For those unfamiliar with the "The Missing": They're groups of humans who have set out into space many generations ago in "generation ships" and have been, well, missing. Stranded, crashed into suns etc.. They were hinted at around the time Horizons launched and were again name-dropped in yesterday's livestream. It sounds like a story arc Frontier wants to tell during the Horizons season (and maybe beyond?).
Here's my (exaggerated) concern, based on - possibly wrong - intuition and the current state of Elite as well as the way past story developments were handled:
Once the things have been patched into the game, someone at Frontier drops a short hint that something about "The Missing" might be discovered in space region XY with a Galnet post to go along. Everyone and their dog travels there and has to scan every USS possible until finally someone finds some generic unrecognizable debris and a scan shows that it's some part of an old ship of "The Missing". This scavenger hunt continues - a community goal to scan as much generic debris as possible seems like the weapon of choice, until somewhere out in space a wholly generic space station or surface settlement like any other is found, labeled as belonging to "The Missing". A Galnet note is issued, saying how The Missing have finally been discovered at system(s) XY and how it's bla bla... Story arc complete. Much discovery, many excitement!
Here's how I imagine "The Missing" playing out in a more involved and fulfilling manner, seeing as they sound like a bag of treats for the neglected explorers out there if handled right:
This is an appeal to Frontier: Please treat "The Missing" a bit more like the latter scenario and much less like the former. Especially where the assets are concerned.
*cute cat with big begging eyes .gif*
Here's my (exaggerated) concern, based on - possibly wrong - intuition and the current state of Elite as well as the way past story developments were handled:
Once the things have been patched into the game, someone at Frontier drops a short hint that something about "The Missing" might be discovered in space region XY with a Galnet post to go along. Everyone and their dog travels there and has to scan every USS possible until finally someone finds some generic unrecognizable debris and a scan shows that it's some part of an old ship of "The Missing". This scavenger hunt continues - a community goal to scan as much generic debris as possible seems like the weapon of choice, until somewhere out in space a wholly generic space station or surface settlement like any other is found, labeled as belonging to "The Missing". A Galnet note is issued, saying how The Missing have finally been discovered at system(s) XY and how it's bla bla... Story arc complete. Much discovery, many excitement!
Here's how I imagine "The Missing" playing out in a more involved and fulfilling manner, seeing as they sound like a bag of treats for the neglected explorers out there if handled right:
- Hints by Frontier and Galnet posts, even better: hints by NPCs/engineers for explorers starting the scavenger hunt
- Specific non-generic debris, giving further hints, e.g. finding readable/narrated flight log entries or other hints when scanned about ther whereabouts or travel route of "The Missing"
- Actual generation ships or their remains at the end of such scavenger hunts. I'm talking about unique assets here! This is such a promising concept that I feel the reuse of the generic debris we already know to be an insult to the concept. Think about the world of Trigun, where a generation ship hovers in the orbit of the planet and its people have lived on it for generations. Where the ground population scavenges the relics from the downed generation ships for technology. Think about the generation ships of Xenoblade Chronicles X or any other tale with such ships. The possibilities for unique assets are great.
- Derelict generation ship hovering in space without any human life left on it, but "Event Horizon" like log book entries upon scan => How about a Space Zombie infested enterable structure for whenever the "space legs" expansion drops? Or Space Hulk-like infestations for the 40k fans out there?
- Derelict generation ship in space with a live population on it, which has persevered over generations, scavenging the ships parts to turn it into a station, where "The Missing" NPCs can give missions, just like NPCs in other stations. Potentially unique missions, leading to unique "ingredients" for exploration related engineer upgrades!
- Downed generation ships on planet surfaces, essentially in the two variants above.
- "The Missing"-specific engineers, providing rare and powerful exploration related upgrades once explorers have gained their trust.
- The obligatory community goals to provide "The Missing" - once found that is - with protection/resources/exploration data to help them develop their settlements. E.g. adding shipyards to their stations/settlements. It would be even more impactful, if they actually sold unique ships/SRVs/moduls, which couldn't be gotten anywhere else once their settlements have developed further through such means.
This is an appeal to Frontier: Please treat "The Missing" a bit more like the latter scenario and much less like the former. Especially where the assets are concerned.
*cute cat with big begging eyes .gif*
Last edited:
