Elite Dangerous has a lot of great mechanics and interactions. Agency has been brought up quite a few times, and I've been thinking about what player choice means. The following details a patch that I believe would tie existing systems together in an interesting way and increase agency. The core of the patch revolves around the ability to pitch missions to Minor Factions.
Patch notes 2.x
Communication Posts:
Populated Systems may have "Communication Posts". They can be accessed through the Station Interface.
-Commanders can communicate with a Minor Faction Contact from any "Communication Post" if they have their "Calling Cypher".
-"Calling Cyphers" are given offered when Commanders become "Cordial" with a Minor Faction.
-"Communication Posts" can also be found at higher security settlements, use the SRV's scanner to activate.
-"Communication Posts" can found at all stations and some Outposts.
-Typical mission generation applies.
Minor Factions : Axis of Progression:
Stations that are controlled by the Minor Faction that control the system, have access to the Minor Faction's Axis of Progression.
The Axis of Progression is a 3 tiered system that enables commanders to visualize and influence the background simulation with the ability to pitch missions to the Minor Faction's council.
-Upon reaching the rank of "Cordial"
-Commanders gain access to the Minor Faction's "Internal Affairs" Panel.
-This panel is a modification of the Galaxy Map and shows a list of all other Stations and Settlements that the Minor Faction has influence in.
-Hovering over one of the Stations or Settlements in a system displays the following information about the station on the right panel.
-Main economic type (i.e. Extraction, High Tech, etc...)
-Current state (War, Famine, etc...)
-Imports and Exports.
-Thresholds toward state changes.
-Commanders use Merits earned in Powerplay to pitch Mission Propositions to the Minor Faction's Council.
-Commanders must intelligently pitch missions that will benefit the Minor Faction.
-Pitched missions can be declined, and you may lose reputation with the faction.
-Mission Propositions are created by selecting a system choosing the "Propose Mission" option in the "Internal Affairs" panel.
-Commanders will then choose a system and station they would like to do a mission.
-Commanders will then Select an Objective Type from the following:
-Economic
-Cartography
-Military
Objectives have tags that will need to be filled out by the Commander in order to complete the Pitch. Tags are denoted in the parentheses.
(A chart would be super useful here, Make one for the actual post.)
-Upon selection of a Mission Type, a list of Missions will be displayed.
-Economic Objectives:
-Delivery Service (COMMODITY, QUANTITY, LOCATION) (Acceptable commodities determined by state.)
-Deliver commodities to a station or planetside settlement
-Courier Service (COMMODITY, QUANTITY) (Acceptable commodities determined by state.)
-Deliver commodities that are exported from the target station to a station that imports them
-Transport Citizens (PERSON TYPE, QUANTITY, LOCATION) (Acceptable traveller type determined by state.)
-Transport citizens to a location
Citizen Types:
-Refugee (Acceptable in : Civil Unrest, War, Civil War, Famine)
-Tourist (Acceptable in : Boom, Expansion)
-Cartographic Objectives:
-TBD
Military Objectives:
-Kill Targets (LOCATION, QUANTITY, TARGET TYPE) (Accepted in: Lockdown)
-Collect Combat Bonds (LOCATION, QUANTITY) (Accepted in : War)
-Sabotage a planetary settlement. (LOCATION, TARGET TYPE)
-Assassination (LOCATION, PILOT NAME)(Only given above friendly.) (Accepted in: War)
-Mission information can be found in the local news if they have been reported. (Would be cool, but might wildly out of scope.)
-Search and Rescue (LOCATION, PILOT NAME) (Generally Accepted).
-This mission is only accepted if the station has reported a missing pilot with a "Last seen location". This can be found in the local news section (Could also be out of scope.)
-Rescued pilots may be recruited as a crew member (2.3+).
-Upon selection of a Mission, the Commander will need to specify mission tags based on what was chosen, this UI in a second tab in the left panel of the Galaxy map. (E.g. Delivery has COMMODITY QUANTITY and LOCATION tags, commanders would need to specify which commodity they are going to transport, how much, and where the commodities will be delivered.)
-At this point, commanders will specify how long the mission would take. Going over the scoped time will cause no reputation gain, and a 10% loss in the overall value of the mission.
-The Council then decides if the mission is acceptable based on the mission tags.
-(E.g.) delivery:
-Does the Target Station output the desired Commodity?
-Is the tagged commodity currently sought by the station because of it's current state (E.g. Transporting food away from the station that is in famine.)?
-Is the Delivery location a known importer of the specified good?
*If any of these fail, the mission will declined with a message that indicates why it was declined.
-The council will then present a price. Commanders may use Merits to haggle a price increase or choose to negotiate for materials.
-When haggling, the Council will append additional mission modifiers. The modifiers include:
-You will be hunted by agents.
-Mission failure on death.
-Mission failure on scan.
-Mission must be completed on time.
- % Reduced mission duration.
- % Increased Quantity of items or kills required for completion.
-These modifiers are automatically accepted when attempting to haggle.
