So, to make the story side a bit more interesting, it would be really amazing if the game could have plot strings that have randomized branching. As an example, perhaps there's a story plot that's about the first AI war. The first bit has one of three people approach you at a bar. In one case, it's a Luddic Church member, in another it's Hegemony, in another it's someone from Tri Tachyon. In each case, they've found some new information about the AI war and what caused it. The text is different, but on the gameplay side it's the same... go to X planet and search for information. You then go to that planet and find some information, which leads you to somewhere else, which leads to some battles and so on. And then near the end, you learn that it was actually the Luddic Path sabotaging things that lead to the war. Or it was Tri Tachyon that did it. Or it was actually the Hegemony sabotaging. Or whatever. And that part is also randomized.
On the story writing side, you'd perhaps randomize the name (having a random name generator would be awesome here) of the approaching party, and it would save that name for this quest. You'd have option 1, option 2, and option 3 for the first mission, but they all just lead to mission 2, while saving that name so it could be used in text later. And near about mission 7, you'd get a second branch, so that would lead to multiple options. Whichever option pops up there would determine who the "boss fight" would be against and might even change some alliances.
It would be a bit more difficult, but would increase replayability, which is cool.
