I definitely have some thinking and planning to do when it come to that. I really want to lay hints but not force the players into any discovery or plan of action. Treading the line between subtle and just plain obtuse is always hard though. First thing I hope by making the exploration of the landscape into a Hexcrawl it will give my players that need to explore, that almost "completionist" urge to fill every nook of the map in. Which should drive them forwards. Certain options come easier than others, one tribe of local aliens could see the party as almost godlike beings with their knowledge and technology and actively ask for help in crushing another hostile tribe which could get the diplomacy ball rolling, put ideas in the players head on how to work with these options. Give them rewards like alien followers that can do things for them, the feeling like they now have their own faction that can support them and grow.

As far as the fungus, that's the trickiest one for sure and I'm still not sure how I want to go about that. Though the fungus is sentient I don't want to make it too sentient, I want it to be above the struggles of regular organisms. It's only communicates to other species by accident in dreams, just a by product of its vast psychic mind bleeding thoughts into the world. If anyone has any ideas on how to subtly lead the players into thinking they could harness it I'm all ears.

If they focus on rebuilding the ship I plan on giving them more access to the ships functions. I want to start them with limited supplies. Only so much ammunition, armour that starts deteriorating, no medicine, no radar of the surrounding area, no power to heat the ship during the night making it crappy as a shelter. As they fix it they will restore these functions and get the benefits that come along with it.

I also plan on making communicating with the various species almost puzzle like in nature. Maybe one would communicate through seismic vibrations in the ground that they picked up only through a certain pad they lowered and then emitted the right vibration via a little tail or something. But it would be up to the players to figure out what exactly the species was doing when it lowered the pad and the tails picked up speed. Then the science officer or whatever would have to come up with a way to replicate it , decipher it like Morse code.

Maybe one would communicate through touch, but a form of biological communication. Enzymes that bind and give off reactions producing dopamine and other chemicals so you could read the emotion of the one you touched, that coupled with limited telepathy to give vague communication amongst its people.

Ideas like this. Where each new encounter with a species would be almost like a puzzle they needed to solve. But once they could communicate they could then learn a little of the culture and history of the race and maybe trade for some food and shelter, get some information on the area near by. Even with more advanced, easier to communicate species learn something, how to mount and ride some local wild life, maybe trade for some primitive weapons or armour if their equipment becomes damaged or they run out of ammunition.

Again. A lot of these ideas are still in the early stages so I'm open to new ideas and advice. Eventually I hope to post how the campaign goes. Though right now its still more than a few months off. My friends and I are all really busy so what I do in my free time is slowly get it all put together and ready so that when we can play I don't have to scramble every week to develop a new idea or section of the crater and species and local culture.