That is absolutely the thing, ED is missing and needs for a much, much, much better immersion. But I would not add a text interpreter, a simple multiple choice dialogue system should just fine and NPC-chat in general would, at least for me, be the most interesting feature the game could have. I really have a lot of ideas about that and a more interesting, varied mission system.
I will explain all that stuff in more detail here and also offer my help for possible scripting, dialogues, random generators for NPC personalities, and so on.
Edit-Added Content: And as there are passengers now with 2.2 Guardians you also should be able to conversate with them, it can use the same system like NPC ships. Also you already have some kind of personality already implemented with the passenger missions, which could be adopted to give NPCs similar personalities too. (and there are crew members too now, so more code to re-use)
For Passangers in example there could be a way to offer them visits to (nice) tourist locations. How that could work: In Galaxy and System map you can see all the tourist beacons, you have already visited/scanned. There you can have the option to offer a visit to this place to your passengers (or only (a) certain passenger(s)) and depending on their personality they don't mind, offer you extra reward, if you do so or if in hurry tell you that they will pay less, if you waste any unnecessary time.
Ok, so this is quick introduction what I would suggest for NPC conversations:
I would set a number of keys for the things you can say, i.e. 1-9 and 0, of course only after initiating the transmission or start answering, that can be selected with Keyboard, Mouse or Controller/HOTAS.
For initiating a dialogue with an NPC I would suggest just a bunch of standard-phrases from simple greetings, over things like "Drop your cargo, or I will kill you!", asking for the way, if he/she needs help, etc. Also you should always be able to activate a distress-call.
For more complex stuff, there could be sub-sentences, i.e. you beginn with:
"Greetings. Could you maybe tell me the way to the nearest place, …"
and then you get sub-options, like:
"… where I can refuel?"
"… where I can buy/sell commodities?"
"… where I can upgrade my ship?"
"… where I can find a black market?"
and so on.
Of course the NPCs answers should depend on the pilots character, which could be random generated at the first contact and have attributes, like: more friendly or unfriendly (willing to help or not), honest or tends to lies, and some more, like: has problems/needs help, can offer a mission, etc.
Of course deeper in the dialogue or if an NPC contacts you, the answers have to be context sensitive. I.e. if a pirate interdicts you and says something like: "You came a far way with your valuable cargo. But now it's over!" you could be able to answer things like:
"Stop shooting me, I will drop all my cargo, if let me go!"
"If you let me pass, I will pay you …" with a sub-menu of different credit values …
"Hah. I would rather die, than give you my cargo!"
"You want my cargo? Try to get it … if you can."
etc.
Of course the pirate needs to react, depending on his personality. I.e. if you offend him, he could get more aggressive but therefore tends to make more mistakes. Of course it also depends on personality if a pirate accepts cargo or credits or is just crazy and wants to kill someone.
This also could be used for security, if they scan you with illegal stuff, you could offer them money to keep it secret and depending on personality and credits you offer, the security ship will accept your offer or will resist and even raise your penalty for bribe.
This examples should give a rough overview of what the NPC chat could be in the game and how it can add a lot of depth and immersion, the possibilities would be limitless …
Also a thing I wonder: I sometimes saw POIs (group of ships in it) in Supercruise with names like: "SELL: WEAPONS" or "BUY: ILLEGAL CARGO" - when I dropped to the ships which say to offer weapons, they advertise themselves as having the best weapons on sale, etc. but you can not do anything, no interaction possible. Similar with the black market guys, they advertise themselves nicely, with the offer to buy illegal goods right here, if you have to much fear getting scanned at the station. But again, could not find a way to interact.
With Multiple-Choice NPC dialogs that would be no problem and those POIs would make sense, which of course would be great, because it would enrich the game experience.
The next thing is missions, if you can talk to NPCs missions could get much more varied and interesting. I am absolutely convinced that you can create a lot of more interesting missions with only random elements made up in a fine mission construction kit. More on that a little later …
So, now my thoughts on missions, it is mainly about chained mission, which was already in the game and later removed (that leads me to another point*), but was not implemented the more interesting way.
