Here's something I thought up while trying not to yell at my family today.

Vendetta has a comprehensive governing AI system that helps make the universe seem more alive, allows the hive to seem like it's actually trying to do stuff, creates full and fierce battles even without a single human player present. Is this a feature that could be expanded upon even further?

Basically, a new skill category- Robotics. (Name probably isn't ideal.)

Something to provide a different use for all the scrap metal and bot detritus! Once you get to a certain standing with a technologically and economically powerful faction, and one skilled in automation (Xang Xi, Valent come to mind, as well as TPG and the nations) they would allow you to assemble hive drones of your own and assign them tasks. The more tasks they successfully complete, the more skill points you gain! The more skill points you gain, the more advanced and capable drones you can assemble, and the more drones you can employ at any one time. A platoon of disposable weaklings or a couple of near self-sufficient virtual intelligences, eventually, the choice would be yours.

With a high Trade skill, you could send them on journeys between stations. A slower, automatic trade route by a far more vulnerable target than a player, but with obvious benefits. A player more inclined towards warfare might have one or two of these in their nation space on simple, relatively safe routes (avoiding potential ion storms!) Simply select the stations, and select the goods to be ferried and sold from one to the other and back again. The more profit it makes, the more skill points for you! And should it be a route your nation or faction need more help with, maybe even some bonus standing. And since a drone needn't carry things such as life support, or room for a pilot... certain important packages may be safer with the most inconspicuous and evasive of drones...

A high Mining skill opens up a new set of possibilities, one obvious, and one not so much. Hive drones behave in a certain way, you see, and as a player learns to mine successfully he notices certain things about hive behaviour. So a drone deployed to a Mining mission would, yes, automatically mine minerals, but more advanced drones would be able to gather information not just from surrounding asteroids but also hive drones through simple analytics- able to find precious minerals in a sector given enough time. And of course, what use would a Mining drone be without the ability to blend in with the surrounding bots? Perhaps some surprising uses for your new aptitude could be found...

And Combat? Well, this is obvious, I would have thought! Mostly. Of course you could assemble a guardian or two, but let's face it, they've never been the most dangerous of adversaries. Most hive bots are nothing more than cannon fodder- but that may be all you need to scrape through. With advanced Small or Heavy weaponry, they'd at least be capable of seeming threatening, and should you choose to sacrifice numbers for further capability, you may be able to assemble something truly formidable! There have always been rumours about alien technology floating around, after all... And war is a terrible, terrible thing. Wouldn't you like to lend your nation of choice a little help?

This isn't a simple AI Wingman idea, but a way for players to affect the universe outside of their avatar's direct actions. A skilled technician could tip the balance in ways a lone pilot would normally find tedious or too dangerous, or be a deceptively large threat on the battlefield. The possibilities for ambush (order bots to fake attacking you, then turn on any good samaritan) or espionage and treachery (pledging loyalty to one nation or corporation, while secretly sending aid to the other.)

Oh, and don't overload your capabilities. Vulnerable drones can be destroyed and looted, haywire drones hunted and traced, and if you completely fail at micro and macromanaging your creations?

Before they were drones, they were scrap. And before they were scrap, they served a different master.

cool...

tl;dr
but +1

A tentative +1. Or maybe a +0.

It could add a metric ****-ton of depth, especially if done right, but beyond the basic AI-wingmen thing, I'm not sure if it actually fits within the scope of the game. That sounds like an empire-building mechanic, primarily, and while I know that we're supposed to eventually be able to build stations and such, I'm not sure if this is the kind of game that would allow empire-building.

Could really easily turn into feature creep.

"...while I know that we're supposed to eventually be able to build stations and such, I'm not sure if this is the kind of game that would allow empire-building."

This is already on the cards, and I don't doubt that the game's been designed years ahead of what there currently is. I think what worries me most is that you see feature creep as a bad thing.

When you've watched this game for as long as I have, well... let's say that guarding against feature creep should not in any way be a priority. If there's one thing this community does well, it's guard against any sort of feature creep.

Feature creep is not a bad thing until it actually begins to happen. Have you ever taken a look at Celebrim's Toys thread? It's over 10 years old. Weapons that drain energy have been talked about since the days of early beta. There comes a point where you have to stop thinking about the possible ramifications of a concept and just throw ideas out and just hope they get that all-important mix of support and constructive criticism, or even outright rejection based on an objective dislike or distaste of what is being suggested.

But to say "this sounds like this, which might not be in keeping with this, also feature creep" is not remotely helpful.

+1....many good ideas...