With the way that the systems are already structured, ED already has population and system type information amongst other things. So, I feel one thing that would improve the gaming experience would be to have seeded NPC undockable installations depending on the type of system. To explain, in a mining system depending on how much control a faction has, it would be assigned ownership over small outposts which function as a base for their mining operation at a belt.
In game terms, players can go there and see a small undockable base with patrols and storage containers protected by a cargo shield generator. They could take a mission from the bulletin board to guard or raid these structures.
When arriving within the perimeter of the outpost the patrols will scan your reputation and standing with them. If you are neutral, they may ignore you. For good standing or you being on a guard mission they would respond with a, "nice to have you onboard commander". If you have bad standing with them, they would state, "This is a resticted area, any hostile action will be met with a lethal response." They would then call for reinforcments if the player is flying a highly rated ship. The outpost itself would have launch bays and launch these if hostile action occurs. It would also have turrets for defence.
A player raiding these outposts would need to target the cargo shield sub-system and destroy it before attacking the storage area. Whether they salvage loot or not would not necessarily be part of the mission.
The aim of this is to help may systems FEEL different. Space is big, but there should be patrols and installations depending on what type of system it is. I think this would add to the richness of the system in terms of options.
The population of the system would affect how many of these bases are present. it may also affect the defences of the base and mission pay out.
Another suggestion is a combat scanner. I made a similar request for an "augmented reality mining scanner", which sounds like it make be coming in some way. I would like to have a similar thing for combat. This though would be more holographic display on to the left side of the cockpit. Basically, with a combat scanner active the left side of the screen would list nearby ships in order of next/previous target. It would show the vessels pilot, shield, hull, wanted as an icon. It would also highlight the current target. To the right of this could be the sub-systems of the current target so that in theory other ships could be causing damage to another sub-system and you may wish to switch.
The aim for this one being, we can customise the dashboard of the ship with decorations, but I think pilots would really appreciate being able to customise some functionality of the ship interface as well. It is their ship and if they spend all the time doing combat or mining, they should have the option really of that role being more visible.
I think the npc base should be undockable. It could have a docking pad which is used by the npc faction only. In theory, these could be assigned to player owned factions, but as they could lose control of a system or base, i think it might get messy if they were dockable.
In game terms, players can go there and see a small undockable base with patrols and storage containers protected by a cargo shield generator. They could take a mission from the bulletin board to guard or raid these structures.
When arriving within the perimeter of the outpost the patrols will scan your reputation and standing with them. If you are neutral, they may ignore you. For good standing or you being on a guard mission they would respond with a, "nice to have you onboard commander". If you have bad standing with them, they would state, "This is a resticted area, any hostile action will be met with a lethal response." They would then call for reinforcments if the player is flying a highly rated ship. The outpost itself would have launch bays and launch these if hostile action occurs. It would also have turrets for defence.
A player raiding these outposts would need to target the cargo shield sub-system and destroy it before attacking the storage area. Whether they salvage loot or not would not necessarily be part of the mission.
The aim of this is to help may systems FEEL different. Space is big, but there should be patrols and installations depending on what type of system it is. I think this would add to the richness of the system in terms of options.
The population of the system would affect how many of these bases are present. it may also affect the defences of the base and mission pay out.
Another suggestion is a combat scanner. I made a similar request for an "augmented reality mining scanner", which sounds like it make be coming in some way. I would like to have a similar thing for combat. This though would be more holographic display on to the left side of the cockpit. Basically, with a combat scanner active the left side of the screen would list nearby ships in order of next/previous target. It would show the vessels pilot, shield, hull, wanted as an icon. It would also highlight the current target. To the right of this could be the sub-systems of the current target so that in theory other ships could be causing damage to another sub-system and you may wish to switch.
The aim for this one being, we can customise the dashboard of the ship with decorations, but I think pilots would really appreciate being able to customise some functionality of the ship interface as well. It is their ship and if they spend all the time doing combat or mining, they should have the option really of that role being more visible.
I think the npc base should be undockable. It could have a docking pad which is used by the npc faction only. In theory, these could be assigned to player owned factions, but as they could lose control of a system or base, i think it might get messy if they were dockable.