Requirement locked unique ships

[[VR] Mad Mike]

We have a LOT of available ships in the game that require nothing but credits to obtain, this suggestion will cover a more engaging approach for players to partake in activities. not only adding new ships, but adding new ways to obtain them.

The idea is to have ships added to the game that are locked, and not in a repetitive grindy way like the naval ranks. these ships will be specialised in the fields that the player will have to undertake to unlock them. giving an adequate reward for the player's preferred play style as well as a symbol of prestige beyond the standard ranking system.

here are some examples;

-Exploration, one has to travel to Beagle point to qualify and reach Elite Explorer rank, reward is an advanced exploration ship that exceeds all current models either as a prototype (like a ASPX+ or Super Phantom) or an entirely unique vessel (like a large ship built from ground up for exploration, poorly armed but has a Jump range and fuel tank advantage over the Anaconda)

-AX combat, Player must obtain a collective of 200M in AX combat bonds and be at Elite combat rank, The reward is a ship tailored for AX combat (and not in the Lakon type-10 derp AX build kind of way) a Large ship with no size 4 harpoints, instead trading for highly compact convergence of size 3 and 2 slots (for ultra accurate heart snipes), great shields, amazing armour and high speed and handling at the cost of having less overall Damage potential for exterior uses.

-Mining, Player must mine X amount of materials and have Elite trade rank, reward is a highly agile large ship with a large variety of small and medium hardpoints and module space (for large numbers of limpets) and a substantial cargo space. at the cost of very poor defence. it will be able to reach asteriods quickly for it's size and mine them with astonishing speed. differing from the Cutter (which could be considered simular for this use) this ship will be able to counter momentum with ease.

-Trade, Player must of obtained X profit from trade and have Elite trade rank, reward is basically the Panther Clipper (supermassive payload for size)

-Basic Combat, Player must obtain a collective of X amount of Combat Bonds/ Bounties and be at Elite combat rank, expect a top of the line next gen prototype of one of the current best combat ships (like a FDL/ Super Mamba (either could inherit the other's speed/agility resulting in super fast FDL, or agile mamba ) or otherwise some other exceptional combat ship.

You get the idea, just highly specialised ships available at the 'end of the rainbow' for the best of the best players in their feild.

Take care!

CMDR Jaylem

there are so many ways this could be done... some great, some not so great. I think it would have to be a plausible in game thing.... whilst in theory the details would have to be ironed out and i do not agree with all your ideas i definitely agree in principle so long as it was not gated to just multiplayer stuff - which sadly is the way FD are taking Elite, so there is that .................... but i do agree that we could have ships that need more than just money - and possibly not just military ranking which could give us more long term gameplay goals.

btw i expect a lot of resistance to this idea

In the past i suggested we should have a pilots licence starting off as E rated - which would be only say, Sidewinder / hauler / eagle and then going up to A rated for the most expensive ships in the game.... some people liked it but many people argued locking content behind forced gameplay in what is meant to be a sandbox is bad design. i disagree buut here you go.

i will expand a bit. actual ships for specific content i do think is going a bit far esp for objective improved ships, which is why i suggested a pilots licence (which would naturally improve over time - tho players who like to use ships as disposible items would make this difficult..

but still in game skins, bodykits and what not i think would largely scratch the same itch without any power creep of giving better ships

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

You know what I would like? Missions.
Not the current kind of missions, available in a station, to do something and have a certain reward.
I'm talking Missions, quests, adventures. Something long and multi-leveled, with no poopooty side quests on the way. Like opening a book and reading the whole story missions.
Certain systems, or situations could offer specific quests, and there you would go, alone or with wing or squadron, to face-off against some Thargoid mothership that is invading a colony, or a rogue Guardian ship that suddenly heads for Sol system, or a certain guy that stole important data and is fleeing to beagle point.
Content, recorded voices, enigmas, challenges, but NO GRINDING!

so i have no issue with what others call grinding, so long as it is done well (and i do not think the "grinding" is done well at the moment, but it is improving at least.... but all the rest i agree with. Some say it is not possible to do this procedurally but as a non programmer...... (so probably wrong ) conceptually i do not see why not. essentially it would just need a few hundred very mini scripts with various possible branches added in which fire off from time to time - like the chain mission but more indepth.

these could be fed into the game over a period of time so that over time we get more and more of them.

