I just had an odd thought regarding Single Player Units; effectively their establishment turns each player controlled unit into the equivalent of an MMORPG character which drew me to some parallelisms with Ultima Online and Everquest.
At present we are using the contracting system where units, whether as singletons or groups of players, undertake missions similar to an instanced event in Everquest (which is actually the game that innovated the concept), pursuing it in isolation without having to compete with other groups or players. While this gives the unit control over the storyline it also ensures that there is nearly no interaction between the unit and other members of the community. In the past joint contracting offered some opportunities for interaction but the terms provided by the current rules essentially put one unit in the position of sub-contractor. Totally at the mercy of the primary unit with regard to payment and salvage which is not a desirable position for anyone.
Now, just to throw the idea out there, what if we went in the opposite direction; instead of instanced contracts we have a persistent world contract in the vein of the old Ultima Online? Units can sign up for this grand contract, which would likely be part of a major storyline that the staff would be pushing, and all of them are sent to one communal setting (be it a world, a system or a theater of operations). Players would monitor their own word counts and submit individual transcripts with cover letter summaries to the staff and be rewarded on an individual basis at the end of their involvement with the contract, whether at the end of the period or their unit's departure from the theater.
While this would not guarantee constant collaboration between units, the communal setting at least injects some level of organic randomness in shared setting as units play off one another's' actions. At the very least it feels less like writing alone in an empty room.
Now to maintain some semblance of consistency, a staff member, whether participating in the contract as a unit or just monitoring it from outside, functions as the editor. Player actions that would impact major canon characters or units should be cleared with them, or alternatively they could suggest or nudge players in certain directions as well.
I know this is a somewhat radical proposal and hardly completely fleshed out but I felt the idea merited being thrown out there for discussion.
Snipped from post by Dulio