Mission Tactics

Right now, missions are quite simple. Every militia has practically the same purpose. You get paid to destroy something. Usually, the only consequence is that the enemy gets destroyed, or (if you're reckless enough) you get destroyed.

A lot of the time, stations only get destroyed because the player did it.

A living universe would be a lot more complicated than that. Suppose missions had more overarching tactical consequences. An enemy faction might become more defensive as a result of your attacks. A mission too far could push a powerful enemy into direct aggression towards the Commonwealth. Friendly stations don't just get destroyed because an enemy spawned close enough, but maybe because the player took a mission (i.e. Heretic)

The Commonwealth Maybe the station manager you're currently working for is corrupt, and wants you to commit piracy for a huge sum, and promises to frame you for war crimes if you kill a certain enemy outpost.