I have had a couple of ideas which I would love to see (as additions, I am not here to gripe about anything). I hope they will be looked at, although I am doing this for fun and out of a love of the game; I think they'd be awesome, but I know zilch about the practicalities.
I would love to see missions/tasks where you get a score, and the better you do the better the reward, as in the CGs.
The easiest way to grade missions would of course be speed, but there might be other ways. This might not work for regular missions board missions, but I should imagine there could be a way to fit it in.
A few slightly outlandish examples of how this might look follow. I have dressed them up in Engineer lore for the hell of it, I like the idea that these guys have a spare ship or two knocking around which they will lend you on a break-it, pay-for-it basis. But could be applied elsewhere, of course. Anyway, here we go:
1. Missions requiring flying a tricky path (maybe for ranking up with the Dweller - he looks a shifty type who likes smugglers and people who can duck and dive. Or maybe he's just an adrenaline junkie):
- follow-the-leader in an Eagle, flying down a twisty canyon, don't get too far from him, or you fail, lowest average distance wins (could also be simply pass/fail)
- formation flying - stay within X distance of him while he gives you a running commentary on what he's going to do next, a series of tricky manouevres, lower average distance, better score (could also be pass/fail)
2. Shooting gallery missions (perhaps for Todd Mcquinn) - jump into a sidewinder with fixed cannons and shoot a bunch of targets placed in difficult terrain near his base*. Lower score, more rep, plus names posted on the board at the engineer's (that would be nice - to see some CMDR names on boards which need knocking off the top in order to move - would increase the notion of status in the game - I myself would have little, I hasten to add, play it though I do).
SQUADRON MISSIONS
On a different note, I would also love to see squadron missions where you join a wing of NPCs who are assaulting something, and you have a specific job to do...(This would also be amazing if it could be any combination of MPCs/CMDRs in the wing. Maybe a 5 ship wing mission, and the game links you up to NPCs to make up any shortfall. Obviously, if 5 CMDRs wanted to complete one without any bot help they'd have to be on their wing game!!)
I really like Elite (and played the original Elite on a ZX Spectrum!). I do think both of those could bring a touch of arcadey fun, without compromising on the lore, nor on the emphasis on fliying skills, and without changing the essential nature of the game (in terms of playing, I have no idea in terms of progamming!). I get what Elite is, and what it comes from, and what's main aims are. But I do think a few more mini games within the main game could be good if practical. It would be best if they weren't tru mini games, but tests of skill within the sandbox. I guess the model I am suggesting is a bit like in Just Cause, or GTA, where you have to fly through hoops at speed (whether you would want space hoops is a very different question, but if there was some Elite-y way to incorporate these kinds of tasks, I think it would be great).
I do hope someone reads this, I'm curious what others would think.
Waffle over, thanks for reading (if you got this far!)
I would love to see missions/tasks where you get a score, and the better you do the better the reward, as in the CGs.
The easiest way to grade missions would of course be speed, but there might be other ways. This might not work for regular missions board missions, but I should imagine there could be a way to fit it in.
A few slightly outlandish examples of how this might look follow. I have dressed them up in Engineer lore for the hell of it, I like the idea that these guys have a spare ship or two knocking around which they will lend you on a break-it, pay-for-it basis. But could be applied elsewhere, of course. Anyway, here we go:
1. Missions requiring flying a tricky path (maybe for ranking up with the Dweller - he looks a shifty type who likes smugglers and people who can duck and dive. Or maybe he's just an adrenaline junkie):
- follow-the-leader in an Eagle, flying down a twisty canyon, don't get too far from him, or you fail, lowest average distance wins (could also be simply pass/fail)
- formation flying - stay within X distance of him while he gives you a running commentary on what he's going to do next, a series of tricky manouevres, lower average distance, better score (could also be pass/fail)
2. Shooting gallery missions (perhaps for Todd Mcquinn) - jump into a sidewinder with fixed cannons and shoot a bunch of targets placed in difficult terrain near his base*. Lower score, more rep, plus names posted on the board at the engineer's (that would be nice - to see some CMDR names on boards which need knocking off the top in order to move - would increase the notion of status in the game - I myself would have little, I hasten to add, play it though I do).
SQUADRON MISSIONS
On a different note, I would also love to see squadron missions where you join a wing of NPCs who are assaulting something, and you have a specific job to do...(This would also be amazing if it could be any combination of MPCs/CMDRs in the wing. Maybe a 5 ship wing mission, and the game links you up to NPCs to make up any shortfall. Obviously, if 5 CMDRs wanted to complete one without any bot help they'd have to be on their wing game!!)
I really like Elite (and played the original Elite on a ZX Spectrum!). I do think both of those could bring a touch of arcadey fun, without compromising on the lore, nor on the emphasis on fliying skills, and without changing the essential nature of the game (in terms of playing, I have no idea in terms of progamming!). I get what Elite is, and what it comes from, and what's main aims are. But I do think a few more mini games within the main game could be good if practical. It would be best if they weren't tru mini games, but tests of skill within the sandbox. I guess the model I am suggesting is a bit like in Just Cause, or GTA, where you have to fly through hoops at speed (whether you would want space hoops is a very different question, but if there was some Elite-y way to incorporate these kinds of tasks, I think it would be great).
I do hope someone reads this, I'm curious what others would think.
Waffle over, thanks for reading (if you got this far!)
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