Traffic scripts and mod direction

I expect that with the extension to US we will have launched our first PS traffic free mod. For the first time we have the chance to setup ships the way we would like. So I want to discuss some options.

One possible direction is to let the player interact with every ship. Rather than put ships for hire floating around waiting for the player, we let the player talk to and hire the actual traffic ships in the game.

For instance, the player could offer to hire any independent ship in the game. Or any mercenary ship. If the player wants to hire miners, they go to a mine and find some, talk to them, and hire them.

This is more a "vision" of how problems are solved, rather than just building a giant feature list. For instance, if we settled on the player hiring ships from the traffic, then we don't spend any effort putting specially placed "hire me" ships. We instead focus that effort on better traffic ship features.

Some other thoughts about interaction.

Perhaps the player comes across a mercenary attack fleet. They have been tasked with hunting gargoyles (gargoyles are one of the hostile factions) so when the player asks them what they are doing, they say "hunting gargoyle pirates". The player can then offer to show them the location of some gargoyles. the mercenaries offer to follow the player for X time. If they find pirates, they reward the player, if they don't, the deduct standing. Such a script gives the player a chance to change the game world, and perhaps remove some pirates. or perhaps the player wanted to remove some mercenaries and so leads them into a death trap.

I am just thinking out loud a little bit about how a world full of entities could be made fun to play around in, without missions, or special setups. Just by making each ship or fleet an interactive group.

Feel free to post any ideas. This thread is really for open brainstorming.