What would really improve single player as well as multiplayer would be missions (quests) that you receive from NPC's. The NPC'c could spawn on default stations, much like how shopkeepers spawn at Advanced Shops. Different types of NPC's could spawn at different stations, such as Scientists and Merchants at Trading Guild Stations and miners/salvagers at abandoned stations.
The missions could work similarly to the contract system in Kerbal Space Program. You could accept missions or put them into a waiting list to accept later on by talking to the NPC. The missions could use a system like the tutorial station already ingame. You are given a waypoint and objective to complete in exchange for a reward. There could even be a series of objectives for more advanced misions. The more difficult/risky the mission, the greater the reward. There could be a indicator of the mission difficulty so that there are starter missions for beginners and more dangerous endgame missions.
The different NPC's could give different Mission types and different rewards. These are a few example I came up with.
Merchants could offer missions to escort a cargo freighter through a pirate swarm, destroy a fleet of pirates blockading a trade station, or offer lists of blocks that they would pay for above shop prices. They could pay in credits or access to their own shipyards.
Miners/Salvagers could offer missions to exterminate an alien infestation on the abandoned station, complete a specific blueprint and return it, survive waves of pirates and fight a boss battle at the end with a pirate capital ship, or transport a damaged ship docked inside your own through a wave of pirates. They could pay in materials like blocks or ores/shards.
Scientists could offer exploration missions like activate a scanner in a certain space phenomenon (Black hole, whatever else the devs have planned), bring back an alien specimen with certain characteristics to the NPC, or colonize a planet/asteroid. They could pay with special items that can only be obtained through them like advanced astronaut tools or weapons, completed ship blueprints, etc. They would give a reason to explore the galaxy and use jumpdrives and warp gates rather than stay in your own system.
Missions would really improve single player by giving you a reason to make ships other than to just blow up a few pirates. It would also improve multi player, especially if there were harder missions that could be accepted by multiple faction members. They would improve the community content section especially if custom mission could be made ingame, saved, and uploaded.
The missions could work similarly to the contract system in Kerbal Space Program. You could accept missions or put them into a waiting list to accept later on by talking to the NPC. The missions could use a system like the tutorial station already ingame. You are given a waypoint and objective to complete in exchange for a reward. There could even be a series of objectives for more advanced misions. The more difficult/risky the mission, the greater the reward. There could be a indicator of the mission difficulty so that there are starter missions for beginners and more dangerous endgame missions.
The different NPC's could give different Mission types and different rewards. These are a few example I came up with.
Merchants could offer missions to escort a cargo freighter through a pirate swarm, destroy a fleet of pirates blockading a trade station, or offer lists of blocks that they would pay for above shop prices. They could pay in credits or access to their own shipyards.
Miners/Salvagers could offer missions to exterminate an alien infestation on the abandoned station, complete a specific blueprint and return it, survive waves of pirates and fight a boss battle at the end with a pirate capital ship, or transport a damaged ship docked inside your own through a wave of pirates. They could pay in materials like blocks or ores/shards.
Scientists could offer exploration missions like activate a scanner in a certain space phenomenon (Black hole, whatever else the devs have planned), bring back an alien specimen with certain characteristics to the NPC, or colonize a planet/asteroid. They could pay with special items that can only be obtained through them like advanced astronaut tools or weapons, completed ship blueprints, etc. They would give a reason to explore the galaxy and use jumpdrives and warp gates rather than stay in your own system.
Missions would really improve single player by giving you a reason to make ships other than to just blow up a few pirates. It would also improve multi player, especially if there were harder missions that could be accepted by multiple faction members. They would improve the community content section especially if custom mission could be made ingame, saved, and uploaded.