I think it’s interesting that competition was deeply associated with combat here, and not other systems that lean more heavily into the economic sim that is the current game. If you take out PVP and the concept of combat - which, no matter how simple you think it is to build, it is 50x more difficult to balance - I think more interesting forms of competition emerge.
- Derelict ships: Could require a special building to detect derelict ships in orbit, in n+1 nearby sectors. Exists as a ship-travel destination. Can be looted by any players “at” the derelict ship. Vanishes once it’s been looted / breaks apart / cannot be used as “trash bait” storage to trick players.
- Orbital contracts: NPC contract-givers that sparsely appear around planets, with frequency and contract value tied to base density. Gives you a reason to scout distant, uninhabited planets looking for rare, high-value contracts in the far reaches. They’re recurring but finite, thus, competition.
- Asteroid mining: I proposed this in August 2024, following up from a 2021 similar proposal. Creates natural competition over creating and maintaining challenging bases in otherwise undesirable systems, naturally fuels the economic sim.
Overall, my point is, “just add combat” is a wildly challenging proposal, and for all it’s worth, PU has systemic stability to a large degree. Leaning into those systems, IMO, will make for a more fun game - rather than a hard pivot into a different type of game.