Write your own mission

[who?]

One of the biggest problems with the mission system isn't that the activities are repetitive - they're repetitive in every game - but that they seem to be randomly selected and not joined together by any kind of coherent narrative. Fetch Tea, deliver Clothing, dump biowaste is not a coherent mission, without a bit more effort put in.

So here's the challenge: create your own mission/story, using only activities that are already in the game (no tractor beams, cloaking devices, no interdicting of capital ships or destroying stations etc.)

A sample criminal mission might be (spoilered for length) :

Spoiler

[Mission offer]
Hey Cmdr, couldn't help but notice the bounty on your head as you sneaked through the slot. How about we keep that to ourselves, if you do a little favour for us. There might even be a reward in it for you. We need you to go to [station name] and find out why our... "supplies" haven't been coming through. Find the problem, and eliminate it.

[On arrival at station]
Boss sent you? Calm down, it's not us we swear! The local docker's union are getting jittery, refusing to handle any more of our "product". We need to send them a message. Take these 3 Occupied Escape Pods and lose them in [system name]. Somewhere they'll never be found. No, don't ask what's in them. You don't want to know. Take it from me, you REALLY don't wanna get scanned by the authorities. Boss will take care of the payment.

[Authority ships will try to scan and/or interdict you on way to system]

[On dumping the Escape Pods return to original system for payment]

[On return to original system, mysterious figure will interdict you]
"No hard feelings kid, but Boss doesn't like loose ends. Potential snitches are bad for business, know what I mean? "

[Destroy assassin for large bounty, or run to station]

[On arrival in station]
Easy man, easy! Boss isn't here! I told him it was a bad idea to double-cross you. He's made a run for [system name], you can still catch him if you leave now. Look, here's the cash that's coming to you. The Boss took the rest with him!

[On finding Boss in that system, Boss offers you cash to leave him go]
Options
- Kill Boss
- Accept bribe alternative, let him go.
- Accept bribe alternative, kill him anyway

 

[Windscreen Smudge]

You don't want me to do this....

 

[X-Terminator]

Mission: Bounty Hunt Player x seen presently (online) in this system.
.
I am gob-smacked the present list is not at all connected to available players Online. Seriously!
....
"Oh why can't I find this highest Player x worth 5,000,000 bounty when he's not online?"

 

[Macy]

I would love some corrupt cops to offer "bounty deletion" if i do some dodgy mission. A clean slate.

 

[Ignition]

The future in games are procedral missions, missions which can't be if do x then y will happen.

That should be the real goal I think. Its difficult? of course it is but they could provide endless (or almost) different missions.

Its really difficult to make complex missions with the actual game mechanics, because the mechanics are really simple.

 

[who?]

The future in games are procedral missions, missions which can't be if do x then y will happen.

That should be the real goal I think. Its difficult? of course it is but they could provide endless (or almost) different missions.

Its really difficult to make complex missions with the actual game mechanics, because the mechanics are really simple.

There's a limit to how procedural the missions can be. Ultimately, they have lists of activity types, locations, commodities, and a big list of character names and types; and all that's happening is a random number generator is selecting from those lists and joining them up. Hence the "Fetch Coffee from X, Deliver Personal Weapons to Y, Find Black Box and bring to Z" randomness of some multi-stage missions.

What I'm suggesting is that you still have procedural missions, but instead of just joining activities together in a sequence randomly with no narrative connecting them; you instead have a story where individual parts/parameters can be changed without breaking the narrative.

So in the example above, you could change the name of the criminal boss and their faction, it could be weapons shipments rather than drugs, politicians instead of union reps, a different number of pods, different skill level of police & assassin etc.. etc.. Ideally you'd have lots of story templates like these, but if you still did play the same mission twice, it would never be identical.

 

[Hooplah]

A mission offered exclusively to players who have accomplished certain tasks (a secret invite as the player won't know what activates the invite), has multiple missions, is almost impossible to complete (90 out of 100 will fail) and will reward the player with an ultimate one-of-a-kind ship.

 

[Hellhawk666]

There's a limit to how procedural the missions can be.

The problem is only partly with the mission generation system. The other factor that is equally important is the lack of a persistent NPC population of mission givers, because this is where procedural generation actually has value.

What this game has at the moment is the simplest type of cookie-cutter random missions. They are unconnected, each mission being just an isolated thing to do generated on the fly from a list of options. They are sterile and unengaging for this reason because they have no ultimate purpose, only the short term goal of making money or gaining rep.