-(Don't back step, be strong.)
-Mission credits can be collected at any Communication Post.
-Negotiated materials must be collected from the station the mission was assigned from.
Patch notes 2.x
Communication Posts:
Populated Systems may have "Communication Posts". They can be accessed through the Station Interface.
-Commanders can communicate with a Minor Faction Contact from any "Communication Post" if they have their "Calling Cypher".
-"Calling Cyphers" are given offered when Commanders become "Cordial" with a Minor Faction.
-"Communication Posts" can also be found at higher security settlements, use the SRV's scanner to activate.
-"Communication Posts" can found at all stations and some Outposts.
-Typical mission generation applies.
Minor Factions : Axis of Progression:
Stations that are controlled by the Minor Faction that control the system, have access to the Minor Faction's Axis of Progression.
The Axis of Progression is a 3 tiered system that enables commanders to visualize and influence the background simulation with the ability to pitch missions to the Minor Faction's council.
-Upon reaching the rank of "Cordial"
-Commanders gain access to the Minor Faction's "Internal Affairs" Panel.
-This panel is a modification of the Galaxy Map and shows a list of all other Stations and Settlements that the Minor Faction has influence in.
-Hovering over one of the Stations or Settlements in a system displays the following information about the station on the right panel.
-Main economic type (i.e. Extraction, High Tech, etc...)
-Current state (War, Famine, etc...)
-Imports and Exports.
-Thresholds toward state changes.
-Commanders use Merits earned in Powerplay to pitch Mission Propositions to the Minor Faction's Council.
-Commanders must intelligently pitch missions that will benefit the Minor Faction.
-Pitched missions can be declined, and you may lose reputation with the faction.
-Mission Propositions are created by selecting a system choosing the "Propose Mission" option in the "Internal Affairs" panel.
-Commanders will then choose a system and station they would like to do a mission.
-Commanders will then Select an Objective Type from the following:
-Economic
-Cartography
-Military
Objectives have tags that will need to be filled out by the Commander in order to complete the Pitch. Tags are denoted in the parentheses.
(A chart would be super useful here, Make one for the actual post.)
-Upon selection of a Mission Type, a list of Missions will be displayed.
-Economic Objectives:
-Delivery Service (COMMODITY, QUANTITY, LOCATION) (Acceptable commodities determined by state.)
-Deliver commodities to a station or planetside settlement
-Courier Service (COMMODITY, QUANTITY) (Acceptable commodities determined by state.)
-Deliver commodities that are exported from the target station to a station that imports them
-Transport Citizens (PERSON TYPE, QUANTITY, LOCATION) (Acceptable traveller type determined by state.)
-Transport citizens to a location
Citizen Types:
-Refugee (Acceptable in : Civil Unrest, War, Civil War, Famine)
-Tourist (Acceptable in : Boom, Expansion)
-Cartographic Objectives:
-TBD
Military Objectives:
-Kill Targets (LOCATION, QUANTITY, TARGET TYPE) (Accepted in: Lockdown)
-Collect Combat Bonds (LOCATION, QUANTITY) (Accepted in : War)
-Sabotage a planetary settlement. (LOCATION, TARGET TYPE)
-Assassination (LOCATION, PILOT NAME)(Only given above friendly.) (Accepted in: War)
-Mission information can be found in the local news if they have been reported. (Would be cool, but might wildly out of scope.)
-Search and Rescue (LOCATION, PILOT NAME) (Generally Accepted).
-This mission is only accepted if the station has reported a missing pilot with a "Last seen location". This can be found in the local news section (Could also be out of scope.)
-Rescued pilots may be recruited as a crew member (2.3+).
-Upon selection of a Mission, the Commander will need to specify mission tags based on what was chosen, this UI in a second tab in the left panel of the Galaxy map. (E.g. Delivery has COMMODITY QUANTITY and LOCATION tags, commanders would need to specify which commodity they are going to transport, how much, and where the commodities will be delivered.)
-At this point, commanders will specify how long the mission would take. Going over the scoped time will cause no reputation gain, and a 10% loss in the overall value of the mission.
-The Council then decides if the mission is acceptable based on the mission tags.
-(E.g.) delivery:
-Does the Target Station output the desired Commodity?
-Is the tagged commodity currently sought by the station because of it's current state (E.g. Transporting food away from the station that is in famine.)?
-Is the Delivery location a known importer of the specified good?
*If any of these fail, the mission will declined with a message that indicates why it was declined.
-The council will then present a price. Commanders may use Merits to haggle a price increase or choose to negotiate for materials.
-When haggling, the Council will append additional mission modifiers. The modifiers include:
-You will be hunted by agents.
-Mission failure on death.
-Mission failure on scan.
-Mission must be completed on time.
- % Reduced mission duration.
- % Increased Quantity of items or kills required for completion.
-These modifiers are automatically accepted when attempting to haggle.
-(Don't back step, be strong.)
-Mission credits can be collected at any Communication Post.
-Negotiated materials must be collected from the station the mission was assigned from.