Interstellar Initiatives (II) got off to a shaky start, but does show that FD are willing to make CGs a bit more meaningful. But, please be more imaginative! I posted an almost full length II idea here: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/index...alactica-meets-aliens-megaship-action.510639/ but here are some more areas where I'd like to see IIs go.
1: Please use Galnet and drop hints into the codex. Galnet is the primary way we get background information- it is visible and (when it works and no embarrassing slip ups) effective. Please use this tremendously useful feature and make commanders look for things based on clues. Now that we have the codex this can be done entirely inside the game.
2: Do not make competing combat CGs. They simply don't provide a decent experience since they are always settled at tier 1. If its war, make it a CZ war.
3: More complexity: one word- Lugh. That group of CGs was excellent.
4: Surprise: keep us guessing! The Thargoids can pop up in real time (like the Gnosis), you have a daily server tick to alter things. Please use this and at least try to disguise the static nature of CGs.
5: Mix and match things we have never seen: As in my example, I had a megaship jump into a Lagrange cloud, and players hunting Thargoids in these areas. You have the whole Galaxy as a canvas, actually use it.
6: No stopping: a week long CG is dull. Going days without Galnet just creates flat spots. Use more Galnet stories to fill in the cognitive gaps (i.e. one every day), pace CGs so they are short and snappy and use the daily tick to change things about.
7: Words are cheap but paint a picture: Galnet can make us care or hate a character, go out and kill or make us stop. Every day of the II should have a Galnet story to frame the progress so far, what characters involved are thinking,and make us care. Right now there is a massive gap of days where nothing is said. Also, have eventualities panned, so that Galnet looks as if its responding to players actions all the way through the II.
8: Don' be afraid to think small as well as big: Zende was big, but you can also craft personal IIs too where the objectives are not combat but looking for things? Imagine the Halseys escape pod CG as an II, where its you followign clues and tip offs from the codex as players fill in the blanks narrowing it down?
9: Sometimes, don't tell us its an II. Make things happen organically by dropping hints via the codex / Galnet like with the Thargoids in Ye Old Times™. It could be long running, and simply involve finding things at your own pace- but it rewards you for being observant. Example: imagine Generation Ships, you might receive a mission message in SC to meet a contact who wants to track down a distant relative on one- you go on the hunt using clues, find the ship and then have a moral issue thrown in- maybe this guy is lying about the relative and is a grave robber, or that from the logs the ship harbours a dangerous secret. Do you still complete the mission for money? Or do you refuse (setting off another wrinkle- maybe this grave robber sends goons after you to change your mind, and so on).
You could do so much with these IIs, grand wars, haunted houses in space, tales of tragedy etc.
1: Please use Galnet and drop hints into the codex. Galnet is the primary way we get background information- it is visible and (when it works and no embarrassing slip ups) effective. Please use this tremendously useful feature and make commanders look for things based on clues. Now that we have the codex this can be done entirely inside the game.
2: Do not make competing combat CGs. They simply don't provide a decent experience since they are always settled at tier 1. If its war, make it a CZ war.
3: More complexity: one word- Lugh. That group of CGs was excellent.
4: Surprise: keep us guessing! The Thargoids can pop up in real time (like the Gnosis), you have a daily server tick to alter things. Please use this and at least try to disguise the static nature of CGs.
5: Mix and match things we have never seen: As in my example, I had a megaship jump into a Lagrange cloud, and players hunting Thargoids in these areas. You have the whole Galaxy as a canvas, actually use it.
6: No stopping: a week long CG is dull. Going days without Galnet just creates flat spots. Use more Galnet stories to fill in the cognitive gaps (i.e. one every day), pace CGs so they are short and snappy and use the daily tick to change things about.
7: Words are cheap but paint a picture: Galnet can make us care or hate a character, go out and kill or make us stop. Every day of the II should have a Galnet story to frame the progress so far, what characters involved are thinking,and make us care. Right now there is a massive gap of days where nothing is said. Also, have eventualities panned, so that Galnet looks as if its responding to players actions all the way through the II.
8: Don' be afraid to think small as well as big: Zende was big, but you can also craft personal IIs too where the objectives are not combat but looking for things? Imagine the Halseys escape pod CG as an II, where its you followign clues and tip offs from the codex as players fill in the blanks narrowing it down?
9: Sometimes, don't tell us its an II. Make things happen organically by dropping hints via the codex / Galnet like with the Thargoids in Ye Old Times™. It could be long running, and simply involve finding things at your own pace- but it rewards you for being observant. Example: imagine Generation Ships, you might receive a mission message in SC to meet a contact who wants to track down a distant relative on one- you go on the hunt using clues, find the ship and then have a moral issue thrown in- maybe this guy is lying about the relative and is a grave robber, or that from the logs the ship harbours a dangerous secret. Do you still complete the mission for money? Or do you refuse (setting off another wrinkle- maybe this grave robber sends goons after you to change your mind, and so on).
You could do so much with these IIs, grand wars, haunted houses in space, tales of tragedy etc.
