just be a new option