Progress Through Engineering, Not Checklists!

Sorry, I'll be blunt here. Missions are the laziest, most boring way to create progression.

They get repetitive fast. Players end up beelining objectives instead of exploring or engineering. And no, scrapping and repairing a machine is definitely not engineering or colonization!

You’ve built a beautiful, systemic environment - do not reduce progression to a checklist.

Give us research systems that reward exposure, risk, and complexity. High-altitude sensor arrays. Deep-sea pressure rigs. Orbital radiation stations. Distributed relay networks. Have them produce data, that can be processed, traded and used to unlock new technologies. Make expansion mandatory for advancement. It's supposed to be colonization after all.

You don’t need more missions. You need mechanics deep enough that the environment itself becomes the progression system. Give players the rules, the tools, and the constraints and then let them discover the possibilities themselves.

Some random examples:

1. Planetary Survey Array

Location: Mountain peaks, polar ice caps, desert plateaus, high-gravity worlds

Purpose: Planetary resource mapping, gravity modeling, advanced ore detection.

How it works:

• Must be anchored to voxel terrain.
• Scan radius scales with elevation and antenna aperture size.
• Different biomes produce unique datasets (ice = subsurface water mapping, desert = mineral density, mountains = gravity distortion).
• Atmospheric interference reduces long-range resolution unless paired with orbital relays.

Engineering hook:

Tall lattice towers, stabilized rotor dishes, power conditioning systems, and ground-to-orbit relay chains.

Location: High-gravity planets, rotating space stations, mobile centrifuge platforms

Purpose: Reinforced armor, structural efficiency, artificial gravity components.

How it works:

• Applies measurable force using pistons/rotors/artificial gravity fields.
• Research scales with applied G-force.
• High ambient gravity planets multiply baseline output.
• Sudden imbalance causes structural cascade failures.

Engineering hook:

Massive centrifuges, gravity-assisted drop shafts, dynamically balanced rotating rigs.

Location: Storm-heavy biomes, gas giants (if applicable), high-altitude floating platforms

Purpose: Advanced thrusters, atmospheric processors, weather-resistant systems.

How it works:

• Requires volumetric atmosphere simulation.
• Research scales with wind velocity, turbulence, and pressure changes.
• Storm events dramatically increase output.
• Intake placement at varying altitudes improves dataset diversity.

Engineering hook:

Tethered sky platforms, flying laboratories, storm-chasing mobile bases.

Location: Volcanic regions, lava biomes

Purpose: Heat-resistant materials, geothermal reactors, seismic stabilization tech.

How it works:

• Drill depth and proximity to magma increase thermal gradient.
• Research scales with sustained exposure to high subsurface temperatures.
• Seismic activity boosts output but risks collapse.
• Cooling loops required to prevent meltdown.

Engineering hook:

Reinforced bore shafts, heat-exchange loops, lava-adjacent megastructures.

Location: High orbit, asteroid belts, radiation-heavy zones

Purpose: Shielding systems, radiation harvesting, energy amplification.

How it works:

• Must operate outside atmospheric shielding.
• Radiation flux varies by orbital altitude and solar activity.
• Alignment toward the star increases exposure.
• Shielding reduces damage but also data gain.

Engineering hook:

Rotating shield arrays, solar-tracking mounts, autonomous orbital stabilization.

Location: Planetary surfaces + orbit + deep space

Purpose: Advanced communication, automation networks, signal encryption.

How it works:

• Requires multiple synchronized nodes across large distances.
• Research scales with baseline separation.
• Planetary curvature and interference add complexity (and data).
• Solar radiation storms can disrupt or amplify results.

Engineering hook:

System-wide relay grids, antenna towers on multiple planets, protected orbital nodes.

Location: Polar ice caps, shadowed craters, deep space

Purpose: Superconductors, cryogenic fuels, advanced energy storage.

How it works:

• Research scales with ambient cold.
• Requires precise internal temperature control.
• Thermal fluctuation reduces efficiency.
• Power interruptions cause containment failures.

Engineering hook:

Redundant grids, thermal isolation chambers, shadow-orbit research satellites.

Location: Large surface bases, orbital shipyards

Purpose: Advanced manufacturing, conveyor logic systems, automation tiers.

How it works:

• Monitors full production chains.
• Research scales with efficiency percentage and minimal waste.
• Bottlenecks, idle blocks, or uneven power reduce gain.
• Large distributed industrial complexes generate more data.

Engineering hook:

True factory engineering — load balancing, parallelization, grid segmentation.

Location: Vacuum test ranges, low-gravity moons, reinforced underground bunkers

Purpose: Advanced weapons, kinetic shielding, structural dampening.

How it works:

• Requires projectile testing at measured velocities.
• Lower gravity allows higher experimental velocities.
• Research scales with impact energy.
• Repeated testing degrades chamber integrity.

Engineering hook:

Mass drivers, gravity cannons, vacuum firing corridors, reinforced blast tunnels.

Location: Inner stellar orbit band near the red dwarf

Purpose: Extreme heat materials, flare prediction systems, advanced solar energy tech.

How it works:

• Must remain within lethal radiation band.
• Research scales with radiation flux and flare duration.
• Heat accumulation modeled through real thermal transfer.
• Structural degradation accelerates with prolonged exposure.

Engineering hook:

Rotating heat shields, sacrificial plating, automated maintenance drones, flare-facing vs shadowed modules.