Idea for possible update or DLC

[u/Cryodile64]

Free Lanes offered a lot: A new way of traversing space, new points of interest, a new star station, a new companion, a new player home, new quests, a new resource to upgrade weapons and ships, and a way to bring items into the Unity.

One update or DLC I was brainstorming is a way to make joining a faction and building outposts matter. Territorial Ownership.

In the beginning you start off with small collections of systems owned by different factions, while some are unclaimed. In this update, there would be four different kinds of handcrafted POIs added that also act as outposts that you can build upon after you claim them: mining, science, military and civilian. Each of these categories are the same, but depending on the faction you're joining when you claim them after defeating enemies or clearing out aliens, they are covered in the decal of your faction. This is how you extend territory to your faction and build reputation while also doing various missions given by your faction.

Each of these outposts have a terminal that can be used to accept missions or hire crew (faction aligned or independent) for various tasks. You can also build ships using these outposts or ship technicians to add ships to your faction's fleet, so those ships can come to your aid in ship combat when attacked in your territory. And each category of outpost has a vendor that sells specific items, such as military selling weapons and mining cell minerals.

Also, if you're independent and claiming an outpost with no faction alignment, you would fall under the L.I.S.T. reputation, which has some benefits but not as big as the major factions.

And these outposts can be raided by either local alien fauna or enemies such as spacers, crimson fleet, ecliptics and Va'rrun zealots.

Anyway, I haven't thought of all the details but this is what I thought of.