A not entirely theoretical mission situation

Sapyx

Sapyx
So, I was cruising about with 63 tonnes of power generators in the hold, hoping to dump them at a port where I cared about the BGS. I find a suitable place and land there, and (as I always do when carrying non-mission cargo) check the bulletin board first, to see if there happened to be any missions that demanded the cargo I happened to be flying with.

As it turned out, there was. A mission from the controlling faction, requesting me to procure precisely 63 tonnes of power converters.

Now, if I were purely after credits, I'd obviously take the mission (which I ended up doing). But I was curious: in this scenario, would I actually get more INF+ points for the controlling faction by simply selling the cargo straight to the market, rather than accepting the misison and handing the cargo over there? I'm assuming the answer is "no, a mission transaction always gives more INF+ than a basic trade transaction", but just wanted to double-check.

Some minor notes:
  • The mission did not offer an influence boost; all options for accepting the mission were INF++.
  • I had no other cargo for sale, so if I accepted the mission, I would not get any extra INF+ from selling any cargo.
 

Ian Doncaster

Ian Doncaster
My impression from the livestream is that this will depend on:
- how much you bought the power generators for
- how much you could have sold the power generators for to the market
- how much trade had already taken place in the system for that faction on that tick
- how many missions had already been done for that faction on that tick
- possibly on what BGS states were active
 

Sapyx

Sapyx
  • Would have made about 710 cr/t profit.
  • It's a very quiet system (the system still has half a dozen Unmapped planets in it, so is not a popular destination); there is just one other ship besides mine (a Type 6) on the arrivals list today.
  • I had done no other trading or missions in the system today.
  • The faction in question is not in any BGS state. They have just won an Election. None of the other factions in the system are in any state either.
 

Jane Turner

Volunteer Moderator
Jane Turner
What Ian said, but with a little more detail - if nothing else happened, the trade would have been worth about twice as much as the mission, but if it were your second trading run with the same cargo, then it wouldn't matter. If it were a 3rd trade then mission wins
 

FrogsFriend

FrogsFriend
If the mission completion gives an 'X tonnes of commodities' option its possible to get an extra effect by taking and selling the cargo. If you're completing at the mission-source station then you can sell for a loss, negatively affecting the station owner. If you're completing at a remote mission-destination you may be able to sell for a profit and get a positive effect. Of course it's highly dependant on the particular mission, station type & ownership and goods offered but occasionally works out in your favour.
 

Sapyx

Sapyx
Jane Turner said:
What Ian said, but with a little more detail - if nothing else happened, the trade would have been worth about twice as much as the mission, but if it were your second trading run with the same cargo, then it wouldn't matter. If it were a 3rd trade then mission wins
Click to expand...
Jane Turner said:
MIssions are terribly underpowered just now, I pity anyone starting a new faction off with any opposition at all
Click to expand...

Indeed; my automatic mindset dating from ye olden times is still "missions are better than trade". TIme to unlearn what I have learned.

FrogsFriend said:
If the mission completion gives an 'X tonnes of commodities' option its possible to get an extra effect by taking and selling the cargo. If you're completing at the mission-source station then you can sell for a loss, negatively affecting the station owner. If you're completing at a remote mission-destination you may be able to sell for a profit and get a positive effect. Of course it's highly dependant on the particular mission, station type & ownership and goods offered but occasionally works out in your favour.
Click to expand...

Ha ha! It's never occurred to me that cargo rewards could be used to give an extra BGS nudge. Ever since completing Qwent's modular terminals quest, I've always just ignored the wretched things. I'l have to remember to pay more attention there.
 

Jmanis

Jmanis
Jane Turner said:
MIssions are terribly underpowered just now, I pity anyone starting a new faction off with any opposition at all
Click to expand...
Unfortunately (for me), it's the most interesting way to play the BGS. A typical day for me involves stacking up a bunch of:
  • Assassination
  • Salvage
  • Surface Scan (Fixed installation)
  • Powerplant Destruction
  • (done separately) Hijack missions
  • The occasional massacre mission
  • Disable Megaship turrets.

... then just jumping out and knocking them over, jump by jump, target by target. It's good fun and keeps the gameplay varied and interesting. I'll occasionally branch out to source/courier/delivery missions, if relevant and there's enough commonality between source and destination.

Contrast against basic commodity trading/grinding bounties/handing in bits and pieces of exploration data over time... that stuff makes me gouge my eyeballs out. I know I don't play optimally, but I play enjoyably.
 

Riverside

Riverside
Jmanis said:
Unfortunately (for me), it's the most interesting way to play the BGS. A typical day for me involves stacking up a bunch of:
  • Assassination
  • Salvage
  • Surface Scan (Fixed installation)
  • Powerplant Destruction
  • (done separately) Hijack missions
  • The occasional massacre mission
  • Disable Megaship turrets.
... then just jumping out and knocking them over, jump by jump, target by target. It's good fun and keeps the gameplay varied and interesting. I'll occasionally branch out to source/courier/delivery missions, if relevant and there's enough commonality between source and destination.

Contrast against basic commodity trading/grinding bounties/handing in bits and pieces of exploration data over time... that stuff makes me gouge my eyeballs out. I know I don't play optimally, but I play enjoyably.
Click to expand...

I try to do a bit of everything. Missions give me somewhere to go, and mission spawn pirates to kill. On the return journey I'll always try to find something to bring back to sell on the market, and while I'm out running the missions I collect exploration data.

I learn only through my own experience and never record anything (other than a few screenshots), I don't use external tools either so my method is hardly an exact science, but I tend to support the little guy at the bottom of the faction list where a single player can still make a difference, and I just do what I can with the options available to me to help the faction(s) I want to help. I find missions to be pretty handy, they are my go-to tool in most situations.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom