From the way this is all being described, this reminds me of the Eve Online Character Bazaar where veteran players sell off their skilled-up characters to other players for ISK.

Of course the difference here is that it would be the SP being sold instead of the character itself in Dust.

I like the idea

Could open up whole new ways of players could catch up to vets

I would love this

I could buy sp for my alts to use so I can have more testable characters!

Great money for CCP.

We need to get a CCP DEV to look at this money farm!

When I have some free time I'll get to work on building concepts of the menus like I did here.

http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/9457/hcx8.jpg

Absolutely love parts of this idea. Original. Very smart. Kudos. The buildup is absolutely brilliant, but the pitch (sell my SP for Isk) is kinda meh for me; I wouldn't use it as Isk is far easier to come by than SP. The concept though still has huge potential; thinking tweaks along the lines of ...

Players unlock an implant socket every X million SP earned (say, every 20M).
Players can spend excess SP to "craft" an implant.
Implants are crafted via high-level warbarge subsystem.
Implants can be traded via simple trading like other goods.
Implants vary in grade (STD, ADV, PRO).
Implants of the same type cannot be stacked.
Implants permit users to further specialize by granting a slight, gear-specific efficacy bonus.

Implant Examples (names and numbers pulled from arse)
STD "Thumper" Implant: +2% mass driver RoF , costs 1M SP, 10 days to craft
ADV "Thumper" Implant: +4% mass driver RoF, costs 2.5M SP, 15 days to craft
PRO "Thumper" Implant: +6% mass driver RoF, costs 5M SP, 20 days to craft
STD "Eagle Eye" Implant: +5% sniper rifle zoom fidelity, costs 1M SP, 10 days to craft
ADV "Eagle Eye" Implant: +7.5% sniper rifle zoom fidelity, costs 2.5M SP, 15 days to craft
PRO "Eagle Eye" Implant: +10% sniper rifle zoom fidelity, costs 5M SP, 20 days to craft
STD "Quick Study" Implant: +3% SP earned per victory, costs 1M SP, 10 days to craft
ADV "Quick Study" Implant: +6% SP earned per victory, costs 2.5M SP, 15 days to craft
PRO "Quick Study" Implant: +9% SP earned per victory, costs 5M SP, 20 days to craft
STD "Biotic Man" Implant: +1% biotic efficacy, costs 1M SP, 10 days to craft
ADV "Biotic Man" Implant: +2.5% biotic efficacy, costs 2.5M SP, 15 days to craft
PRO "Biotic Man" Implant: +5% biotic efficacy, costs 5M SP, 20 days to craft
... and so on.

---

One implant per primary and secondary weapon, additional implants for select module types (balance permitting). I'm just shy of 80M SP, and I'd absolutely want all four of my implant sockets filled with prototype implants; I'd have to buy a(nother) respec to do it. The more heavily a given player is invested in a given playstyle or weapon, the less likely he'll be to chase FoTM or skill into everything. This would very likely result in increase battlefield diversity. Further, it'd extend Dust's lifespan and give players at all career levels something awesome to grind toward and look forward to.

One implant per primary and secondary weapon, additional implants for select module types (balance permitting). I'm just shy of 80M SP, and I'd absolutely want all four of my implant sockets filled with prototype implants; I'd have to buy a(nother) respec to do it. The more heavily a given player is invested in a given playstyle or weapon, the less likely he'll be to chase FoTM or skill into everything. This would very likely result in increase battlefield diversity. Further, it'd extend Dust's lifespan and give players at all career levels something awesome to grind toward and look forward to.

The diversity this could bring would be phenomenal, yet it seems like it would be a beast a manage in terms balance and meta lockouts if we are going in that direction still. Unlike suits it's a lot more difficult to change fits to get under a meta threshold if the implants are backed into you.

A possible approach off the top of my head is having separate meta levels of clones that you stick into a dropsuit. These clones have your unlocked implants plugged into them. Is this ultimately making the game more complex to a benefit or a detriment? That's a point to discuss and argue.