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

No.
Ships as a grind reward is a bad idea from the start. Ships should be bought. If it's a problem of being too easy to make money, then lower mission, star and bounty rewards.
What I agree with, is vanity items for reaching specific goals. Paintjobs, logos, and the like.

i agree with you in principle however cutting the earnings ship has long sailed imo. there are already mega billionaires out there, and to cut pay now would lead to an outcry from players saying it is not fair. it is one of the reasons why i hope in 2020 we get a complete reboot and all start from scratch. but with a far more robust economy and BGS with FD actually controlling it and killing off exploits as well as confiscating ill gotten gains.

(any skins and that would have to be transferred over to an ED 2.0 however i imagine but that should not be any biggie).

 

[Firebeard]

I like the idea but anything that is "requirement driven" will become a grind.

I'd like special missions to require certain "specialist modules" that effectively the mission giver says "ah you may as well keep them" - kind of like how yaw boosters were a quest reward in elite gold.

 

[GlitchedVision0101]

No.
Ships as a grind reward is a bad idea from the start. Ships should be bought. If it's a problem of being too easy to make money, then lower mission, star and bounty rewards.
What I agree with, is vanity items for reaching specific goals. Paintjobs, logos, and the like.

That would work nicely if missions/bounties were actually the primary source of credits in the current version of the game. A person can simply run a couple data drops to get a hauler and outfit it for mining to hit void opals, only need 1t and there's your first million in the bank. it only grows exponentially from there.

on second thought, may take a bit longer or be harder to do, but you could just throw the smallest refinery you can buy on a sidewinder and one of those small deep core missiles and there you go. not effective in the slightest, but not expensive either. instant millionaire.

 

[Bloodsign]

Bottom line: more ships = more good!

(We can debate the unlock part.)

 

[Crimson Echo]

Something like this could be cool, but it would depend on how it was implemented. Combat based ship balance could be an issue. Exploration or trade ships could be cool. People don't seem to like the grind for the corvette and cutter currently. With "road to riches" and void opals both exploration and trade elite can be done in a weekend so having a lock based on these would be meaningless.

Maybe if the ships were more unique than better than existing ships this could work. Like unlocking an old Cobra MK III with the old hardpoint set up etc and an antique looking interior would be cool.

The gating may need rank, minor faction allied, and series of "skill/story missions" to unlock the ship.

 

[Stabby_Dave]

FD should only listen to the pvp community. It is the only part of the community that has enough knowledge to discern right ideas from stupid creep in order to keep balance and fun in this game.

Possibly the most stupidly arrogant comment I've ever come across on these forums. Ridiculous.

 

[Jermanicus]

Another 'no' here.
Why would I want to (as an example) travel all the way to Beagle Point in order to get a ship that's optimized for traveling to Beagle Point? I have no use for it at that point. To me, the whole logic is backwards.

That was my exact first thought on reading the OP's post.

I did the grind up to Elite in trade, with a maxed out Type 9 then Type 10; soon as I reached Elite I sold them - the reward of an even bigger trade ship would have been pretty useless tbh.

I do think there's a lot of folk wanting instant results with zero grind. I think the balance is fine as it is, especially given the recent changes to mining etc.

 

[Velixar]

Possibly the most stupidly arrogant comment I've ever come across on these forums. Ridiculous.

I have to agree Stabby Dave. He even worse on Power Play Open Only tread

 

[varonica]

You get the idea, just highly specialised ships available at the 'end of the rainbow' for the best of the best players in their feild.

Take care!

CMDR Jaylem

FDev started to go down this route with restricted slots, we all know how well that worked out.

Essentially in game we start out with general purpose hulls and fit them out for various roles, specific module types fit this scenario of yours now. Granted some hulls are better suited to certain tasks even then, combat versus exploration versus trade, but we have Guardian FSD booster for explorers, AX weapons for anti-Thargoid fighters, shield boosters and etc for ordinary combat players. I think we could go further down this module route rather than specialist ships. For instance a dedicated survey scout for explorers, different SRV's for different purposes, maybe a mining one and a research one, each ship ends up being unique in its own right.

You might be required to fulfil certain tasks to be given access to advanced exploration scanners and survey scouts, I think that would be the route to follow.