Mission Ideas: Find the missing Researcher

[DEFkon]

I really like the settlements and found myself wishing there was more reasons to spend time at them vs the Starports so I started thinking of mission ideas that would be offered at the settlement mission boards or even by the settlement's admin / leader that didn't require long distance travel. Here's one.

Find the missing researcher.

"Hello Commander. A few hours ago one of our scientists left to collect < Soil, Ice, Bio, > samples, and we've lost contact with him. I'm hoping you can help us find him before it's too late. He was in an SRV so you should be able to follow it's tracks if you fly low enough. I'll send you his last known position. If the SRV ran into mechanical problems you might have to try and track his foot prints. He should have been wearing a personal locator, but it's range is very limited 200 meters at best. Please, Commander time is running out."

This mission helps showcase the planetary tech, and gives players a reason to zoom along the ground at high speeds ( something they already like doing ). Trying to follow tracks at night with NV or flashlights increases the difficulty quite a bit.. If the planetary tech ever gives us low visibility situations ( dust storms, snow storms, ash fall from active volcanos etc ) then these missions could get pretty intense.

 

[Lugh]

But no one would ever do them and there would still be no reason to go to settlements because the payout wouldn't be there.

 

[DEFkon]

But no one would ever do them and there would still be no reason to go to settlements because the payout wouldn't be there.

I'm hoping to see the settlement's be updated so that they have NPC's that offer missions similar to stations eventually. Specifically missions local to that moon, or the area around the base. During the early phase of the alpha many players were complaining about travel times. This is just a reality to the distances involved even with futuristic tech. I feel the answer is in working out missions that DO NOT involve putting the player in a position where there is significant down time where they have nothing to do.

When your typical mission process goes like this, it's good sign that it should be reworked.

Accept mission -> Get in ship -> Depart -> Point ship at destination -> Wait -> Wait -> Wait -> Wait -> Wait -> Wait -> Wait -> Wait -> Wait -> Wait -> Wait -> Wait -> Wait -> Wait -> Wait -> Wait -> Arrive -> Do the Thing -> Point ship at mission giver - > Wait -> Wait -> Wait -> Wait -> Wait -> Wait -> Wait -> Wait -> Wait -> Wait -> Wait -> Wait -> Wait -> Wait -> Wait -> Wait -> Arrive -> Land - > Collect reward.

That's just bad mission design, and thankfully it's not that hard to fix.

First easy fix is to remove the need to return to the mission giver to get paid for cash, respect or influence. For Cargo or Mats, this would still require a return, but we could also offer a "tip off" or "treasure map" as a reward alternative that wouldn't require the full return journey.. something like this:

"Thanks for the quick work Commander, I thought you might be interested to know that a ship rumored to be carrying a big haul of Low Temperature Diamonds seems to have run into some trouble not far from your current location. Maybe you might want to help them out.. or help yourself. I'll leave that part up to you. o7"

This way they player doesn't have to return to a mission giver directly and the "treasure" can be spawned locally, and likely involves "doing things". This essentially lets you replace non engaging travel, with more engaging activities.


Another good example of reworking a current mission would be the "Reactive the power at this Settlement" mission. How about this instead.

Accept mission - > Get in Ship - Depart - Head to destination -> Travel -> Arrive at destination -> Land -> Restore Power -> Collect reward from the settlement's newly working Kiosk.

Additional follow on missions relevant to the base could be offered at that kiosk. Example:

"Thank you Commander you should see the pay in your account immediately, but if you have the time it looks like the < technobable > didn't come back online with the rest of the settlement. If you can get it up and running there's a bonus in it for you.

Player goes to the broken tech, and finds a data pad with an old diary entry complaining about how the settlement is jury rigged and he'll need to grab various items from the lockers on the station then cut open Panel A, jury rig with part 1, cut open Panel B, jury rig with part 2, cut open Panel C over load the power conduit and then add power to Panel A again. ( The parts, panels and process could be randomized to keep things interesting )

Anyhow the idea was to use mission design to reduce or eliminate the snooze time often part of lengthy travels, or at the very least make the travel itself highly engaging. ( Ie, having to manually follow tracks or do some detective work, etc instead of turning on supercruise assist and watching netflix.

 

[Lugh]

even if it was made like regular missions. regular missions don't pay out well enough to be worth doing. Elite isn't exactly know for its well balanced income streams or well... any forms of its progression.

 

[JTFireblaze]

even if it was made like regular missions. regular missions don't pay out well enough to be worth doing. Elite isn't exactly know for its well balanced income streams or well... any forms of its progression.

Credit balancing has already happened with mining and combat. I don't see any reason why it can't be done to missions too. Plus there are other rewards especially since this is likely an Odyssey exclusive mission, like suit engineering mats, to make the mission worth doing.

Any new and engaging mission type is a +1 from me.

 

[Lugh]

Credit balancing has already happened with mining and combat

Yeah... ballancing happend.

Mining

Fdev made oopsy players found out how to exploit
Fdev remove oopsy players get upset
Fdev cave and put the oopsy back with a small tweak.

Combat

Fdev made an oopsy and decide not to bother fixing it. and is still only a viable competitor with mining, trading, and a certan passanger mission if you are in a wing of at least 3 or a competent wing of 2