My thoughts are that implementing some form of semi-persistence, along with improved exploration tools, could help gameplay enormously. Imagine this scenario:
CMDR Maximo Horne arrives back in the 'Damsel-Distress' system that he visited and fully explored some time back. After scooping a little fuel Maximo hears the distinct bweep-bweep of a distress beacon. The signal is too weak for his d-class scanner to narrow down to a location [an a-class, engineered, scanner might have located the source immediately], so he targets the nearest planet and heads there to conduct a detailed scan. As he does so the bweeping becomes fainter and less frequent. Slowing to review which planets he is now flying away from, our dynamic commander, flips his course and heads towards a now louder and ever more frequent bweeping.
Getting closer to 'rock' B, the scanner finally highlights B-2 as the source of the beacon. Locking on he deploys the DSS and surveys the moon. A number of POIs appear on the navigation panel [semi-permanent for the duration of his stay in the 'DD' system], one is marked as 'beacon'. Arriving at the site our intrepid CMDR finds a crashed, but repairable ship. The NPC, 'Ivana Humpalot' implores our dynamic hero to source a number of materials and some fuel, promising a rich reward for his time and effort. Horne, who has only recently watched 'Kingsmen - The Secret Service', feels an unholy urge to ride like a knight of old to the rescue of this poor damsel, with her flowing locks of... <well, you get the picture...>... ...and he sets a temporary navigation marker for her location, titled, 'Ivana DD'.
'Smoke me a kipper doll-face, I'll be back for breakfast!' says the dashingly handsome Horne, as he sets the nose of his ship up, up into the sky and boosts, crackling away.... <...some stuff happens, requiring Maximo to visit a number of different systems>...
Upon re-entering the 'DD' system, Horne reselects the semi-permanent navigation marker he set for Ivana, and is soon nestled next to her ship, watching as the drones deliver the necessary materials and fuel. Maximo could have used his SRV to deliver all the fuel and materials, but that would have required making a few trips, and he wants to preserve his 'vital energies'... ...nudge nudge, wink wink, fnah fnah...
Ivana is delighted at her rescue and provides Maximo with a bare handful of credits, before her ship bursts into life and crackles off into the inky black of deep space. Frowning, and feeling a tad deflated, Maximo looks at his navigation panel [or messages or mission-list or galaxy map] to find three new navigation markers [wholly unique to Maximo], that lie scattered about amongst the nearby systems - some in space, some on rocks. Each of which in turn will bring riches, and more importantly one contains a further three such markers, each of which contains yet another mission for the as yet secret organisation that Ivana represents.
What will happen next for Maximo? Will he ever meet his beloved Ivana again? What is this secret organisation and who, or perhaps what, do they represent? Will Maximo ever see 'Kingsmen - The Golden Circle'? Will CMDR PiLhEaD ever dry-up?
All these, and much much more, will be left unanswered in my next post.
I'm not saying this stuff is easy, but without some form of semi-persistence, I don't see this type of gameplay happening, and as things stand, you can't even leave a system to equip to refuel a 'dry' NPC - not that I've seen this 'dynamic' mission type for an age.
CMDR Maximo Horne arrives back in the 'Damsel-Distress' system that he visited and fully explored some time back. After scooping a little fuel Maximo hears the distinct bweep-bweep of a distress beacon. The signal is too weak for his d-class scanner to narrow down to a location [an a-class, engineered, scanner might have located the source immediately], so he targets the nearest planet and heads there to conduct a detailed scan. As he does so the bweeping becomes fainter and less frequent. Slowing to review which planets he is now flying away from, our dynamic commander, flips his course and heads towards a now louder and ever more frequent bweeping.
Getting closer to 'rock' B, the scanner finally highlights B-2 as the source of the beacon. Locking on he deploys the DSS and surveys the moon. A number of POIs appear on the navigation panel [semi-permanent for the duration of his stay in the 'DD' system], one is marked as 'beacon'. Arriving at the site our intrepid CMDR finds a crashed, but repairable ship. The NPC, 'Ivana Humpalot' implores our dynamic hero to source a number of materials and some fuel, promising a rich reward for his time and effort. Horne, who has only recently watched 'Kingsmen - The Secret Service', feels an unholy urge to ride like a knight of old to the rescue of this poor damsel, with her flowing locks of... <well, you get the picture...>... ...and he sets a temporary navigation marker for her location, titled, 'Ivana DD'.
'Smoke me a kipper doll-face, I'll be back for breakfast!' says the dashingly handsome Horne, as he sets the nose of his ship up, up into the sky and boosts, crackling away.... <...some stuff happens, requiring Maximo to visit a number of different systems>...
Upon re-entering the 'DD' system, Horne reselects the semi-permanent navigation marker he set for Ivana, and is soon nestled next to her ship, watching as the drones deliver the necessary materials and fuel. Maximo could have used his SRV to deliver all the fuel and materials, but that would have required making a few trips, and he wants to preserve his 'vital energies'... ...nudge nudge, wink wink, fnah fnah...
Ivana is delighted at her rescue and provides Maximo with a bare handful of credits, before her ship bursts into life and crackles off into the inky black of deep space. Frowning, and feeling a tad deflated, Maximo looks at his navigation panel [or messages or mission-list or galaxy map] to find three new navigation markers [wholly unique to Maximo], that lie scattered about amongst the nearby systems - some in space, some on rocks. Each of which in turn will bring riches, and more importantly one contains a further three such markers, each of which contains yet another mission for the as yet secret organisation that Ivana represents.
What will happen next for Maximo? Will he ever meet his beloved Ivana again? What is this secret organisation and who, or perhaps what, do they represent? Will Maximo ever see 'Kingsmen - The Golden Circle'? Will CMDR PiLhEaD ever dry-up?
All these, and much much more, will be left unanswered in my next post.
I'm not saying this stuff is easy, but without some form of semi-persistence, I don't see this type of gameplay happening, and as things stand, you can't even leave a system to equip to refuel a 'dry' NPC - not that I've seen this 'dynamic' mission type for an age.