It is not a very interesting chained mission, if you get offered to fly from A to B to C to D, especially to know that in advance and you are not allowed to end the mission earlier, i.e. at location "C" without giving up completely.
Chained missions have to be dynamic, that is the keyword. I thought about 2 different levels of complexness.
1.) Easiest way - just random:
You do any kind of mission for faction, get your reward and in that moment they tell you something like: "Well done commander. As you did your job so well, we have another offer for you." and presents you some random mission type, but with a higher reward, as regular (maybe +20%?) and you can decline or accept.
The chance for follow up missions of course should be higher, the higher your faction standing is.
2.) Follow up missions - depends on initial mission:
The first mission is to find a black box and bring it back. If you are lucky you well get a message, like: "Thanks for finding and returning the blackbox. With it we found out, that faction XY shot down our wing. We want revenge. Will you do that?" and you get an offer for "bounty" mission, i.e. shoot 6 ships of faction XY also for increased reward than usual.
Or another possibility: "Thx for … blackbox. We found out that the course of one ship headed to a planet nearby. Maybe you can locate the crash site and rescue our pilot?" You get the system name, planet name, and rough coordinates (similar to "TIPP OFF" mission) - there you can find a crashed ship and a rescue pod. Scan the core, get the rescue pod, get back and get the (hopefully very high) reward.
This could eventually also trigger a follow up mission.
Of course chained missions should not be the norm, I think the chance could be maybe around 5-10%? Have to think about it … of course with higher reputation you get a higher chance.
*I don't like it, that already working missions are sometimes removed, I liked to do the find rescue pod near space port, this type shouldn't have been removed. Instead it should be improved. First you can make the search locations more interesting, i.e. 3 types:
1.) as was: near planetary base (least reward)
2.) 20km north or southwest or whatever direction (medium reward)
3.) near coordinates X,Y (highest reward)
Also it vary be from 1 to 4 persons, not always only 1.
And then imagine you can combine that with follow up missions, NPC-personality (person in escape pod) with communication. I.e. there could be a ~1% possibilty that the person is a prisoner or slave. Both will offer you a mission to bring them home (of course you need passenger cabin(s) therefor), but cannot offer you anything here, can only promise. If you accept, of course you are wanted in systems with authorities from the faction that gave you the search and rescue mission. If you decline and complete the original mission you might get a bonus, because of your honesty.
And the criminals/slaves can have different backgrounds, criminal i.e. theft, murder, politican, smuggler, pirate, etc. the faction he belongs to, personality, etc. similar for slaves, if i.e. imperial slaves, wanted in all empire systems. If the rescued one is dishonest, he may just run away at destination and you get nothing, or he could tell you secrets like rare trade goods, some engineer, etc. and you are immediately aligned with his/her faction, also possible would be some percentages for ships or equipment at his/her station/installation.
To make it even more exciting the rescue mission could have up to 5 follow up mission. Of course it should be very, very unlikely to get all 5:
At 1st stage I would give the player a change about 1% that the person in the escape pod is a prisoner or slave that needs help, 2nd follow up could be maybe a 10% chance then, 3rd the same, 4th maybe 5% and the last, the 5th again only a 1% possibility to get it, if you made it to step 4. Of course all of them can be different. So it should always be interesting, even if you already helped some guys to gain their freedom back.
That are just some examples, as said - endless possibilities …
I don't know how much of this would be possible to implement in the game, but I will offer may help for creating complete concepts with conversations (English and German), exact values and such, as well as for scripting/coding that could help. (if FD is interested in bringing some of that stuff to the game to make it more dynamic, living and breathing)
I hope at least some of you like my ideas! Even small improvements in that direction would be absolutely gorgeous!
PS: Sorry for some bad explanations or if confusing or to much and maybe not so ideal English. Just wrote down my initial thoughs … I will try to overhaul that entry soon …
