Hopefully I'm posting this in the right place, but I've had some thoughts around the mission system.
Apologies if this has been mentioned anywhere before but I need to get it off my chest.
We progress in three main areas - Combat, Trading and Exploration - hopefully at some point reaching Elite. As we progress the ships we use and engineered modules we create increase in value and requirements. However the ability to obtain the requirements for the modules or ships is not linked directly to our abilities as pilots. Instead it is linked to a random number which means that a Harmless pilot has as much money/material making ability as an Elite pilot.
What I'm suggesting is that missions are not just linked to your standing with a faction, but also to your ability to complete the mission. At a low level you should only be offered low level missions, but only at higher levels do you get high level missions (i.e. a Penniless trader should not see missions at a level of Tycoon).
The rewards (material or monetary) are then linked to the level of the mission and also the difficulty of the mission should be adjusted. Elite combat pilots taking on massacre missions should expect to be fighting wings of dangerous/deadly and elite ships whenever they pop into a combat zone. However a harmless pilot should only see low level ships. At the minute the only difference between an Elite massacre mission and a Harmless mission is the number of ships you need to destroy. The actual value per ship needed to be shot down is roughly the same. Shooting 80 harmless eagles is not a challenge for an Elite pilot, it's just tedious. However, give us 10 elite Anacondas to take out, some of them maybe in a wing, and that's a challenge.
The process can also be applied to trade missions or skimmer missions. If you take on an Elite trading run you should be expected to be interdicted by many pirates, of high combat rating. High ranking skimmer missions should require you to take on heavily defended bases.
And again with passengers, Elite missions should be long distance runs requiring engineered long range ships.
But to offset the difficulty requirement the payment should be equivalent. Taking on an Elite massacre mission means you will get ship damage and possibly have to rebuy. But the payment should reflect that. If it's taken months/years to obtain your ranking then you should be adequately paid for it.
I'm sure this is well within the abilities of the FDEV team to implement and would give us pilots more of a feel of progression. It would allow new players still to progress to bigger ships, but they will have earnt the ability, not just the credits, to fly the big ships. And the big ship pilots would be able to earn the right level of materials/credits to upgrade/maintain their ships within a reasonable timeframe.
If you have reached here, thanks for reading.
Apologies if this has been mentioned anywhere before but I need to get it off my chest.
We progress in three main areas - Combat, Trading and Exploration - hopefully at some point reaching Elite. As we progress the ships we use and engineered modules we create increase in value and requirements. However the ability to obtain the requirements for the modules or ships is not linked directly to our abilities as pilots. Instead it is linked to a random number which means that a Harmless pilot has as much money/material making ability as an Elite pilot.
What I'm suggesting is that missions are not just linked to your standing with a faction, but also to your ability to complete the mission. At a low level you should only be offered low level missions, but only at higher levels do you get high level missions (i.e. a Penniless trader should not see missions at a level of Tycoon).
The rewards (material or monetary) are then linked to the level of the mission and also the difficulty of the mission should be adjusted. Elite combat pilots taking on massacre missions should expect to be fighting wings of dangerous/deadly and elite ships whenever they pop into a combat zone. However a harmless pilot should only see low level ships. At the minute the only difference between an Elite massacre mission and a Harmless mission is the number of ships you need to destroy. The actual value per ship needed to be shot down is roughly the same. Shooting 80 harmless eagles is not a challenge for an Elite pilot, it's just tedious. However, give us 10 elite Anacondas to take out, some of them maybe in a wing, and that's a challenge.
The process can also be applied to trade missions or skimmer missions. If you take on an Elite trading run you should be expected to be interdicted by many pirates, of high combat rating. High ranking skimmer missions should require you to take on heavily defended bases.
And again with passengers, Elite missions should be long distance runs requiring engineered long range ships.
But to offset the difficulty requirement the payment should be equivalent. Taking on an Elite massacre mission means you will get ship damage and possibly have to rebuy. But the payment should reflect that. If it's taken months/years to obtain your ranking then you should be adequately paid for it.
I'm sure this is well within the abilities of the FDEV team to implement and would give us pilots more of a feel of progression. It would allow new players still to progress to bigger ships, but they will have earnt the ability, not just the credits, to fly the big ships. And the big ship pilots would be able to earn the right level of materials/credits to upgrade/maintain their ships within a reasonable timeframe.
If you have reached here, thanks for reading.
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