WIP BRAINSTORM: A PVP conquest oriented mod

Not sure if the suggestion thread or here is the best place, but I'd like to start brainstorming with some folks on how modding could potentially be used to guide competitive PVP gamplay.

If a project develops, I'm willing to be a part of it, so I figured this is the right place.

Think along the lines of a board game, a strategy game, or an online MP game with gametypes or match types, like an FPS.

Without further ado, the big questions and my initial thoughts about it:

I) What types of gameplay structures would be fun?

I'd like to see some semblance of 4X gameplay. You explore the universe to hunt for resources, you expand your influence and empire to to exploit said resources, while you attempt to exterminate your opponents' means for doing so.

I imagine resources directly related to the competition will be necessary (some kind of influence points or victory points or something). All other Starbound resources are a means to an end (fuel, ore, etc).

But I'd like maybe a bit more tight structure than most 4X games. I'd like to see a clear victory condition for the "match" and also make sure a player always has a chance to "get back in the game" if they've suffered a heavy blow to their space empire.

It seems necessary to have some way of locating your opponents' bases etc so you can compete with them directly when necessary. Okay, let's be honest, INVADE them

II) What can we accomplish with mod tools?

I've done some preliminary reading of guides and my understanding is that modding is limited to editing or creation of game data and assets. And that we can't change scripts or code? I'll keep looking and please feel free to add your expertise!

[Edit: I see at least that AI states are available through lua script, so that's a good sign.]

So my first thoughts here are to try and tackle the A) "setting up the match/competition" and b) "finding your enemies" aspects of gameplay.

I'm thinking we'll need items that teleport a player and his ship to a starting planet, OR provide him with a package of goods that allow him to set off on his conquest. Hm, what about Hunger Games style? Players are dropped onto a planet dungeon with items strewn about and they try to collect as much as possible, make it out alive and teleport back up to their ship and fly away to start their empire?

On the finding other players front, I'm thinking it might be possible to "seed" the game's existing content with "stuff that emits clues". As an example, have tech levels. When a player reaches a certain tech level on one of their planets, then it starts spawning clues on other planets in the universe. I'm not even sure that's possible, and maybe there is a better way anyway. But that's my initial thought.

I'll stat looking into b) first since that seems like the bigger of the 2 challenges. Does anyone else have thoughts about this? Anyone want to help?

Cheers