You could say that.
Anyway, more gameplay options! Here's an idea:
I think that with looting and crafting having been announced as part of planetary landings, it makes sense to me that players should be able to build their own base camp. Here's how I think it could work:
- a base camp is owned by a player.
- it consists of a set of camp units that players can buy as cargo and deploy on the surface, or (in case of simpler optional units) crafted from materials mined on the surface by automated mining drones (also bought as cargo and deployed on the surface).
- Camp units are:
- power plant (required)
- solar panels if there is enough sunlight, radioisotope thermoelectric generator and/or fuel converter which must be occasionally refilled with fuel (at least one is required)
- ground water pump (required for greenhouse)
- greenhouse
- habitat with life support (required on non-Earth-likes)
- storage space
- ship maintenance/repair unit
- communication array/homing beacon (required)
- security system with defence turret
You can also deploy automated mining drones.
Players can arrange camp units in any way they like, in a Sim Basecamp kind of way. Camp units are laid out in a grid pattern and must connect to each other in some way. Certain units are required to make the camp operational; others are optional. Power plants, ground water pumps and life support have a limit to how many optional units they can support. You also may need to add solar panels and fuel converters depending on the size and power requirements of your camp. Your camp may need regular supplies of: material (unless you have mining drones), water (unless you have a ground water pump), fuel (unless solar panels or radioisotope thermoelectric generator are enough), seeds (if you have greenhouses, unless you have enough of them to be self-sustaining). You can of course stockpile any cargo if you have at least one storage unit.
The owner can manage the camp by accessing a control page which displays status, stores etc. The challenge is to adjust everything so the place runs itself and stays balanced. Turn your back on a camp too long, and it may spin out of control and break down or run out of power/water or get looted/destroyed.
Friends can be given access to the control page, and/or bring supplies or access them and get ships repaired. This is useful for exploration expeditions, but also makes for a good pirate lair.
In order to stop players from building huge sprawling cities all over the place:
- required units are expensive. They support a limited number of other units.
- the bigger the camp, the more challenging to set it up so it can manage itself, and the more resupply and checking it needs. Build too big or too many camps and you'll have a full time job just keeping them going!
- camps can only be built on unclaimed worlds, or worlds claimed by a faction you're part of.
- camps can be looted and destroyed (takeovers are too difficult). As such it makes sense to configure them to "go dark" while you're away and only light up as you approach them. The beacon is of course so you and your friends can find them. However other players could stumble across them by accident.
Because a camp consists basically of a set of standard units laid out in a connected square grid pattern, it is very easy to save its location, status and configuration data in a short compressed table on the galaxy server.
I agree with your post. a free fly mode much like now is nice, but some campaign missions to rank or just to fly for your faction would be nice. Delivering 4 tons of fish for a baron rank is just lawl. A little campaign medals section for you to gloat over with yourself, best part about it? little to no work to be done (except maybe for some shiny faction decals, maybe a skin 
