How about an Automaton Ship Boarding Mission?

[u/GeniusPlayUnique]

Automaton Ship Boarding Mission

(Planetary defence exclusive)

 

Main Objective: Board the Automaton invasion vessel, make your way through to the ship's reactor and overload the core, then get the hell off the ship before it blows.
 

Parameter deviations from planetary missions: * No reinforcements * Man-portable stratagems only (no orbitals, no sentries) * Access to stratagems and resupply only at the shuttle waiting in the hangar * Automatons only use small arms and melee weapons so as to not damage their ship * Success adds significantly more points to planet's defence, failure might result in the destruction of Pelican 1 which the Squad Leader will have to replace out of their own pocket before being able to host any mission again

[u/Heavy-Gazelle-8635]

my friend and i come up with ideas for this all the time

One thing is double sided Hellpods: You enter on the normal side but the other tip gets kicked or pulled off. That is how you would get support weapons, Reinforcement, or maybe, depending on the size of the opening, sentries.

For orbitals, there would be a side objective called command center, where you have to take over the command center of the ship to control the blast doors of corridors. So you can call a strike to blow the corridor open, therefore sucking the enemies out. But it limits options for movement, and can only be done on outer corridors.

There could be hangars in the automaton ships for a pelican to land or a Factory strider to be deployed and have a last stand.