Here's idea if you want to make a part two for the campaign. After our miner's obtained enough power crystals the HMS Explorer makes her voyage home, however on her way home a planet is surveyed to high amounts of rare ore and variants of normal power crystals. After running the numbers our on board science personal determined the both the rare ore and variant crystal can make a jump gate to send us home. This will cut the time needed to go back home by over half a year, and make possible come back and mine this galactic cluster. Even if the mission fails the ore and crystals can be used improve our ship for the long trip ahead. Game play changes/ideas: I think this idea should be after you make the engine more easily mod-able/ easier make things in for your sanity. The ore and crystals what can/should be done with them, rare ore can be like special gold/sliver bricks you find in other Lego game(they don't have to look like them they can look like shiny cobalt and people would get the gist.), And can make special building/ upgrades adding more to the game(also for lore reason why your raiders can all of suden make all of this now is that they don't have to conserve resources and have access to rare stuff repair hard make parts). Crystals can maybe make upgrade paths for example: the red power crystals contain low amount of energy to their green counters, but release it powerful short bursts. The path for them can be like buildings can defend themselves with turret, but require recharge frequently. Blue crystals have huge amount of energy, but can't relate it much best used capacitors, the capacitors can be to power shielded buildings (any building players chose) if put at key locations can give miner's a chance to respond to cave dewelers. There more you do with crystals, but I'm already making a small novel here so I move to the next. Minimal researching: your crew is mostly miner's, some engineers and other staff, you don't have enough egg heads to up make things up they only can modify and improve what already got/know to the planet. This dose not mean your raiders can't make advancement them self's, but is good way to have double research system one that is campaign upgrades the other mission one(lore wise mission ones are your engineers and some sci staff adapting your equipment to the environment, campaign one's can be taken to any mission any time and how to contextualize then is the mix of rare ore, crystals, and other things {mission objective/finds} permit your miner's do things that wouldn't be cost effective normally). Now fully to game play: your miner's in the first game always had a problem the only thing is you can do this so much for the second campaign, because most people whould think with the excess ore/crystals they would repair the teleporters so what to do? I think a mix of surface missions (some places on the are so rich that our teleporters can't get in caverns/ there's no caverns big enough so mine your way in) with focus vehicles and getting to point a to b and unlocks rich mine missions./ Parallel mine operations mission where you and ai/another player are on same map(this can be done a few ways rescue where you or ai have safe each other, out last where you or ai defend while the other mines the qouta for resources/rich mission difficult bonus mission level is rich in ore and crystals and maybe a meta currency for upgrades on the HMS Explorer for crew or ship cosmetic and gameplay advantage (not bought through cash meta currency unless cosmetic only) a test of the players skills./factory mine where you make a bace factory to make parts for the gate a mission you come back to now again as get resources from the other missions (make this mission one if you lose you lose the whole game make the story reason is that you had rip out important parts of your ship to make the bace and while they can replace it with the material you made this far the one they rip is massivly better and we'll made out for you so will lead to a huge morale loss if destroyed and make the miner's to leave the planet. All the other mission can be retryed.) But don't make the mission to hard unless the players make it that way. The mission is best used as way to teach players good bace design while also letting the experiment. The mission profile should read like, hello Rock Raider our probes have found a area heavily devoid of both ore and crystals, making excellent area to make parts needed for the project away from majority of critters of the planet, however any thing that still lives here is tough and will respond to "food" that we brought so make sure your defenses are strong before making more for the factory.(also could add secret boss that will give the miner's quite the trip). Monsters in game can be variations of the one we had already and some new ones, I will only give one idea as I think if you read this you already have ideas you want to share. You know on the rock raiders set the rock misters are sometimes over grown with crystals, you can have it if you defeat them they yield the crystals in defeat (also go way to say the planet rich in crystals but not add more than 1st campaign they ate so much that they grew them and have hunt them for excess crystals). If like this share your idea you had in the reply and any thing you think needs expanded or more details add your own versions in the reply. I did this before I lost the idea as I have other things I like to think about and I'm unsure I'll come back to add more .