I assume you would want something along the lines of what Blood Bowl (PC) did to Blood Bowl (the miniature gameversion)?
-animation
-"plot"
-single player option against computer
-3d models
-online mode
-new ships as DLC
All of this would be nice but the question remains how appealing it would be as a computer game? Also it is easy to say this is what you want, but to make it work and look great, does require a gaming studio to produce that game.
Vassal is pretty much your best bet if you absolutely have no other options of finding opponents. Personally I find Vassal as appealing as X-Wing the MINIATURES (capitalized for a reason) game would be with everything being printed on cardboard. The 3D ship models just hit a right spot and make the game more fun for me. But I truly understand why people want to play it with Vassal (timing, practicing mechanics, space, storage etc.).
I hope things work out for you and you get to play some awesome X-wing games one way or the other (or both!!) ![]()