Current mission system. My thoughts how to easily improve it. Discuss.

[punkerich]

I'd like to state a fact at first. Current missions are nonsense, in terms of payout and prerequisites.
you have to be elite trader to bring in 5 platinum? really? why?
when you hit elite in trading, you won't bother with this. indeed, the profit/ton is huge (insane),
but in total, you could do more profit in a to b trading.

my solutions would be very, very easy to implement. i don't want to redo the complete mission system,
even when i can understand others would want to.

so, here my suggestions:
1. mining missions
now ranging from 1 to 5 minable commodities.
crazy, crazy profits. like 6 to 8 times the average, but limited to an amount of max. 5 (would need elite trader for that).
this is nonsense.

half the profit, give even max 2-3 times the average, but double, even quadruple the amounts, ranging from 1 to 20, 25, 30.
and please, half the requirements. no elite trader goes mining 5 osmium, thats nonsense. or pure boredom/hobby.

so let us see missions like:
bring in 25 osmium for a total of ~600k.
bring in 12 platinum for a total of ~600k.
bring in 30 painite for a total whopping ~2mil. whoa. yeah. that's profit.

the system as it is now has only one effect:
every miner who wants to max his profits would simply:
- check bulletin board
- take mission, get reward
- switch to solo/group/open
- repeat
- do it till the cargo's empty.
no one wants to play like that, but we're almost forced to do it this way.

trader missions:
IF you really want an elite trader to raise his eyebrows, go 3 digits in tonnage!
an elite trader would NOT bring in a cobra!
bring in 300(!) gold for a total of ~4.5mil.
bring in 200 palladium for a total of ~4.5mil.

trading missions should have a somewhat lower profit/ton than mining (less effort/risk) BUT:
make them fast. if one is to pay double the average price, he'll need it NOW.
like 30 mins, max 45min.
so get out, kick your T9/annie in the rear end, and return a.s.a.p!

even better (you have the mechanics already in the CG's)

bring EVERY AMOUNT of gold, palladium, agri-medicines or whatever
in a timeframe up to 3 hours. profits will scale with the amount.
perhaps even a bonus for reaching a total of x tons.


none of this would be hard to implement, and would it make worthwile.
i repeat, an elite trader (and no, i'm not) would not bother for a total
of 300k. never, ever.

edit: oh, and yesterday evening i had a naval progression offer which reqiured elite trading rank. *sigh* why, just why FD?

so guys and beloved gals, waddaya think?

 

[SteveLaw]

Here's something I posted in a different thread. This is how to improve missions.

Go to the bulletin board and have a mission. "Missing person, help needed." You sign up and are patched through to an NPC who you can ask questions of. You need to visit the last known station visited by the missing person and there you get a new contact. This contact tells you where they were headed next. You go there and discover that they didn't arrive. So you do a few scans and track down the ship, but it is being attacked by pirates! You must fight off the pirates but your target's ship is damaged and you must find some needed modules in one of the nearby systems.

Returning with the modules you transfer them to their ship. and wing up with them to escort them to their destination. Once you arrive safely, after several more interdictions along the way, they entrust you with their secret. They were actually coming to collect a secret, experimental module and the pirates weren't actually pirates but spies from the opposing Power. They ask you to deliver it to the secret research base...

 

[Ekar]

Simply scaling pay to ranking doesn't cut it, but as you say- more tonnage, shorter times (emergency deliveries), longer distances, rare/exotic commodities, trade through known pirate haunts or areas of conflict, necessity in forming up an escort wing and planning accordingly... those kinds of things would require the skills of an expert trader worthy of his pay grade. If any Joe Sidewinder could do the same mission for drastically reduced rates, you'd employ Joe Sidewinder.

This is just simple... reward should scale with responsibility/risk.

 

[punkerich]

Here's something I posted in a different thread. This is how to improve missions.

this would be cool, but requires a complete redo, even if it looks simple.
i don't think we will see that in the near future.
heck, we even don't have a. single. paintjob. for the anaconda, after 6 months out.
don't ask for too much.

 

[SteveLaw]

this would be cool, but requires a complete redo, even if it looks simple.

I don't think it looks simple, we need complex.

 

[punkerich]

Simply scaling pay to ranking doesn't cut it, but as you say- more tonnage, shorter times (emergency deliveries), longer distances, rare/exotic commodities, trade through known pirate haunts or areas of conflict, necessity in forming up an escort wing, those kinds of things would require the skills of an expert trader worthy of his pay grade. If any Joe Sidewinder could do the same mission for drastically reduced rates, you'd employ Joe Sidewinder.

This is just simple... reward should scale with responsibility/risk.

something like this, yeah. joe sidewinder would not have a cargo space of 300, would he? you can expect an elite trader in an annie or T9.

- - - Updated - - -

I don't think it looks simple, we need complex.

in the long run, i agree.
i'm looking for quick solutions requiring perhaps a few hours of work, no more.
when the current systems pays off and is motivating, one could develop more complexity.

 

[RustyLeg]

I like these suggestions. They definitely should scale in size.

I'd also add, the pirate missions should be targeted to pirate and take items from specific NPCs, so they would make some sense, as it really baffles me why someone would want to only buy something stolen, from anyone at all. IE in the sense of recovering stolen goods (like assassination missions - find named npc and rob him) or plundering a specific trade route as its harming the issuing faction's business (like kill 5 pirates missions).

The combat missions should also have the target be even remotely relevant to the rank. One listed as requiring harmless should be doable by someone in a Sidey. Not a 'harmless' Python with a Deadly Vulture escort, as I have had.

 

[punkerich]

I like these suggestions. They definitely should scale in size.

I'd also add, the pirate missions should be targeted to pirate and take items from specific NPCs, so they would make some sense, as it really baffles me why someone would want to only buy something stolen, from anyone at all. IE in the sense of recovering stolen goods (like assassination missions - find named npc and rob him) or plundering a specific trade route as its harming the issuing faction's business (like kill 5 pirates missions).

The combat missions should also have the target be even remotely relevant to the rank. One listed as requiring harmless should be doable by someone in a Sidey. Not a 'harmless' Python with a Deadly Vulture escort, as I have had.

definately this. bring some common sense into that type of missions.

 

[Ekar]

I like these suggestions. They definitely should scale in size.

I'd also add, the pirate missions should be targeted to pirate and take items from specific NPCs, so they would make some sense, as it really baffles me why someone would want to only buy something stolen, from anyone at all. IE in the sense of recovering stolen goods (like assassination missions - find named npc and rob him) or plundering a specific trade route as its harming the issuing faction's business (like kill 5 pirates missions).

The combat missions should also have the target be even remotely relevant to the rank. One listed as requiring harmless should be doable by someone in a Sidey. Not a 'harmless' Python with a Deadly Vulture escort, as I have had.

Yes. (adding characters for post)