What if FD added a custom mission generator with all sorts of parameters, for those in this community with the skill, to create missions that could be shared. Obviously I can think of a few problem areas that would need fine tuning and much chewing of fat to resolve (BGS springs to mind, so I'd say make custom missions NOT affect the BGS in any way). Some of the best games with longevity have achieved that by mods and player made content. Elite has a long term lifespan and perusing the forums I do see a lot of dissatisfaction with some mission.
Not sure how to figure out rewards though as if totally open I can see someone setting up a mission to kill a harmless pirate in a sidewinder for many billions!! But with some common sense I could see it working out ok, link reward to what the player actualy "does", so one easy Ai pirate in a low class ship would net very little, but someone could set up a "training combat mission" to destroy many targets to practise and get a bit of reward. The only real issue I think is that it would need to be a pretty powerful bit of coding to be meaningful, and thus time consuming. But would the benefits of allowing the more creative elements of the community loose on missions and thus give the game more depth be worth it? Quality control would be another issue, but I'm sure some portal to rival TESNEXUS would emerge with voting systems for the best missions/scenario's....maybe FD could endorse the ones they personally like?
I can remember farting about with XWvTIE custom scenarios and the more I think about it the more I think it would be a good idea.
Not sure how to figure out rewards though as if totally open I can see someone setting up a mission to kill a harmless pirate in a sidewinder for many billions!! But with some common sense I could see it working out ok, link reward to what the player actualy "does", so one easy Ai pirate in a low class ship would net very little, but someone could set up a "training combat mission" to destroy many targets to practise and get a bit of reward. The only real issue I think is that it would need to be a pretty powerful bit of coding to be meaningful, and thus time consuming. But would the benefits of allowing the more creative elements of the community loose on missions and thus give the game more depth be worth it? Quality control would be another issue, but I'm sure some portal to rival TESNEXUS would emerge with voting systems for the best missions/scenario's....maybe FD could endorse the ones they personally like?
I can remember farting about with XWvTIE custom scenarios and the more I think about it the more I think it would be a good idea.
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