Story beats are WAY to easy to miss. I just did a blind playthrough of days 1-8 and I only saw the normal spooky stuff. I think a better solution would be to have story stuff happen in multiple locations around the map and delete the duplicate events once the player sees one instance of them.
As for your other point, honestly, I disagree. I think there should be MORE stuff outside the base and MORE minigames forcing the player out. The whole point of money is to spend it on either cleaning supplies/vanity, immediate necessary resources, preventative items (like fuses) or upgrades / upgrade modules. If you don't want to run around the map, buy upgrades to prevent stuff needing so much upkeep. This will give you ample time to pursue more stuff at the base.
Like a server upgrade is only 25$.
There are 24 satellites in total, 8 outer ones, 4 mid ones, 12 near ones.
You can upgrade each server 3 times.
For max satellite stability, its only 1800$
But you can heavily reduce the running around early game with just 300$
Outer 8, two upgrades each, that's 400$ Mid one upgrade each is 100$
So for 500$ you cut down your overhead running around by an insane amount!
With all the trash you sell that's practically nothing early game.
transmission upgrades cost 125$ and there are six slots for each. SO FUCKING USEFUL! Either split the diff on all of them or get comfortable running back and forth between one or two.
I honestly spend the majority of my money on these upgrades!