Ability to take any mission at any time/ship/configuration

[space voyager]

This is tied to seeing a nice mission, changing the ship to meet the requirements, going back to the board and finding the mission gone. Though such cases gave the idea, it is not just this to warrant such a change.

I'd like to be able to take any available mission at any time, whether I'm able to fulfill it or not. Passenger mission could have a start mission timer and delivery missions could let you take the cargo in multiple batches. Etc.

 

[True Phoenix]

This is tied to seeing a nice mission, changing the ship to meet the requirements, going back to the board and finding the mission gone. Though such cases gave the idea, it is not just this to warrant such a change.

I'd like to be able to take any available mission at any time, whether I'm able to fulfill it or not. Passenger mission could have a start mission timer and delivery missions could let you take the cargo in multiple batches. Etc.

I always start with the biggest ship. That way you can take a 180 tonne hauler mission and drop down to a pre-prepared Python.....

It's the "too large" ones that are the pain, I agree, they often disappear after a ship switch.

 

[space voyager]

Exactly. I have the ship, RUSH, CHANGE, EQUIP... and it's gone...

 

[cmdr milesred]

its all about being prepared
when you are doing what you are talking about, start with the right ship, a 264t cargo python.

when I go looking for doing either passengers or cargo, I have 2 ships with me ready to go, I first use the python and check the missions board.
then if nothing is there, I switch to the passenger ship and check the passenger mission board..

if I'm at a large pad station, if not, then I use either 2 pythons, or a python(cargo) and an Aspx(Passengers)...
Passengers are never delivered to outposts, so the last part here is just for getting them missions.
there is no cargo mission that a cargo python cannot accept and there is no passenger mission that a conda cannot accept and very few that a passenger python cannot accept

 

[thunktone]

I wanted this recently for a different reason. I was at a remote asteroid base and saw a passenger mission I wanted. They didn't sell passenger cabins but I could have one delivered in 45 minutes or something. I really wanted to accept the mission and sort out where they were going to sit later. There was about a week before the deadline so I could have left the next day if necessary.

Being prepared only works up to a point. Not being able to take the mission before you're ready to act on it really limits player's ability to exploit opportunities as they arise.

 

[Squelch]

It would appear that I arrived at the same conclusion as the OP at the same time. Jinx!

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...irements-met?p=6874318&viewfull=1#post6874318

One explanation given against accepting missions without meeting the requirements other than rep is that it can adversely affect BGS and presumably PP. That may or may not be true, so perhaps "reserving" a mission before commencement could be balanced by much higher penalties for failure? I'd be quite happy if, say, I accept a VIP passenger mission, fail to deliver, and not only lose a great deal of rep and fines from a faction, but for them to also send the bailiffs after me to collect.

Preparation is what it is all about of course, and some missions will be beyond the player's capabilities. The decision to accept those missions is entirely for them to make. Not everyone has a multipurpose vessel that is capable of meeting the requirements immediately, but many of us have worked towards having the means in some form to be able to quickly react to opportunistic mission offers if they were allowed.

Regardless, as an observant, relative newcomer to this iteration of Elite, this mission mechanism sticks out like a sore thumb when compared to Wing supply missions that allow the player to accept them in an otherwise unsuitable craft. It should be left to the player to decide whether they have the resources to fulfil any contract within the time frame, and to suffer the consequences of not delivering on the promise.

Risk/reward left in the agency of the player.