I am loving the friend starting option. Thanks for the mod and the update/s.
I had this idea because of settlements. (Which is super cool by the way).
I was thinking using the same thing as settlements, but pick a location to explore, or skip this part of the idea. Anyway, the game Crying Suns has this cool little exploration feature for planets. I would love something like that you could do planet side with crew and mercenaries, maybe plus with extra stuff like heavy weapons, fuel and whatever you can think of on how they could be used planet side while exploring the world. Basically you would have an option to explore planets, maybe interesting locations on a planet surface like location of wildlife, lake of water, island, volcano, meteor strike location, or crash site.
Anyway, new ways to experience the game is always welcome.