Massacre mission scoring rebalance

[Tycondero]

I have a comment regarding the massacre missions we can pick up at the mission board at time of (civil) war. Currently, each mission requires a number of ships to be destroyed in total to complete the mission.

Wouldn't it be more fair to demand a certain amount (value) of war bonds to be handed in or have a system where bigger ships count for more? For example large ships count as three kill points, whereas a small ship counts as one? I find it rather strange that destroying an Anaconda, Fed Corvette or Imperial Cutter is being registered as one kill, whilst killing a Tiapan or Eagle is registered as one kill as well. I can understand the the warbonds we get is much higher for the bigger ships, but as of now those do not count towards completing the massacre mission.

Therefore, I would like to plead to frontier to consider revising the current scoring system for these massacre missions to also keep track of what you actually destroy and consider that destroying an Anaconda would be more valuable than an Eagle.

 

[CMDR John Casey]

Wouldn't it be more fair to demand a certain amount (value) of war bonds to be handed in or have a system where bigger ships count for more?

Theoretically, it would be more fair. Practically, I think that the speed at which you can destroy ships doesn't necessarily depend on their size. If you have a corvette, destroying Condas goes pretty quick, Eagle and Vipers may be pains in your back. And don't forget the aggro effect for which at a certain point it becomes trivial to destroy any ship.

In any case, CZs need some rework. All are the same, only ship types vary a little. We need dynamic CZs where a side can lose and not just respawning. Moreover, CZs need targets to protect or attack. Why would 2 fleet fight in an empty space? For what they're fighting? It would make sense for a fleet to protect a valuable target, such a station, a resource field, a comms satellite...

I really hope they're going to rework this.

 

[Tycondero]

We can indeed argue what would work better John Casey. I understand your reasoning behind the easiness by which the larger ships can be killed at some point (when you have one or more of the most powerful ships). However, I can also argue that such an effect is due to your own skill/achievement. Higher ranking CMDRs earn more funds anyway already, might as well keep it fair and consistent.

However, I fully agree with your comment about the CZ in general. They feel very underwhelming in terms of gameplay value. Sure, you can shoot and destroy stuff there, but that is about it. Also there is hardly any tactics involved and in a way it is just one never ending skirmish between two factions. Frontier should really improve the gameplay value/depth there. It would be very nice if we, like you said, have goals in a CZ (perhaps through the mission system) and that there can be a winner in a CZ. It would be nice if you would really have faction AI wings in the CZ as well and that capital ships can really have an effect in a CZ, and be more than a glorified background that can shoot back.

I personally really hope for the day that we can have real players also siding with the factions in a CZ and fighting alongside the AI in teams in a PvP manner as well, now it is always more of a PvE grind.