Ideally, I'd rather not have different weighted modifiers for playing in Open or Solo implemented. Yes, it can be more difficult to accomplish certain goals in Open as effectively and efficiently, especially when they're location based and you're more likely to encounter other Commanders that are trying to limit your actions or subvert them to accomplish their own goals. As weird as it might sound to some, I see the potential for that kind of interaction as one of the appealing aspects of playing in Open, as it can provide an element of uncertainty, a worthy challenge, and a greater sense of accomplishment. On the other hand, it can unfortunately also end up making gameplay rather meta in how some players approach playing the game and use tactics, game mechanics, exploits, and a lack of significant and contextually appropriate consequences to counter or interfere with the efforts of other players, and for me at least, that tendency of Open isn't generally very appealing.
As mentioned, you are right that there can be a significant disparity of ease and efficiency between trying to accomplish certain goals in different modes, and therefor the modes are inherently imbalanced in that respect. I would prefer to see this balanced in other ways, such as improved NPC combat capability and more appropriately effective NPC roles based on player activity. Unfortunately, it seems that balance isn't likely something that can be easily achieved and it also seems many players wouldn't want to face those sort of significant and relevant challenges, even if they were inline with player activity and made sense within the game. A sufficiently extensive, and contextually logical crime and punishment system that doesn't specifically try to punish players for playing how they choose but provides them with a meaningful sense of agency and relevant consequences for their actions would likely also help out here. But again, that isn't likely something that can easily be achieved.
I would also like to see more reasons for players to work together and help each other in impromptu sort of ways, perhaps not so much on the quantitative reward side of things (though I suppose that has some potential as well), but rather more related to player experience and role effectiveness or accessibility. That's getting a little off topic here though.
I'm not sure what a viable and effective solution is here, given the way different players approach playing the game within the current framework of possibilities and the development approach and priorities of Frontier, but at least I can share my observations about the issues you raise and how I'd prefer to see them addressed.
Apologies if I've been a little redundant here. I'm overdue for a nap.
PS: The specific type of processor in my pocket calculator was used in the Macintosh and Commodore Amiga computers, the Sega Genesis, and many other devices as well. I'm not sure if I could program my calculator to outwit the NPCs in this game, but given enough time, I suppose it's a plausible possibility, at least in specific scenarios. I'm sure SJA could do a better job of it than I could though.
