I was thinking on how to make gameplay more meaningful, one way would be distribution structures.The idea would be to make certain features possible only as distribution structure gets larger and larger. One example would be water distribution system, another would be spark core distribution system, automated machine repair etc.
How would this work:
- there are suppliers, and there are users
- user can build a station that would “emit” power/spark/water/machine repair etc
- station would be limited in radius and amount it can “emit” per hour or other metric
- station could be upgraded to expand radius or throughput
- station owner can set price for his service e.g. per spark, or per power unit or whatever for water or repair
- user of service can build receiver that would receive service
- receiver would be limited in input
- receiver could be upgraded to receive more input
- receiver owner can add coins to receiver to control how much he wants to spend on that service
- in receiver UI there is a list of stations that emit near by and user can select which offer will he use (you could see price for each of those), maybe select a few in priority order if one does not supply enough service
I could expand more on the idea but you get the gist. Also I’m thinking smallish stations/receivers that would work for smaller settlements, but also planetary stations that would take group of people months to create (or to upgrade to that level).
I’m kinda into making this work for items also instead of trading but that depends on how you want to shape the universe of Boundless. Why I think it’s realistic in current game setting: we already have portals, so it’s not unrealistic for receiver to have small portal enabled on which station can hook up and deliver goods.
To be honest current trade system is pretty basic, and I don’t have enough time to browse forums, than hunt locations where shops are (there are not always clear instructions on how to get to the shop), than find that by “we have gem tools” owner meant “one ruby axe”. I literally have 100ks of coins now and don’t have anything to spend them on.
I know there will be contracts and quests etc. But I think having this kind of free market structure set up would make tremendous impact on economy. And to be honest, since Oorts are highly technological beings (if I understood correctly) this would fit more in such society than contracts (just my humble opinion, not saying it is true 
) (and yeah, I know characters we are playing are not Oorts but we do use their legacy).
Also one more service I imagine would be crafter service. Buyer puts ingredients into his receiver and finds crafter service that offers crafting of that level of items and orders crafting. Crafter provider would still have to go onto his station and start crafting process, he would maybe be able to accept or decline offer if he does not have enough time or machines to craft requested items.
Basically I’m talking about unifying all roles in some way that does not include reading forums to no end and exploring planets to find shops. Also introducing system in which I wouldn’t be forced into making spark, gathering fuel for furnaces etc so I’m able to craft stuff. I’m not saying to replace current system where user can do all by himself (as much as skills allow), but just having alternate tech that would enable more interaction and sharing.
One more thing I imagine would be relays, so player can build relay that would catch services on one place and transmit them on another, that relay would get some percent of all transactions done through it etc
I know this is huge feature, but still wanted to share with you 
