was just thinking of a way to possibly make exploration and boarding more interactive.
when boarding a ship could possibly make a short story with options at the end of the text just like a choose your own adventure book. such as, you enter the ship through a vented cargo hold, your Marines see no opposition in this area of the ship and with no atmosphere its no wonder, the ships crew would avoid such a place. Your Marines use one of the terminals in the cargo hold to get some basic layout information on the ship they are in and advise that there are 3 different ways to get further into the ship. at the same time a few marines set up an emergency shield in the cargo hold to prevent further atmosphere venting.
1. Use the main cargo hold door to get further into the ship.
2. Use the maintenance tube. to move deep into the ship.
3. Open the adjacent cargo holds bulkhead door to get access to another cargo hold.
4. Take what you can from this cargo hold and pull back to your ship and leave.
essentially every time you go to a new room, you might find a fire fight. possibly some more salvaged cargo. etc. and you would not get everything the ship can give unless you can take the bridge from any remaining crew, if there are any. larger ships could have a lot of rooms while something like a hound might have 3 or 4 rooms.
something similar could be done for planetary exploration. instead of using rooms you would do something like
1. explore the distant craters.
2. explore the nearby caves
3. explore the ruins you saw from orbit
and just use your imagination on what kind of difficulties that the crew may find in their adventures. also probably going to need a few red shirts. on those away teams.
the initial survey of the planet might tell you how many areas there are to explore on a planet before you commit to anything.