Absolutely love parts of this idea. Original. Very smart. Kudos. The buildup is absolutely brilliant, but the pitch (sell my SP for Isk) is kinda meh for me; I wouldn't use it as Isk is far easier to come by than SP. The concept though still has huge potential; thinking tweaks along the lines of ...

Players unlock an implant socket every X million SP earned (say, every 20M).
Players can spend excess SP to "craft" an implant.
Implants are crafted via high-level warbarge subsystem.
Implants can be traded via simple trading like other goods.
Implants vary in grade (STD, ADV, PRO).
Implants of the same type cannot be stacked.
Implants permit users to further specialize by granting a slight, gear-specific efficacy bonus.

Implant Examples (names and numbers pulled from arse)
STD "Thumper" Implant: +2% mass driver RoF , costs 1M SP, 10 days to craft
ADV "Thumper" Implant: +4% mass driver RoF, costs 2.5M SP, 15 days to craft
PRO "Thumper" Implant: +6% mass driver RoF, costs 5M SP, 20 days to craft
STD "Eagle Eye" Implant: +5% sniper rifle zoom fidelity, costs 1M SP, 10 days to craft
ADV "Eagle Eye" Implant: +7.5% sniper rifle zoom fidelity, costs 2.5M SP, 15 days to craft
PRO "Eagle Eye" Implant: +10% sniper rifle zoom fidelity, costs 5M SP, 20 days to craft
STD "Quick Study" Implant: +3% SP earned per victory, costs 1M SP, 10 days to craft
ADV "Quick Study" Implant: +6% SP earned per victory, costs 2.5M SP, 15 days to craft
PRO "Quick Study" Implant: +9% SP earned per victory, costs 5M SP, 20 days to craft
STD "Biotic Man" Implant: +1% biotic efficacy, costs 1M SP, 10 days to craft
ADV "Biotic Man" Implant: +2.5% biotic efficacy, costs 2.5M SP, 15 days to craft
PRO "Biotic Man" Implant: +5% biotic efficacy, costs 5M SP, 20 days to craft
... and so on.

While I like the basic idea presented here, the specific details fails for 1 simple reason: Powercreep.

Just speaking my personal opinion of course.

For me SP represent individual character development by time and skill (which in Dust can be accelerated by boosters). You can not buy SP straight up from the market for AUR (for a reason), as this would be the purest definition of pay to win.

However, this proposal suggests just that.
I can create a new character -> Buy AUR -> Buy AUR gear -> Sell AUR gear for ISK -> Buy SP for ISK.
(Ok, the path is longer...but it opens up a can of worms I don't think we want to open)

Even if the SP tokens work exactly like normal Boosters (I.e allow players to manufacture Boosters) I think its a bad idea, since it would severely cut into AUR booster sales (which I think is still the most lucrative business CCP have at the moment)

District Production Link
I'm not quite sure how to flesh this one out. Holding districts should have benefits for players in your corp. Their warbarges join the greater flotilla's link with the corp's districts below and it somehow improves production time and production quality of Pirate Implants and Synergized Boosters.

Whoops...accidentally edited the wrong post.


Raiding
Successful raid during an open reinforcement window would allow your raid party members to establish a 30 minute 70% production link boost with that ground facility (district owners retain 30% production bonus during 30 minute siphon window). There is a 2hr cool down on anyone raiding that facility. Ground facility type could determine boost for various implant production on your warbarge.

Raid cuts into production time bonues for districts. Districts produce implant production resources for Dust and Eve district holders.

EVE Link?
Your Warbarge must be parked in space above the district (automatically preformed) and can be attacked by EVE capsuleers. If enough damage is sustained, warbarge goes into Bastion mode and production link is reduced to 5% (district owners retain 95% production control). Capsuleers associated to raiding parties can also be encouraged to defend linked warbarges.