So tourism, right now they are more or less glorified transport missions. Sure there can be random demands and every passanger got a general attitude towrds certain things(read secretive and whatnot), but all in all tourism is just glorified transport. So why not add some depth to the whole thing. Here are a few thoughts for consideration.
Special Preperations
Currently we already have the chance to get some random demand for a commodity by a person. The galaxy is full of exotic stuff, from food over beverages and whatnot. A good cruise ship should aready be stocked up with all sorts of specalities to accomedate their passengers. So the way this works, is that the Player picks up special commodities and on long range voyages or those with many stations, the Passengers buys commodities brought with you for a premium price, similiiar how unique commodities rise in value the further you move them. The chance for a purchase rises with the ammount of different commodities in your hold.
Interactions between Passenger
Imagen that you pick up a famous rock star and his staff. How about while travelling with them, in every populated system fans of that VIP, could send you a "Mission Critical Messgae" for an offer of a Passanger Mission to pick them up with some sweet extra cash. Or you pick up 2 groups of people who can't stand each other and one wants to be taken to the nearest exit. This could leave to a lot more talk with passangers and a captain had to carefully select their passengers.
Accomedation Modules
So right now the "Whale" Ships can be equipped with Luxury Cabins, but I don't find VIP Contracts so appealing. Also on earth big cruise liners sure have a number of luxus suites, but the big chunk is about cramping people in small compartments and then make up for it by luxuries accomedation, like pools and whatnot. So why not make the same a thing in ED. Create Compartmens for Luxury Accomedations, that would boost the quality of lower tier cabins. As a trade off, you could have deal with extra maintance in form of consumption in commodities, you would have to stock up or be left with a disfunctional module and unhappy passangers.
Staff
This is sort of a extension of two above this one. Create a pool of staff, maybe even some with recognition, that themself would be treated as passengers, while boosting satisfaction and your cruise liners prestige, granting you access to even more profitable income. Staff could be hired as missions(thus making route planning an task requiring managment skill) or from a seperate menue of the crew lounge(which would be more casual, since they stayed with you for a fixed time).
Cruise Scheduling
And last but not least another piece of example from earthly cruise ships. Most if not every single one isn't following a random schedule, but follow a fixed loop, taking on passengers as they leave and go. So with all the previous ideas, to establish yourself as a prestigous Cruise Liner, you should be able to put up a rough schedule. A part of the contracts would then be tailored to that route. The payout then would be based on the length of the trip, a person lets themselfs be shipped. Of course if you ever lose that prestige, so would be gone this ability, but you could regain it.
And that's it. A few ideas to make tourism more unique than they are now and be more apart from transportation. As always I would love to discuss all feedback, critism and your ideas.
Special Preperations
Currently we already have the chance to get some random demand for a commodity by a person. The galaxy is full of exotic stuff, from food over beverages and whatnot. A good cruise ship should aready be stocked up with all sorts of specalities to accomedate their passengers. So the way this works, is that the Player picks up special commodities and on long range voyages or those with many stations, the Passengers buys commodities brought with you for a premium price, similiiar how unique commodities rise in value the further you move them. The chance for a purchase rises with the ammount of different commodities in your hold.
Interactions between Passenger
Imagen that you pick up a famous rock star and his staff. How about while travelling with them, in every populated system fans of that VIP, could send you a "Mission Critical Messgae" for an offer of a Passanger Mission to pick them up with some sweet extra cash. Or you pick up 2 groups of people who can't stand each other and one wants to be taken to the nearest exit. This could leave to a lot more talk with passangers and a captain had to carefully select their passengers.
Accomedation Modules
So right now the "Whale" Ships can be equipped with Luxury Cabins, but I don't find VIP Contracts so appealing. Also on earth big cruise liners sure have a number of luxus suites, but the big chunk is about cramping people in small compartments and then make up for it by luxuries accomedation, like pools and whatnot. So why not make the same a thing in ED. Create Compartmens for Luxury Accomedations, that would boost the quality of lower tier cabins. As a trade off, you could have deal with extra maintance in form of consumption in commodities, you would have to stock up or be left with a disfunctional module and unhappy passangers.
Staff
This is sort of a extension of two above this one. Create a pool of staff, maybe even some with recognition, that themself would be treated as passengers, while boosting satisfaction and your cruise liners prestige, granting you access to even more profitable income. Staff could be hired as missions(thus making route planning an task requiring managment skill) or from a seperate menue of the crew lounge(which would be more casual, since they stayed with you for a fixed time).
Cruise Scheduling
And last but not least another piece of example from earthly cruise ships. Most if not every single one isn't following a random schedule, but follow a fixed loop, taking on passengers as they leave and go. So with all the previous ideas, to establish yourself as a prestigous Cruise Liner, you should be able to put up a rough schedule. A part of the contracts would then be tailored to that route. The payout then would be based on the length of the trip, a person lets themselfs be shipped. Of course if you ever lose that prestige, so would be gone this ability, but you could regain it.
And that's it. A few ideas to make tourism more unique than they are now and be more apart from transportation. As always I would love to discuss all feedback, critism and your ideas.