Okay, big long speech time. Let me give you guys my two cents about what we're doing here. First off, Commander, I love the world you've build for us, and I'm invested in these characters, the unfolding story, and the NPCs. You've clearly put work into this for us, and for that I thank you.
How I run my RPs is kinda like a movie, every scene either moves the story forward or gives some
context or insight to a character. If there's any idle chatter, it's only for flavor and depth. I'll give an example.
I'm older than all of you so I don't know how familiar you are with the Terrantino movie Pulp Fiction. There's a scene in which one character is describing the differences between the names of fast food burgers in the States and the names in Europe. A quarter pounder with cheese in America is the Royal with cheese in Europe because of the metric system. The scene wasn't integral to the plot at all, but it gave color and depth to the characters. They weren't just these plastic archetypes shot into a story, it gave them realism and authenticity because that's the normal shit people really talk about.
This was written well and presented in a very consise and to-the-point manner. No fluff.
I think all of this down time we're trying to fill can be covered in a paragraph or two without us having to RP every aspect of their college life. We can give flavor to our characters, establish whatever ships folks want to achieve, and then get on to the dramatic bits that everyone keeps coming back for. Our first session when everyone was together was magic, I don't think anyone would deny that. I think we've been kind of trying to get back there ever since. We have some good writing, and Commander had thrown in some great story beats, but I think we need to trim the day-to-day stuff and focus on the stuff that's closer to the plot of a story or movie.
Sorry for the rant, I just like what we have and I don't want us to fall off of it.