Somethings that would be pretty cool, imo, for a DGV:
-DGV as a "Staged" vehicle. Like, after near-orbit insertion, the Main engines, part of the wings, and some other parts of the mesh fall off, then you do final orbit-insertion with your "new" engines. This would be more realistic then a SSTO vehicle, which can go to the moon and back, nearly on one tank of fuel.
-"Better", more realistic systems, almost like the XR Vehicles. By Life support, i mean A working Radiator, APU with fuel, that sort of thing.
-An alternate power source, such as deployable solar panels (they would work like the radiator)
-Working "Damage and Failure Simulation", almost like AMSO. It would detect if Damage and Failure Simulation is on in the Launchpad, then react accordingly. Some examples I can think of: Short circuit, blowing out Main Engines, or RCS, or Both; Damage to the heatshield during orbit-insertion (fixed by UMMU with a special attachment, possibly carried in the cargo hold); fuel leak; <if implemented> solar panel damage; fire to explode main fuel tank in 10 seconds; any other thing that can go wrong.
-more attachment points in the cargo hold (instead of just one, standard sized cargo, there could be multiple attachment points, like for tools)
-an MFD that shows the cargo position relative to the cargo hold (like docking MFD, but just change the position a little. Useful for more "realistic" stuff, without going into 3rd person view to see if you'll capture your cargo)
-Backup capsule for space. If something happens in space and you need to eject, or just get away from the main ship quickly, my idea is to have the entire cockpit seperate from the main ship, powered by an engine similar to the CSM in the Apollo missions (by similar engine, i mean one thats not terribly powerful, and small). The heat-shield would be "ejected" off, as to redude weight. to survive, another ship would have to pick them up.
-More passengers
-Different nose-cone: Whenever I look at that nose cone open and close, it just seems WAY to flimsy to work as an effective heatshield. This is just my personal preference, but just something i'm throwing out there
Thats all I can think of for now. Hope all these idea's reach Dan!
EDIT:
Also, re-entry after effect. With AMSO, when the capsule comes back from the moon, its all burnt and whatnot. It would be nice to see something like this for a DGV, and I have an idea on how to do it:
The heat-shield effect only comes on when you are hitting the atmosphere at the right speed and altitude. Also, its intensity changes. Which means it can be controlled. I suggest another "layer" of this, just hidden until the ship cools to a certain temperature. The normal skin would be shown after being on the ground for, say, 10 seconds.