A more advanced system generates missions pseudo-randomly, based on activities that have already happened and the possible activities that are still available. The type of mission chaining with consequences that you get in some RPGs is typical of this model. In its best form it is essentially a branching story generator that uses a large list of elements to generate stories that are similar, but slightly different for each player. However in a sandbox environment lacking handcrafted content this still doesn't actually give the branching missions an ultimate purpose.

The most sophisticated system then introduces a procedural framework to support the mission generator and this does provide purpose.

Because persistence is the whole point of PG you use it to generate a population of persistent mission givers, each with individual characteristics, faction affiliations, loyalties, abilities etc. You then relate these PG NPCs according to their similarities and differences to create a population of "friends" and "enemies". eg If you deal with trader Jack in Port Alpha he is likely to recommend you to his friend trader Fred in Port Beta, but might ask you to actively attack the ships of trader Mick in Port Delta, etc.

You make these characters dynamic by allowing them to be affected by success, setbacks, illness, death or other in-game events. This sets the stage for power struggles, and as the importance and power of an NPC grows or diminishes so their ability to provide good jobs or other benefits to players also changes.

On top of this base framework you use the pseudo-random mission system mentioned above to generate interesting sequences of missions, but with a purpose - the promotion of specific NPCs, and therefore also of their associated minor factions. The fortunes of the players now rise and fall in parallel with the NPCs and factions they choose to support in a constantly evolving situation.

 

[who?]

I certainly agree that persistent NPC mission-givers / contacts will add a lot to the game. In terms of making the game feel more alive, in the sense you can form affinities/loyalties, antagonism towards them, can benefit/suffer as they do etc.

I'm not sure I agree that persistence is the point of PG - surely the main point of PG is to generate huge amounts of non-repetitive content, be it star systems, star terrain, installations or - in this case - mission types and parameters? Definitely having persistent characters who you can form relationships/partnerships with adds a lot of depth, but non-persistent PG characters could have a place too. If you have the option of killing low-level PG mission givers, it gives you some sense of being able to affect the game world, even if it's only one person at one station. Plus that could be a progress point in itself - kill a low-level NPC to gain cred with a higher one.

 

[fourty6to3]

The problem is only partly with the mission generation system. The other factor that is equally important is the lack of a persistent NPC population of mission givers, because this is where procedural generation actually has value.

What this game has at the moment is the simplest type of cookie-cutter random missions. They are unconnected, each mission being just an isolated thing to do generated on the fly from a list of options. They are sterile and unengaging for this reason because they have no ultimate purpose, only the short term goal of making money or gaining rep.

A more advanced system generates missions pseudo-randomly, based on activities that have already happened and the possible activities that are still available. The type of mission chaining with consequences that you get in some RPGs is typical of this model. In its best form it is essentially a branching story generator that uses a large list of elements to generate stories that are similar, but slightly different for each player. However in a sandbox environment lacking handcrafted content this still doesn't actually give the branching missions an ultimate purpose.

The most sophisticated system then introduces a procedural framework to support the mission generator and this does provide purpose.

Because persistence is the whole point of PG you use it to generate a population of persistent mission givers, each with individual characteristics, faction affiliations, loyalties, abilities etc. You then relate these PG NPCs according to their similarities and differences to create a population of "friends" and "enemies". eg If you deal with trader Jack in Port Alpha he is likely to recommend you to his friend trader Fred in Port Beta, but might ask you to actively attack the ships of trader Mick in Port Delta, etc.

You make these characters dynamic by allowing them to be affected by success, setbacks, illness, death or other in-game events. This sets the stage for power struggles, and as the importance and power of an NPC grows or diminishes so their ability to provide good jobs or other benefits to players also changes.

On top of this base framework you use the pseudo-random mission system mentioned above to generate interesting sequences of missions, but with a purpose - the promotion of specific NPCs, and therefore also of their associated minor factions. The fortunes of the players now rise and fall in parallel with the NPCs and factions they choose to support in a constantly evolving situation.

This is precisely what I had imagined when David Braben talked about the "richness" of Elite: Dangerous during the Kickstarter days. The game doesn't necessarily lack things to do, but lacks meaningful purpose and consequence - add that to the fact that none of the game mechanics are interconnected, much less the missions, then we will continue to hear people complain about the lack of depth and content. In my opinion this should be priority numero uno for this season. Otherwise I have no reason to even exist in this "universe" if every activity remains compartmentalized ala a theme park.

 

[El Dragoon!]

