I really did not like the concept laid out for adventure mode. The idea of having to take missions to go from place to place, where at any given time an enemy player counter mission with a guaranteed battle. It takes away player freedom, removes an entire element of strategy, and somewhat kills the immersion of cruising through the world.
Alternative suggestion that still keeps player quantities low, as I know you have presented this to be an issue.
"Trade Winds Concept"
Quite similar to the wormhole concept used in space games, simply replace with a trade wind. Each major destination that can visited on the map are interconnected by trade-winds. Each destination lets say can have max 64players at a given time. So, when that number is exceeded there are two options available.
A: The trade winds are blocked temporarily until space is freed up to the destination, controlled via que's.
B: Generate another exact replica of the town and call it (Destination) S2. This will allow everyone to go visit the place, but keep the player count low in the destination.
Now, an interesting twist to add is a "Conflict Zone". Conflict Zones are destinations on the map that are in a state of war. In these zones players on both sides of the conflict will be allowed an even # of slots. They can travel freely still, but the quantity of each side has a cap to ensure no side has a ridiculous advantage when the destination is full. Once the conflict is ended by some sort of conditions met than the victor owns the destination and gets all bonuses associated.
Through-out the game and more importantly during these conflict zone fights, players new to the game or not wanting to be bored in adventure mode can "Drop in/Drop out" onto owned ships via the current skirmish system. Before entering a wormhole the ship captain can elect to get a crew, in doing so they will be in the skirmish menu and can wait to let folks join. Otherwise positions are filled by AI. Then they select to take the trade wind loading up/entering the destination with this crew.
