SO the primary enemy in vanilla is now a minor presence on the server, fleetingly glimpsed and rarely used.
I speak of Nomads.
I came to the server looking for them, and I find their near absence a major downer.
Order are also subsequently reduced to a side-note, and the server has basically become a series of political debates between factions with increasingly complex laws and bylaws and regulations.
New players struggle to get it.
Older players sigh and complain about these noobs who don't understand, or don't try to.
So I've been here 3 months and in my oh-so-humble-opinion the answer is blindingly obvious...
Nomads are absent.
This is wrong, and has led to a fragmentation of too many groups struggling to find and legitimize their own identities without that important element (alien interaction) serving as a counterweight. It was what drove the excellent sp campaign, and got us all here in the first place.
Nomads need serious restoration:
Nomad encounters should be much more commonplace.
They should be much more aggressive.
They should be much more dangerous.
If there's one enemy that "doesn't" require huge dialog or rp its your simple nomad drone..
Sure, K'hara can be plotting the main alien strategy, and their rp-event visitations can explore the complex and cunning ways of an alien race - but why not take the basic fighters out of the restiction list and let a little mayhem ensue?
Right now the drone ID is used to "prove" your rp chops.
This is entirely the wrong focus for such a role.
Create a "drone ID" that purposefully limits rp opportunities . Chatting would be prohibited: Drones would have to behave like vanilla drones: mute and hostile.
Create a /restart nomad.
Create Hives in all houses: A single base that drones may dock to, and that evens the presence across all Sirius.
Result:
All the pew-pew crowd could fly nomad drones, and can be hated legitimately and in rp, whilst getting their kicks in a different and rp-logical way than gamma ganking / uber pirating etc etc...
All Factions with alien hunting as a primary purpose (Hint: Order)suddenly get some love and a greater reason for existence.
K'hara get an increased mandate to control and direct drone activity, and therefore should see a boost in activity....
The server gets a wakeup, and we lose a little of the "political micromanagement" focus of the current storylines, and return to the more epic "humanity must unite against the invaders or die" storyline.