{Mission Offer}
Well Well, if it inst the infamous CMDR(insert name here) , luckily for me your just the kinda guy I'm looking for,
My boss is in the market for a new... pleasure slave, but he is a very picky man and not any ordinary slave will do, you see he wants specific person, He wants you to kid nap(insert random npc's name here) in the (Insert random system here)sector, bring them back to the station alive and you will receive your reward.


{after Interdiction of Specified NPC}

Random NPC "oh god HE sent you after me didn't he? I'm not becoming a slave with out a fight"

After the fight you scope the Specified NPC's escaped pod up and you take it back to the station

{On Arrival of the Station}
ah yes, CMDR(Insert Name Here), i see you held up your end of the bargen, so here is ours, pleasure doing business with you.

 

[Blackcompany]

"Yuo've got a Rep around here, Kid."

IF Bounty Hunter: "We've got pirates in a REZ Round these parts. Not just any pirates; this a bad bunch. Kill first, takes whats left types. Figure their reputation will eventually lead to tributes and such in future, if they just convince local corps their complete psychotics first. So they're killing to make a point and we need 'em taken down."

Go to REZ. Pirates spawn.

Pirates: "Told we were psychos, did they? Thats what they call underpaid, overworked employees who havent had been paid in weeks because of...delays, huh? Well, guess they go their goods; rather kill off the workers than pay them, huh."

If the player has a small amount of smuggling in their past: "Look kid, you seem decent enough, but I bet there's a smidgeon o' larceny in there someplace. Tell you what; shipment's moving through the system right now. Last one, probably why they sent you as clean up.

"Find XYZ Ship and take it down. The safes they use, you cant blow em up. Bring us the credit caches you find; you keep the rest of the goods for your own profit. We both win and the big corp gets the message: Dont screw over your miners.

CHOICE TIME:

-Kill the pirates/workers: Get paid. Easy.

-Hunt down guarded delivery vessel: Take it down OR break the cargo hatch. Recover missing pay and loot/goods of a type matching the factions involved in the mission (in this case, rare mining minerals).

CHOICE TIME:

-Return the credits to the mining faction. Get a thank you and a rep/status/relationship bonus with the faction they belong to.

-Keep the credits. Get a lower rep with the mining faction. Possibly have them occasionally hassle or look for you while you are in their system as payback.

CHOICE TIME

If you kept the credits, AND you only broke the hatch on the patrol vessel, you can return to the corp contact and tell him of the miner's harassing you.

"You're next on their list, believe me. Unless I do something about it first."

You may convince the corp boss to pay you ANYWAY, to eliminate a mutual threat.

Something like this?

 

[Hellhawk666]

I'm not sure I agree that persistence is the point of PG - surely the main point of PG is to generate huge amounts of non-repetitive content, be it star systems, star terrain, installations or - in this case - mission types and parameters?

Well, not exactly. Generating non-repetitive content that does not need to be persistent is just a matter of random generation. PG is a super-set of random generation, because it is random generation with persistence.

eg Say you want to generate solar systems. You decide that your solar systems will always contain 3 planets, and you have 6 types of planets that you can put into them. For each system you could just roll a dice 3 times and those numbers decide what the 3 planets will be in that system, and in what order. Every time you generate a system you get a different result, although the results will sometimes recur. That's random generation.

The problem is, if you go to the same system you actually want it to always have the same planets, in the same order. So you use a system that mimics random dice throws, but tags the dice throws so that the same combination will always happen when you go to a specific system. This is procedural generation, in a nutshell, and persistence is the whole reason you use it.

So in ED the stellar forge generates the galaxy using PG, and each system is always the same no matter who goes there. You wouldn't want missions to be created using PG, or else if you and I both went to see a mission giver at a certain location at different times, we would both get the identical mission. What we want is to get similar missions from the same person or faction, but definitely not the same mission.

Making the mission givers persistent makes sense, as that means that the NPC characters, just like the star systems, have permanence. Then I know that if I want to do some trade missions for example I can go and see NPC Fred the trader who always gives good prices on gold and silver. However I want Fred's own missions to vary all the time within certain parameters, because that gives interest, tension and immersion.

The problem with the missions in ED at the moment is not that they are randomly created, but that the mission generation program is very simplistic and does not take a lot of parameters into consideration, and also that there is no system to chain missions together. What is needed for this part of the game is random generation that is a lot more ambitious and rich than at present, and which takes into account each player's history of activities and uses that to shape the type of future missions showing up for them.

