It's occured to me that threre are a few things, already in-game, which might be expanded upon to make them more interesting and add depth to gameplay:
-Shore Leave-
We already have a handfull of social zones in the form of well known planets. Risa, Vulcan, Andoria, etc. Why not implement the concept of shore leave as an actual mechanic, granting a long term buff of some sort to your crew after visiting one of these planets and staying a while. Perhaps a slightly different sort of buff for different planets? In fact, shore leave has been a lead in for interesting situations in a good handfull of Trek episodes. Add in the possibility of unusual quests becoming available during periods of shore leave. This might be even more interesting if it were made possible to declare leave on any planet surface where a mission has been resolved, like those nice worlds with the palm trees and beaches you occasionally run across. Obviously, arranging leave for your crew in an abandoned facility, a Borg infested world, or an underground cavern isn't exactly ideal.. let enviornmental factors determine what effect it has on them? But who knows what might happen if you decide to stay around for a while? Illness that affects the crew, an alien merchant desperately trying to get rid of some artifact, a chance meeting with a defecting member of an alien power with vital information to trade for asylum? Maybe something even stranger?
-Aid Missions-
Many people just don't even do these. Personally, I have yet to complete even one of them. I just collect any interesting samples I scan down in the surrounding space and leave to find another type of exploration mission to do. Keeping stacks of commodities around to use in case I run into one of these is just too much of a pain. But what if there were unusual potential rewards and/or results of completing these? Who knows what small token of thanks a barely known alien species might give you in thanks for those desperately needed Weather Control Systems or Shield Generators? A strange pet, an unusual new alien bridge officer, some bizzare ship device or piece of weapons or defense technology hitherto unknown to the Federation? Maybe just some prayer stick or other object to leave on display in your ready room (if they choose to let us customize that at some point?) Maybe information that leads you into a mission elsewhere? Of course, many species will simply thank you (the Federation) for their assistance, so this might be an unusual occurance.. but the possibility would make them far more worth doing.
-Ethnic Foods-
Thus far seen mainly as fuel for tribble breeders and the occasional cheap heal, why not grant some small buff to you or your bridge officers for consuming the faire of their homeworld? They eat everything you put in their equipment slots almost immediately anyhow (I suspect my bajoran science officer may be expecting, considering how she eats everything in sight..) It needn't be any huge buff, but you'd think there ought to be some positive effect to occasionally treating your Klingon engineer to some blood pie.. For a bit of humor, giving them Romulan Ale might not to such a good idea during dangerous away missions. Of course, you'd also have to be a bit more careful where you keep your tribbles... "Hey, I was saving that Plomeek Soup for my tactical officer!"
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