So i've just been thinking of a lot of suggestions and then i ended up with kind of merging them together. My thoughts have been about cool new devices /equipment and systems and how to fill in the endgame. A faction reward system was one way i thought of implementing new devices, "gating" them late enough that might be lore friendly and create a goal for the endgame. But not gating them in a way like WoW does... it should not be a grind, but be rewards for doing the things you love in game and an incentive to keep truckin'. I have to note i'm mainly a single player kind of guy and haven't thought much about how the suggestions will affect MP. But i'm only thinking this as a basis of further iteration. Tldr; Implement a faction reward system for endgame which gives awesome rewards (new devices/equipment) to support different playstyles, encouraging doing things you like and give rewards dependent on faction and/or career chosen. The Faction career/reward system basics The system as i thought of it could be independent from the standing system as it is now, or merged into the standing system. In my design you will still get the standing benefits as in vanilla, but after "friendly" or perhaps "honored" you gain the ability to get faction rank(like the army, but dependent on faction. Zirax might have more military ranks, Talon could have more "jedi" like rank names etc.). To gain rank you need to take on one or more careers. The career will give various unlocks as rewards depending on career type. The higher the rank the more extensive the missions. You can follow multiple careers for multiple factions. Careers might stay if you become hostile with a faction you have worked for, but you can only gain rank if you get your standing back. The Careers I'm using Polaris as an example but they could translate to all factions. You could also have faction specific careers but that i haven't thought too much on. Polaris might have trade speciality, zirax war etc. PolSec Combat focused career. This gives you the ability to get generated combat related missions against their enemies. POI attack, assault enemy patrol, destroy enemy ship. Rank names could be "Mercenary"-"Recruit" -"HabSec" etc. Trader Supply the faction in different system with different goods. Either player made or trade goods. Will work well with the economic system suggestions sticky =) Ranks could be "Contractor" - "Supplier" - "CEO" etc. Explorer Polaris loves ore. Survey planets or systems for ore. (On long term surveyed planet might then see stations built, or could tie in to engineer rank.) Ranks could be "Scout" - "Surveyor" etc. Engineer Build something somewhere for the faction. A station might require you to build a core (ofc) that has a list of items attached, for example defence stations needs the blocks Small generator, small fuel tank, 2x laser turret. It could also be a blueprint that you just fill in the factory (for those who want the engineering rewards, but don't want to build). Ranks could be "Janitor" - "Builder" - "Engineer" - "Master engineer" etc. The rewards So why bother? Well... You could put juicy devices and equipment in the game that is no longer just requiring X of metal Y like most things are now. You now would need a combat CV (requiring the usual progression) to do high rank combat mission to get higher rank that gives you the reward/unlock/ building block. Or you would need a good trading ship to fullfill large contracts to unlock the trade bay in the trade career. The lower tiers of a trade career could unlock ship parts that make you able to build better haulers who makes it easier to reach the highest tier etc. I've not decided if i like the idea of each faction/career giving different items or if you should get different version of items/skins dependent on faction (but same for careers). Ex. a drone bay reward with Polaris skin or a drone bay reward for highest military rank regardless of faction. Maybe the same rewards for the general careers and 1 spesific path for each faction? I'm also trying to figure out if it's a good idea to force a player who loves building to do military career to unlock the military drone bay. Perhaps if rank X of a career in one faction gives you the ability to buy the reward of another rank? Its optional and a potential money sink. So you can trade as hell with the trade bay suggested below and get the money to unlock the other careers rewards. Example PolSec career path: Money, Weapons/weapon blocks, ships, and f.ex. a new device like "Military drone bay". This would require a new device that lets you create player owned military drones. Could be used for creating base defences, or even a player controlled CV Carrier. Take that Zirax. New special suit like "Combat armor" giving more slots or perks could be an unlock. Feel free to suggest more cool devices or equipment for being a first class merc. Example Trader career path: Money, storage blocks?, ships(new thing in game; buy ships). Could be an item that gives you ability to spawn ship of design X in factory), or the trade bay block. The trade bay block is a platform of X size you combine with trade monitor (like the repairbay) and the trade storage (controller. new block needed). The landing pad is mostly "bling" and the trade monitor is used to see trades in galaxy(hey there economic sticky) and you can fulfill trade contracts if you have X of item Y in trade storage. When you click "fullfill" the items in storage is "locked" or removed and for flair a cargo ship belonging to the faction will arrive and "get" the goods. Immersion, QoL for late game money earning and you can now make trade stations. Example explorer career path: Cheaper to run/better teleporter, survey ships/multi purpose ships, EVA boosts, maybe unlock autominer/surveying equipment stuff? Better warp drives? Personal drone upgrade (carry stuff for you)? Example engineer career path: Hull blocks, better tools, skins, power/utility blocks? Suit carry upgrades? Building assist drone? (quite like the explorer drone with cargo etc. Wifi might render it a unnecessary thing but please iterate on it. I know ppl have suggested personal drone upgrades on the forum ). You guys get the idea. Bonus thought: As i have not played the story through yet i don't know if the terrans/UCH becomes an own faction. But as choosing sides might not fit all playstyles the UCH or "your faction" with UCH skins could be its own faction through IDA . Say if the reward system gives same kind of item for each faction, IDA could after level X or if POI with faction career terminal is found give you the ability to unlock ranks without taking sides. So these were my ideas/thoughts. Thanks for reading =) Feel free to steal 'em.
