Great idea! I'd be happy if it was just controllable to the point where we could tell it where to go and scan for resources.
You could further add challenge to the game by having some type of "terrain fog-of-war" that needs to be explored and the terrain scanned in some way in order to allow building upon. Then maybe make the rover upgradeable to move faster, further and have new scanning capabilities.
I do like the enhancement ideas you have for the science vehicles too, but not sure about the fog of war as I like the map as it is. The animated vehicles go off screen eventually, but where?
If there were a change I would prefer that idea to be an autonomous function and build a single marine droid barracks or have advanced scrubber droids upto level four that extends the range aswell as an additional drone and have them deployed to fight any nest found within range, thereby stopping the critters at source.
Perhaps your ideas are more suited to the sandbox mode where you could be tasked with destroying all the nests in the areas surrounding your base. Along with setting up camp in another potential location for expansion and doing the same there. Just a thought.
