ok i was just sitting here looking at my energy recharging , and it's sitting there at 1 ...... would be nice if there were little things i could do to spend up 1-2 energy before i log off, or for something different to do.....so i thought of this :

for each resource (mining, artifacts, research) we could have a repeatable mission
each mission would be , say 1-2 energy to do once, maybe have it 100 times for each round
a completion of a round would give an artifact that would reward you with an hour of that resource

you could limit this to 1 or 2 completions a day

the idea is that you are sending your ship out to help mine, or survey worlds with dead civilizations, or engage in minor research, for a small gain at little cost

not a bad idea, all things considered. A complete waste of energy, true, but it makes sense. especially if it's endlessly repeatable. SOmetimes you just need a little extra Credit in the Bank.