I'm hoping this could be a simple thing to implement, while adding a lot to replayability:
The ability to change environment parameters when starting new game in Normal mode, similar to how currently it's possible to choose night cycle:
- less plants, more plants,
- less rocks, more rocks,
- no rain (water only from ice!), sporadic rain, heavy rains,
- no dust storms, rare dust storms, dust storms very often,
- ragged biomes, more contiguous biomes,
- the length of the mission.
This way I'd be able to start a game in a lush garden paradise full of raw materials (close to Creative Mode, but still keeping the game part with depleting resources), a hostile hellhole, or something in between.
My guess is that this might be just adding a few values to probabilities used internally and a few new dials in the New Game dialog - no complicated interactions, no new graphics, no stuff that requires a lot of work.