Available but unobtainable

[CMDR Dumbfries]

Can we please get rid of this page that endlessly taunts and trolls me, taking up valuable real estate on the bulletin board, and dedicate it to missions I can actually do?
I finally managed to upgrade to a bare bones anaconda and every station I visit has almost no available missions. All the unavailable ones either have an outpost I can't land at or are just one rank above whatever <insert rank of choice here> I happen to be at the time. The small handful that are available wouldn't even cover my fuel and ammo costs.

 

[Ydiss]

I wouldn't say no to a hide option just where they start, as a check box. But I would say no to getting rid of it. It's useful (particularly for new players) to see what you can strive for (and how).

 

[adrinker]

Signed.

Cargo capacity limited missions should stay. Low rep or rank-limited missions need to go.

 

[CMDR Dumbfries]

I wouldn't say no to a hide option just where they start, as a check box. But I would say no to getting rid of it. It's useful (particularly for new players) to see what you can strive for (and how).

I'm not exaggerating when I say that I have visited stations where the unobtainable list is overflowing and there is not a single available mission offered. Nothing. And these are places where I have some rep with the local factions. I don't think hiding it is going to alleviate the problem and the BB can't possibly be working as intended.

 

[crushdepth]

I like to know what I'm missing out on. And some missions you can get, eg. by outfitting an extra cargo bay to qualify, etc.

 

[CMDR Dumbfries]

I like to know what I'm missing out on. And some missions you can get, eg. by outfitting an extra cargo bay to qualify, etc.

My ship can carry over 400 cargo. I dont think that's the issue.

 

[Broon]

I don't think hiding it is going to alleviate the problem and the BB can't possibly be working as intended.

My ship can carry over 400 cargo. I dont think that's the issue.

Well then it must certainly be broken.

 

[Gibbralter]

If the Bulletin board had an option to hide unavailable missions, its one alot of people would use, and what if they hide the unavailable missions.

there are only 4 quests or so you can do.

at that point its obvious that a random mission generator can generate a few more missions

 

[Ydiss]

I'm not exaggerating when I say that I have visited stations where the unobtainable list is overflowing and there is not a single available mission offered. Nothing. And these are places where I have some rep with the local factions. I don't think hiding it is going to alleviate the problem and the BB can't possibly be working as intended.

So it's not that you can see them that bothers you, it's that they exist at all.

I agree that the RNG BB can be far too limiting. But I don't think it would make any sense for a bulletin board to only feature missions that you can do.

It's restricted by nature and the solution isn't to make it magically know what you need and present those missions to you.

I have proposed an idea before that should supplement the BB. An extra tab on the BB called "Contracts", where each faction can offer contracts based on type (combat, trade, smuggling, lawful bounty hunting, illegal assassinations and kill lists, mining, exploration etc), where the type is based on the faction itself.

You can browse available contracts, which will give you an outline of what they entail, what rank and reputation you need to take them and the average credit awards. You can sign a contract with that faction at that station and you can only have a limited number of contracts (whatever makes sense).

Once you sign a contract, you can go to the contracts page on the BB of that station, drill down to your contract, which then opens up a list of missions that are limited only to the type that fits the contract.

Your contract is permanent unless you cancel it, the contract expires (eg a CZ contract would only remain valid until the war is over) or you fail too many missions.

This would leave us the BB to get adhoc missions to build up reputation of do odd jobs (exactly as it is now) but we could also align ourselves to a faction and get the specific types of missions we really want to do.

This would really let us define our own career, ensure much less frustration at finding missions, give us a true feeling of place within systems and also significantly improve the military progression model (the two navies would offer contracts to let us work on naval rank % and ascension missions).

 

[InMemoriamSirocco]

I'd find the game world much more believable if electronical bulletin boards would only show you a variety of missions suitable for your Elite Rank, local reputation and account balance.

