Colonization of Systems

[Studer]

I have a suggestion to make Elite more interesting. Many players have been asking for a home station or outpost to store weapons and cargo or spare ships. To take that to the next level in a step that I believe everyone would enjoy I think players should be able to use their hard earned credits to colonize empty star systems. With 400 Billion systems just floating around in space with planets and moons that could be used by the players there is potential for creating our own bases either in space or on the moons. We could set up mining facilities or agricultural facilities and hire npc ships to perform trades with surrounding systems using the commodities produced. There would of course be upkeep from the workers hired or we could just use slaves. The powers could also get involved. Allow players to own a system or pledge it to the control of their faction gaining support from friendly npc ships. Our systems would be open for undermining and other players could wreak havoc on our systems but it could also be very profitable. I realize this would be a rather large in-game system but would be very entertaining. Grinding merits is fun for awhile but creating my own empire would keep me around much longer watching my system grow.