Long-range comm

Interstellar communications are typically handled over the long-range comm, a type of communication that has much in common with email and instant-messaging. A character need not be at any particular 'console' to use the long-range comm (except for when Captains and Admirals communicate with neighbouring starships and facilities - see below); they only have to click on the 'mailbox' icon in their user-interface. However, there are some restrictions on the long-range comm's use (see below).

Options
When a player clicks on their long-range comm button, they are presented with two options:
 * Compose message
 * Request chat

Compose message
Composing a message is just like writing an email, and recipients can be chosen from the player's friends list. Replies (and forwards?) are handled exactly the same way as regular email.

Request Chat
The player can instead choose 'request chat', and then select an (online) individual from their friends list who is not aboard the same starship, planet, or facility. The friend will get a 'long-range comm request' pop-up, and if they choose to accept, a chat window opens up, showing the snapshot of the player who called them (the calling player will see the snapshot of the person he/she called, if they answer). The players may then chat in real time, in private.

Captains
In addition to the above, Captains may request to chat with the Captains of starships (or Chiefs of facilites) of any faction in the same star system. This can be done from the bridge only - in this type of communication, the chat text and the other Captain/Chief's snapshot appear on the bridge's main forward viewer, to be seen by all the bridge crew - i.e., it is not a private discussion.

Admirals
In addition to the above, Admirals may request a private, long-range chat with any starship Captain in their faction, regardless of location (this is done from the galactic map screen; the Admiral right-clicks on a starship on the map, and selects 'request long-range chat').

Audio
It would be desirable, maybe even a necessity, to enable voice chat (between friends) over the long-range comm. The question of the (un)desirability of being bombarded by another player's voice isn't even an issue with a long-range comm chat, since it is a one-on-one conversation between two players who have agreed to engage in it, and who may leave the chat at any time (except in the case of the bridge crew hearing the captain's comms... maybe it's a bad idea).

Restrictions
Galaxy-spanning communications like these are expensive, and not typically in the hands of civilians. As such, players must be aboard/inside a starship or facility of their faction to use the long-range comm. Characters who are not in one of these places (they could be aboard a lifeboat, in the wilderness, or taken prisoner, for example) are out-of-contact. They can still read old messages, but they cannot send or receive any communications by this method. Additionally, players may not use the long-range comm to speak with other players aboard the same starship, within the same facility, or on the same planet - communicators and spatial chat are used for this kind of communication.

It is important to note that civilians, when aboard a faction-aligned starship or facility, may only engage in long-range communications with friends within that faction (the faction's comm systems do not allow messages to be sent to or received from enemy factions).