There is a little suggestion(it not hard to implement possibly) to do early game more smoother and challenging, by removing a high-tech(which are much deeper in the research tree) and op things that are available from the very beginning, like;
- AIRBUS. shooting enemies without leaving the ship, that familiar to all fans of the original legal cheat, which allows you to do quite hard mission from the very beginning, first transport should be EXPEDITION...then player research BIKES or TRUCK(if chose SS-tech line) then Contacts: Car Thieves. So you can feel early tech progression.
- Prison Cells. Academy personal is too big source of money early on which allows you to rush gameplay very quickly and makes a lot of early tools\production\research is kind of meh. plus random tech is a feature that makes research progress not smooth at the beginning(fine in later on).
- TOOLS (Parrot, Flintlock wpn, Black Powder Bomb, Assault Cannon and Mini Cannon). The things that you get at the beginning are limited to those you found at the base (pic). Again, removing it gives a sense of progression and you still get them anyway through a couple of missions or through research for the next month, but it be you job.
- Hi-Res Radar (optional). you can still scan with the EXPEDITION non stop, but you will not be overloaded with messages about flying vehicles, which you still can’t do anything by most.
Man I don't even know where to begin.
A) Watch the intro again. Do you require of me to trashbin most of the backstory?
B) You want me to make the player cry, because he can't keep allies who come to his base? To delay exploring the world and lore by being unable to interrogate anyone? To put them out of contact with any outside people? That's bad design, man. It's like not being able to talk to anyone in Monkey Island until you finish a couple quests. Or not being able to shoot in Doom for first few levels. You want me to change the game to something entirely else.
C) In short, no fun allowed? What's the point of being a pirate if you can't even fire a cannon? Can't have a parrot??? Besides, almost all weapons you have are available for sale, if not in unlimited quantity by peasants, then for sure in Jackstown, from where a few of them could have passed hands and ended up in your possession. Also you didn't watch intro, again. So I would have to change backstory, again.
D) You don't like standard base radar, but are fine with equally, if not more, advanced Hangars and Armored Vaults??? Now this simply baffles me.
In short, your propositions do not make a iota of sense. You want different game, not mine. Also, do I need to say that...
A) you can sell the airbus or save-edit it into Expedition;
B) you can dismantle the prison;
C) you can sell all the weapons;
D) you can dismantle the radar.
Here - you have the game you want now. Nice and easy, man