Idea for game mode: planetary conquest.

Dirty_Litle_Smuggler

The concept for this game mode would be a battle of attrition over several rounds that would mirror how an actual battle would work. Generally, any character you used that died would be gone for the rest of the event.
Phase 1: Achieve air superiority and establish forward operating base.
In this phase, you would battle against enemy ships with yours, and try to send any troops you wanted to use in phase 2 to the surface on transport ships. There would be 2 ways to battle: 1, attrite enemy ships. Whittle down enemy forces with your attackers. You can attack as many ships as you like, this would be similar to raids only instead of a boss there is a capital ship with its complement of fighters. You can attack the capital ship and deal damage to it, eventually killing it and removing the enemies from battle. The enemies would enrage, and you would have the option at any time to “disengage” (like escape, with a chance to be successful only instead of a cool down on unsuccessful attempts your ship takes damage). You would have your capital ship, too, but it would also be able to take damage from enemy fighters so you have to balance attacking the capital and fighters. Alternately, you can have your fighters escort a transport ship, which has a very slow speed and turn meter, and it’s only move would be to land with the troops. The number of enemy fighters you face is based on how many capitals you cleared (so if you killed all the enemy capitals it would be a free landin) and the whenever your transport ship lands, there’s a percent chance for each surviving enemy fighter to deal damage to/kill any of the troops the transport was carrying.
In phase 2, you would continue to fight against surviving ships in space, and you would defend your FOB with whatever troops you landed with. If the enemy ships were all defeated, you could call on your ships for strafing runs and such for a huge advantage on the ground battles (conversely, if your ships are defeated, the enemy could do the same). Phase 3 would be something similar, but with mobilizing your forces for the attack (and landing any ships whose pilots you wanted to use in phase 4). Phase 4 would be the interior, taking out an enemy’s base, where you wouldn’t be able to call on any ships for help. Then, depending on how the battle went (if you were successful or not in defeating the enemy), you would either evacuate your troops or defend against a counter-assault in the final phase (using your ships again in either case).
I think this would be something fun to try, though obviously since it’s complicated and would require a lot of coordination with your guild, should be a lot less frequent than territory battles (maybe like once a month or something). But it would be a fun way to work together for some overall mission, where every bit counts and you actually fight with your characters instead of deploying them to do nothing but fill a slot.