The PG component is only needed if persistence of some sort is needed, as with mission givers or a constant story element that you might want to see reflected in every player's mission probabilities.

... non-persistent PG characters could have a place too. If you have the option of killing low-level PG mission givers, it gives you some sense of being able to affect the game world, even if it's only one person at one station. Plus that could be a progress point in itself - kill a low-level NPC to gain cred with a higher one.

Oh, absolutely, and that's easily accommodated by making NPCs killable (with perhaps some consequences) and allowing the game engine to then generate a new persistent NPC to fill the power vacuum, with their own characteristics that might be different to, or the same as, those of their predecessor. Evolution

 

[X-Terminator]

I got a rescue mission for 2 pods worth 450,000 so I took it. Then this Eagle turns up in SC and says he has important info for me I must hear so I follow his Low-Wake out. He tells me I have got a bad rep for taking this on and must hand in all I know to the cops in another system then run far away. He offered just 32,000 for that...so I took it and completed without any incident. Then I got a thank you for working as a "good citizen". Well I spent just 5mins waiting for my Mission Targets in SC prior this and gave in thinking it would be way too hard. A good choice no?

 

[who?]

{Mission Offer}
Well Well, if it inst the infamous CMDR(insert name here) , luckily for me your just the kinda guy I'm looking for,
My boss is in the market for a new... pleasure slave, but he is a very picky man and not any ordinary slave will do, you see he wants specific person, He wants you to kid nap(insert random npc's name here) in the (Insert random system here)sector, bring them back to the station alive and you will receive your reward.


{after Interdiction of Specified NPC}

Random NPC "oh god HE sent you after me didn't he? I'm not becoming a slave with out a fight"

After the fight you scope the Specified NPC's escaped pod up and you take it back to the station

{On Arrival of the Station}
ah yes, CMDR(Insert Name Here), i see you held up your end of the bargen, so here is ours, pleasure doing business with you.

That's a.... little bit evil. I like it.

 

[Ignition]

The missions should function of cause and effect.

"Jhony Bad Pirate" has been robbing some traders in the X system, a mission should fire to chase "Jhony Bad Pirate" where he could be anywhere.
If "Jhony Bad Pirate" is killed a mission should fire from the pirate faction to cause trouble in the X system.
If trouble is made in X system, then a mission should fire to cease that trouble.
If the trouble is ceased, a mission should fire to import wares.

Multiple missions could be running at the same time, like we have today.

The persistance will add more consistence in the game, more meaning in what you do, not only farm influence like a mad.

Also, the mission script shouldn't be so simple, all the missions work the same each time. Kill pirates in x system and then you do as normal hunting pirates on a RES like a mad. Or Kill "The man" in x system, when you arrive wait and interdict him or find him in a USS, where is the challenge, you're not searching for him you're just waiting for a respawn.

 

[El Dragoon!]

FD take note of this post, please

 

[magillag]

Fetch Tea, deliver Clothing, dump biowaste


I wen't to Lave to get some tea for Edith queen of HIP 2134. On my way back I thought I'd try some. Because I'm not of the Galacticon race I got diarrhea from the tea. So I had to stop and get some new clothes. They only sell clothes in 1t increments, so I took some new Undies and delivered the rest. I dumped the Biowaste (aka dirty Undies) in space.

We should thank FD for letting us fill in the blanks!

 

[Faded Glory]

Drop into a Distress Call... Save NPC from a wing or two of pirates. Grateful NPC mentions that their wing mate was damaged, and crashed onto nearby planet.

Go to planet and find POI with wing mate's escape pod. Scanning pod asks that you return it to a particular station for reward. Return pod, collect reward, and additionally as well as thanks you are offered a mission to take out the pirate lord (who leads the pirates that shot down rescued pilot) in particular system.

Find pirate lord and destroy them. Return for your reward.

All these missions exist, it's just a matter of linking them, although in an ideal world, these missions will be developed so that the 'search' is less random than it currently is, for example, finding the pirate lord at an abandoned space station, not in a USS.

 

[who?]

Fetch Tea, deliver Clothing, dump biowaste


I wen't to Lave to get some tea for Edith queen of HIP 2134. On my way back I thought I'd try some. Because I'm not of the Galacticon race I got diarrhea from the tea. So I had to stop and get some new clothes. They only sell clothes in 1t increments, so I took some new Undies and delivered the rest. I dumped the Biowaste (aka dirty Undies) in space.

We should thank FD for letting us fill in the blanks!

Hah! I was going to award you "brownie" points, but somehow that just seems a bit TOO appropriate...