Honestly I don’t think the developer needs to introduce achievements in the game… because the game already has some! And it will get some more in the next release. Admittedly I’m halfway jesting, please bear with me.
- Getting experience points leads to reaching new “player levels”. For each new level the reward is a skill point (+ story points in the next release). XP+levels+skills is a classic player progression tool, but some games use achievements instead, so I would describe them as equivalent in this context.
- In order to buy rare high-tech ships you need to _achieve_ a high level or friendship with the Tri-Tachyon Corporation ( which is a ridiculous prospect if you ask me
).
- In order to use Capital-sized ships, you need to reach and maintain a fairly high income level.
- In order to obtain that one secret colourful colony industry, you need to _achieve_ certain things you can’t achieve right a the start of a campaign.
- In order to obtain and use the cryo-thingy for colonies, there is (among other things) a hard exploration-related “achievement” requirement.
- The personal contacts and new missions coming in the next release will surely introduce some kind of “achievements”: specific goals, steps and rewards.
So the game already has quite a lot and will get more, and IMO it’s done in a nice organic way. These are not called achievements in Starsector, but I would be tempted to call them achievements done (mostly) right.
However, I did like Badass Points in Borderlands 2, aside from the ones that were co-op only. There were never necessary and only marginally useful, but always made "just playing the game" feel like progress even when you didn't find any good loot. And many of them, like dealing X damage with an elemental shield, made you play the game in interesting alternative ways that you might have otherwise ignored or overlooked as "not optimal".
Indeed, showing the alternative ways is important. Starsector could use that kind of achievement/suggestion to encourage people to use various ships, build colonies in somewhat inhospitable planets, balance the various activities (bounty hunting, exploration mission, trading), and so on. It looks like personal contacts will/could be a fine framework for this, as long as the goals/journeys/rewards are well designed.
