Blockade Running Cargo Missions

[DMC831]

Like many players, I wish to have more dynamic and exciting missions. While normal cargo hauling can be relaxing and used to be a fine money maker, I'd hope that there could be a more challenging version that has better pay to match.

Blockade running! You have to haul cargo to a destination while constantly fighting off interdictions along the way, ending in an exciting run up to the destination station.

Once you arrive at the destination, enemy ships are waiting for you and more also drop out of supercruise right on your tail. You then have to manage to get past them as they try to blow you up and block your way through the mail slot, requiring expert piloting by the CMDR.

We need more gameplay that uses our flying ability and creates an exciting, memorable moment; gameplay that's fun and also pays well, and deservedly so (it should be pretty tough).

I'd also love it if you tied this sort of thing into certain types of smuggling missions, and bring back long range hauling/smuggling missions to fit with this. You already have some mission NPCs hot on our tail and drop into the instance at the space station after we arrive (I've had them on passenger and smuggling missions recently), so I am thinking an extension of that with them arriving sooner, in greater numbers, and also having friends waiting for us.

Fending off their firepower while boosting through the mailslot would be great!

 

[DMC831]

Another note about the idea-- it could be spawned in War/Civil War system states and be another way a hauler/smuggler could engage in the war without needing to go to a CZ. Anywhere 2 factions are squabbling, or perhaps they can also be offered by Anarchy factions who are trying to get weapons and other contraband to their compatriots at the other station but the authorities catch wind of it and are waiting for you.

Also, in terms of making high level cargo hauling and smuggling more fun and challenging, I'd love if high paying destinations really had a beefed up security presence. I remember in Rhea at Ito Orbital with the capitol ship parked there, there'd always be a LOT more cops flying around-- which was great, since I enjoyed smuggling passengers and cargo to and from that destination, and avoiding THAT many cops just made it more fun even when Allied.

The main problem was that smuggling to and from Ito Orbital paid no more than anywhere else, despite the beefed up security due to the capitol ship. Most players will be pragmatic and just avoid using that station when trying to avoid a scan, but I think players should be given an incentive when doing illegal missions at these type of locations (high security, superpower home stations, etc).

I know ya gotta keep stuff easy for people who want a relaxing experience or are new to the game, but the best moment (to me) in these missions is when mission NPCs drop out of the supercruise at the station itself and it then becomes a chase to the mail slot. "Unfortunately", they're very easy to avoid, and I just think the high level versions of hauling/smuggling should be more dynamically difficult with the pay to match.

 

[The Mega Doom Bot]

I started a similar thread where checkpoints were changed to function as blockades

Here's what I came up with:

From what I've read, aside from the occasional assassination mission, there isn't much point the Checkpoints that form between various warring factions. I had a thought, to make them more relevant what if checkpoints were changed to function as blockades?

The blockade sites would feature powerful interdiction devices. If a player passes too close the device would not only pull the player from supercruise but toward the blockade itself. The range from which each blockade can successfully interdict a player is marked by a red orbital line and can vary in size. Threading the needle (so to speak) becomes even more difficult as the number of blockades around a given planet increase the chances of successfully making it past them decrease as well. Blockades can also form outside of war time as a criminal enterprise may choose to setup a blockade over a given colony and shake down anyone who gets too close. If pulled into a blockade one of three things may happen:

1. If the player is friendly to the faction, the player will be allowed to pass.
2. If the player is not friendly with the faction and/or is found to be working for the rival faction, the player will be attacked.
3. The NPC's will demand a bribe for safe passage. Especially if the faction is a criminal organization. If the player attempts to run or can't pay the player will be attacked.

New Mission Types:

Blockade Runner: A faction is in desperate need of supplies but the blockade hanging over the planet has a strangle hold on them. They need you to sneak past the blockade and make a much needed delivery. Smaller ships have a better chance of escaping interdiction while larger ships can carry more supplies. More heavily armed ships may also be able to fend off their attackers but don't hang around too long as reinforcements will be arriving shortly. If the player can make it to the relative safety of Orbital Cruise the interdiction device will no longer be able to distinguish them from the planet.

Blockade Breaker: Your mission is to take out the interdiction device and break up the blockade. The player is given the exact coordinates of the interdiction device. Targeting the device and flying straight at it at high enough speed confuses the device allowing the player to drop out of supercruise right on top of it. The speed the player needs to maintain when in range of the device will marked in green. If the player approaches too slowly or misses the target and is forced to loop around they run the risk of being interdicted and pulled into the blockade. Because nearby objects interfere with the device's ability to interdict other vessels, the ships guarding the device are forced to stay a considerable distance away from it. This gives the player a small window to open fire and take the device out. Harder difficulty missions may have more than one device that needs to be taken out for the mission to be successful. Once destroyed players can choose to escape or collect a few bounty heads.

link to the thread: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/408062-A-Thought-on-Checkpoints