I'd really like to expand on the interplay of the ship crew/captains. This would pretty much only pertain to the multiplayer experience, and would probably either end up being a mod or at the very least far into the future of post release. For example, if you are on a ship, and there are multiple members of the 'crew' of the ship, you could have designations. Say the 'communications officer' would be the only person on the ship able to broadcast on chat at the Universe level. Everyone else within the ship could talk at the local level, but the communications officer (and probably captain) would be the only person able to speak out to other ships. Then, you could have other designations such as cook. They would be the only person on the ship able to process meals for the crew for the hunger meter if it's on, and the only person able to make any form of stat-boosting consumable (whatever they are using in place of potions). There could also be the pilot, who is the only one who can set a course for new planets to explore (other than the captain). The list goes on. The catchall position would be the captain, and this would be the player that owns the ship originally so they could still perform all of the tasks necessary when going solo or just simply not having the largest crew. I think this would add a nice atmosphere and hard-mode feel to the future space exploration and battles. EDIT As Lusid and masher14 pointed out, it would be great to have randomly generated similar abilities for NPC's in order to make the single-player experience much more immersive.
I think this could be an awesome "small" addition. Not something that really affects gameplay much but gives life to the NPC's about the world. Perhaps NPC's can be given a skillset randomly generated, and as you explore the galaxy you can find people and if they like you, you can offer them a position on the ship. You actually do the hiring of people, they have things they can say while you're on the ship, and you know them. It would make the game feel WAY more personal. And even when you go to the planet maybe they come with and just appear throughout any friendly communities on the planet interacting with the other people living on the world. Again, it wouldn't have much functionality, but as far as immersion goes as well as feeling like the NPC's are more lifelike rather than just randomly generated whatevers walking about.. It would be fantastic. You have my vote.
I think this would be great for a multiplayer and/or roleplaying experience. However, I think it'd also be great if you could "recruit" NPCs to join your crew. They'd probably perform similarly to how NPCs do in Terraria. You'd buy food from the cook, maybe have a merchant in charge of buying and selling goods, etc. But that would of course be more for a single-player experience.
