I love roaming around exploring planets but what I'd love to see would be space ports and random trading posts floating throughout the galaxy. Similar to having neutral life populate ES, trading posts/space ports would add to making the world more vibrant, as well as offering Dust-heavy players a chance to grab a couple star system upgrades or ship weapons without researching the corresponding tech. I know I would love to use one of those, especially early on when I find I have Dust and nothing to spend it on (no heroes to buy, nothing I can afford to rush) and it would also add more meaning to converting industry to dust!



The other neat thing those kinds of additions could do would be add artifacts to the game that you could purchase for your Heroes. I know you can "customize" them with their skills but really most people have already figured out the most efficient strategies for maximizing those. Being able to equip them with an Endless artifact or two can make them more unique and adds a little chance to the mix (think Warcraft I suppose), plus it feeds into the existing lore and can also help minimize that damn Horatio cloning which matches level but wouldn't match artifacts. Plus, exploring moons might reveal one of these precious equips instead of coming back empty most of the time.

Moved to the proposals section.



And I'm not sure an inventory for heroes and the balancing of such a feature would be a good thing to aim for release. It certainly sounds intruiging but also like a lot of work to include new mechanics, now.

Liking both ideas!



As Nosferatiel mentioned for artifacts (I'd extend this to trading posts as well), probably not a good idea to add this for release, but it's definitely something I'd love to see at some point down the line in a DLC/expansion or something.



Trading Posts



I love roaming and exploring as well, and I'm for anything that makes the galaxy feel more "alive"! I also often end up with large amounts of funds late game (even a fair amount mid-game, often), and a new way to spend it would be welcome. You could even maybe buy ships from them or something, which might come in handy in a pinch, depending on circumstances.



How would this work in terms of colonization, though? Is the system basically "owned", and you can't colonize? Would you be able to take it over? Or maybe you could colonize it and the spaceport could add some bonuses, like anomalies?



Artifacts



Loving this. Reminds me a bit of the various "upgrades" you could buy/find and add to give to your fleets or settlements for small bonuses in Anno 1404 (Dawn of Discovery); I really enjoyed that. I think it would add a lot to the individual game experience, and afford players flexibility. It could also work well with my Derelict Ships idea, artifacts being one of the possible positive things you'd find when you board them.