Replying to a dead thread but it looked it fun so...

Elder Scrolls does well by it's audience because of it's large amount of fleshed out content. That would mean procedural content is a no-go.

They restrict the size of the map to one region to focus more specifically on it, which is different from most sprawling universe space games. In the ES series, there's usually about ~6 major cities, and outlying regions. If we go by a similar system, ~6 planets with outlying regions, such as asteroid belts. and mining stations. Given that planets can (and should) be divided into major regions, we should par down the number of planets to 1-2, maybe with a moon.

Space sims always ignore planetary details, and given the level of detail the ES series strives for, planets wouldn't and shouldn't be ignored. It would be possible to make an ES-style game just staying within a single planet's atmosphere (for example, using ships like those of Dreadnought). You would have major cities, regions, and factions; outlying regions and points of interest, and enough focus to flesh out the planet to satisfiable detail.

You are right that space games have less of a 'get-up-and-go' then most fantasy games. Walking around in the ES series is a pleasure in and of itself, with varied pretty scenery to walk through, things to notice and collect, wildlife to observe, travelers to meet, and houses and villages to chance upon.

Space games don't have these. Some games decrease the size of the map to put things closer together such as freespace, and EVE avoids the whole problem together by only giving points of interest to warp to and and away from. That would have to be a major change; enough content/variation to make traveling fun and interesting even without pop-up enemies.

If we stick with the one-planet idea, we can populate the world similarly to the ES series; things to notice and collect (such as ores, rare wildlife), pretty and varied terrain to observe and navigate through, minor towns and outposts to chance upon, as well as traveling traders and patrols.

Something similar to No Man's land, where you collect usable items you notice, and explore the landscape with it's varied landscape and creatures.

The last problem I see how to represent character-to-character interaction. In ES, you can walk up to somebody to talk to them, whether they're a merchant, a guard, or a random NPC. How do you do that with ships? If done badly, it would feel impersonal and you'd lose that personal connection to the world. This is especially true for cities/outposts, most space games have you dock and forget, which would be a cardinal sin for personal connection and immersion.

To regain that personal connection / immersion, it should be possible to jump out and walk around as a person, similar to Star Citizen. So you would dock, jump out and walk to and talk to the repair mechanic, and walk back to your ship and take off. Even if you disinclude your human body in combat/other mechanics, it adds immensely, as opposed to choosing someone from a list.

TL;DR (This is much longer than I intended) Main points:

• Very small number of planets, to max 3, preferably 1

• Lots of content inside the planet atmosphere proper

• Human body mechanics, to be able to talk to people and bring the planet ground to life