(THIS IS NOT A TRUE SUGGESTION, but feedback. I have no idea where I can write feedback in order for the devs to hear this, so I'm writing it here.)
Juno New Origins is a game whose sole entire purpose is making cool creations with its amazing building system (as well as catapulting yourself into space). But for some reason, we have milestones for both walking and swimming. Now I don't know about you, but I play Juno for the awesome tools and simulation to make and drive vehicles. Then why would I go out from those very same vehicles to walk (very slowly, compared to what vehicles are capable of, to an often walking-pace scenery) or swim (very slowly, to a generally static scenery of an endless horizon and ebbing waves)
Now, I do appreciate droods. They're handy at times, and are great for handling space station shenanigans, as well as making sure your landers are oriented correctly. But we don't have a very good reason to have a thousands-of-KM milestone for walking or swimming. It's not fun gameplay. You are only going to get this milestone if you grind for it, that means sitting there in fast forward running (or Spiderman tethering) and leaving the game run overnight.
Of course, it is not inherently bad to have a walking or swimming milestone. But the problem arises due to walking or swimming just not being an area that the game focuses on. Walking (and by an extension, to a degree, Droods) have no raison d'etre.
The problem isn't necessarily that the scenery is bland! It's just that anything you can do with walking, you can do it better with a cool vehicle that you designed.
There are 2 types of gameplay microcosms that exist within JNO:
First, we have the >>>MEGA<<< scale exploration gameplay. This is orbital, this is interplanetary, this all things related to space, and this is very well-polished aspect of the game because it is the main focus of the game. This niche is dominated by rockets, (which despite moving thousands of meters a second, seemingly moves very slowly. But that's okay, because the scenery is a sight to behold, with very interesting gameplay mechanics that are only unique to this environment. Also, don't forget there's TIME WARP, this is something that the other game mode doesn't have). It is also the game microcosm that is most exciting and moves the fastest.
Second, we have the >>KILO<< scale exploration gameplay. This is your plane, your subs, your cars and boats. This is for the earthly (or drooly?), planetary surface, and sightseeing enthusiasts. This is markedly different from the mega-scale gameplay, in the way that you don't have time warp, as well as how slowly the scenery changes. But it is still exciting because the ground moves fast, and the engineering and in-game challenges that arises from this microcosm provides a lot of unique challenges, so you're still doing a lot of cool things here.
Now, where do droods fall in this? Neither. They are supplementary to the vehicle, and not the other way around from a gameplay perspective. A drood cannot do the functions of a rocket on the MEGA scale, and for anything that can be done on the KILO scale with a drood, a vehicle can do it better (faster and more interestingly too). The only time you would go out to actually do something with a drood is to fix a toppled vehicle, and then you go back right into the vehicle. So this leaves Droods with no niche and little gameplay options (not enough to warrant a walking or swimming milestone at least).
So? How to fix? This depends on whether or not the Jundroo team would like to expand on Droods, or whether or not they want it to stay focused on aerospace-engineering-gameplay.
If Jundroo decides to improve on Droods, then it has to be something that must be beyond the two gameplay microcosms that I talked about earlier, because it's impossible for Droods to outperform vehicles on the current two game niches. It must be truly drood focused.
Here are a few ideas:
First, A scenic route for drood improvement, that could allow a Drood's ability to shine is by having very complex terrain. Sure you can try to design a vehicle to be all-terrain and super adaptable. But it would be easier to just walk there. How can this be achieved? Rivers, mountains trees, caves, rocks, slopes, cities, chaotic winds, ocean currents, etc. You could make certain environments hostile to vehicular activities by making it complex. Then, the best way to get there is via drood exploration. Of course you need reasons to go there in the first place... (this is a fix for the walking and swimming milestones)
Second, the managerial route for drood gameplay improvement. This exists in its most basic form with hiring astronauts, but this is not actually interesting. With career, you can have crew contracts now, but it's still basically cargo missions from the POV and gameplay of vehicles. Then how? I was thinking that, since Droods are sapient beings that are not vehicles, then why compete with vehicles at all? Drood management can be a gameplay in itself. An example of this is what if Droods can create a colony in cylero or create a space habitat? Vehicles can't do what a colony can do (create infrastructure, extract resources), and within a space habitat, you could also make it be a mobile rocket platform. You could also be able to have Droods able to repair vehicles if given the right materials (space walks need to serve a purpose in the end) In other words, managing Droods can become a new niche that can further serve vehicular endeavors, but unique in that only Droods or managing Droods can do it.
Of course these are one of few ideas. You can make managing more game-y. I understand that JNO is a space vehicle game. But Droods doesn't necessarily need to be an afterthought in the game.
Anyways, I've been writing for an hour, that's all for now.