It is not an idea too far fetched that a space station computer interface would link with your ship computer, check your available pilot information and then sort missions that could potentially interest you AND that you are already qualified to take.

At the very least I would love to have an option to simply hide all unavailable missions, because their mere presence frustrates the hell out of me.

 

[eza]

There should be three sections:
Available
Available but unobtainable (Missions here which can be taken if you fit a cargo rack (and station has outfitting with cargo racks in stock) to your ship, or have a trade ship in that station's shipyard)
Unobtainable (New section for missions which are actually unobtainable due to rank or standing requirements)

 

[EUS]

I'd be happy if they got rid of Horizons related missions in my 1.5 game.
The rest are fine, they show what you need (rank/relationship/etc) which is useful info.

 

[freedom4556]

Given that the mission list is supposedly created uniquely for each player, I personally have no idea why the mission generator even generates missions that the player can't do except maybe to give them a chance to re-outfit/swap ships and take the missions. But missions above your rank/reputation or for DLC you don't own? No excuse.

 

[Garagiste]

The RNG thing is a bit poor, I have to agree.
Arriving back in the bubble from another long haul run in my Asp I see a bunch of nicely paid shorter trips on the BB - all just beyond my cargo capacity. OK, I feel like switching things up a bit so I'll go grab my Python and get involved.
As soon as I land back there - where did they all go? I'm not expecting all of the missions to be available all the time, but there might a least be some of a similar type? Nope, just "kill celebrity X" and suchlike.
Quite annoying.

 

[InMemoriamSirocco]

I've entered stations in systems that supposedly had billions of inhabitants, and the bulletin board showed maybe a dozen missions tops, with most of them unobtainable.


Call me old-fashioned, but the way I think about games is: They should be fun. That's what they are supposed to provide. Yeah, crazy idea, I know!

Why bulletin boards are not divided into mission categories, under which you can always, at any given time, find at least half a dozen different, varying missions of roughly the same type, so that you can indeed "blaze your own trail" and "play the way you WANT to play" instead of having to go and look all over the place, searching station by station until you find an opportunity to actually play what you WANT TO PLAY, is beyond me.

The text on the box says "play the way you want to play".

"OK", says I, "I want to play a pirate hunting mission." Bulletin board says "sorry mate, none available" *insert troll face meme here, followed by rage comic representing player reaction*

How about at least one mission of every type available? If you take that mission and successfully complete it, more missions of that type for better rewards are then unlocked... I can think of so many more ways that the bulletin boards should work better than they do now... *sigh*

 

[goemon]

i know, i know... but you read these threads on "i fly a python, because it can lnd on outposts, because i like doing missions" before buying your anaconda? if i fly my python with 128 cargo and an srv hangar, there is always a mission to play.

an anaconda is a good choice, if you don't want to play missions. fill it with cargo racks and go bulktrading, or take it into a CZ/RES. you don#t need missions to play the game.

 

[goemon]

How about at least one mission of every type available?

because missions do influence the bgs a lot, and mission types are spawn influenced by the bgs. there is no activity ingame which you can't do without a mission. want to do an assassination? grab an fsdi, fly around, find a target, cash bounties (or not). want to trade? fit cargo racks, buy commodity, sell them.

 

[Ydiss]

Given that the mission list is supposedly created uniquely for each player, I personally have no idea why the mission generator even generates missions that the player can't do except maybe to give them a chance to re-outfit/swap ships and take the missions. But missions above your rank/reputation or for DLC you don't own? No excuse.

It's simply to show you what you can achieve. It's a very commonly used game play feature.

 

[Limpooka]

My suggestion would be to simply add a filter like they have on the galaxy map and the navigation panel. Then you can choose to hide things you don't want to see, or only show bounty hunting missions (for example). Everybody happy, no?

 

[Artie]

There is no issue with displaying missions that cannot be obtained for whatever reason - until there is still enough choices and missions that can be obtained. Which is often a problem that seems to has a relatively easy solution...