So the background simulation allows for growth, there are stations under construction which still haven't been finished (Sothis & Ceos, I'm looking at you) and there are outposts and installations (which currently do nothing) which could be performing some risky activities... ships get destroyed, escape pods drift, the universe is dangerous.
People get hurt, people get sick. It would be nice to help.
I propose a type of passenger mission where such help could be a valid form of gameplay (and a rich source of RolePlay and videos for us Content Creators).
The missions would involve a new type of passenger cabin, a Med bay, or even a suspension bay.
A regular passenger bay could suffice but they wouldn't have any bonuses on the next part of the missions... extremely tight time delay.
Most of the passengers are dying, they're critically injured and need to be taken to a major station with medical facilities ASAP - Hopefully your ship is up to the task - this location would be the target of the mission (however if the player knows of a better or closer station with medical services, they could divert or perhaps an optional mission wrinkle could divert them ).
A Med bay on the ship would involve an NPC crew mate who's a nurse or a medic, they would improve the chances of the patient surviving the trip by extending the amount of time the player has to complete the mission. Depending on the level of the medic and the level of the Med bay, the chances of complications during the trip would alter. There should be the chance that a patient goes into a state where some action is needed - an item acquired from somewhere, Medical equipment or drugs, perhaps illegal drugs. Successfully completing these missions would level up the NPC in their field. These NPCs are not pilots and cannot fly ship launched fighters.
A much more expensive module would be the "Suspension bay" where the patient is effectively put to cryo sleep, this vastly increases the amount of time a mission has - also based on the level of the npc crew member - and frees the pilot from any patient status complications. However a suspension bay would be susceptible to fluctuations in power levels and could potentially need a significant amount of power to operate. Should the power fail, the commander has to reboot the suspension bay and has a chance of losing the patient - the chances of this happening depends on the level of the npc medic. A powered suspension bay should also be immune to ship scans. Un-powered, they would revert to a finite backup power supply - but this only maintains minimum functionality of keeping the patient suspended.
The patients could range from workers on mines, or planetary/orbital outposts to high ranking officials/leaders even criminals who need medical attention.
Some high level criminals may choose to accept suspension as their chances of being discovered are lower, but the payment they offer would take this into account - as well as the risk of death.
It may be possible to effectively murder patients by depriving their unit of power, this should be treated as an evil action and should affect any future Karma system.
Medical vessels could also be used at USSs where the are escape pods of survivors. They could collect the pods and be given a mission after the pod was revived (placing a patient in the med bay) to take the new patient/passenger to a particular location. You may receive an additional wrinkle during this mission to turn in the patient as a fugitive, hand them over to an enemy -failure would result in being chased, or to take them to their intended location.
In order for Medical/Mercy missions to work, the mission board would need to be filterable and plentiful.
Being able to select
Passenger Legal
Passenger Illegal
Passenger Prisoner
Passenger Medical Emergency
A ship containing a medical bay or a suspension bay would spawn a rescue or suspension pod upon destruction. A medi bay uses less power so its onboard emergency powersupply would keep the patient alive for a few minutes. A suspension bay needs a lot of power so it would begin to fail after a short time - increasing the chance of patient death.
Another players could collect the passenger and be offered a mission upon their collection. This could potentially lead to other missions in Open where a player gets a mission to hunt down a player carrying a high ranking official - destroy their ship and capture the official.
The amount of money a contract is worth should depend on the background simulation - it could be substantial depending on the level of the patient, but there should always be a plentiful supply... afterall, in any city on Earth there are always people needing to travel around or need medical attention. More missions is just more realistic.
By including a filter like this, and by making sure the mission board always contains a plentiful supply of missions for any filter, This would solve another problem.. that of people board hopping.
By always having a healthy list of missions, the temptation to board hop would be greatly reduced... it will never be fully eliminated, but if the basic gameplay rewards staying in group/open/solo instead of switching, players would be more inclined to stay and get on with the game.
You could also make it so that the patient has a chance of perishing based on a bad result from a Karma system if board hopping is detected... but filtering should help anyway.
A medical/mercy role in the game could also have paint packs and commander suits associated with it.
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
More to do than PewPew
People get hurt, people get sick. It would be nice to help.
I propose a type of passenger mission where such help could be a valid form of gameplay (and a rich source of RolePlay and videos for us Content Creators).
The missions would involve a new type of passenger cabin, a Med bay, or even a suspension bay.
A regular passenger bay could suffice but they wouldn't have any bonuses on the next part of the missions... extremely tight time delay.
Most of the passengers are dying, they're critically injured and need to be taken to a major station with medical facilities ASAP - Hopefully your ship is up to the task - this location would be the target of the mission (however if the player knows of a better or closer station with medical services, they could divert or perhaps an optional mission wrinkle could divert them ).
A Med bay on the ship would involve an NPC crew mate who's a nurse or a medic, they would improve the chances of the patient surviving the trip by extending the amount of time the player has to complete the mission. Depending on the level of the medic and the level of the Med bay, the chances of complications during the trip would alter. There should be the chance that a patient goes into a state where some action is needed - an item acquired from somewhere, Medical equipment or drugs, perhaps illegal drugs. Successfully completing these missions would level up the NPC in their field. These NPCs are not pilots and cannot fly ship launched fighters.
A much more expensive module would be the "Suspension bay" where the patient is effectively put to cryo sleep, this vastly increases the amount of time a mission has - also based on the level of the npc crew member - and frees the pilot from any patient status complications. However a suspension bay would be susceptible to fluctuations in power levels and could potentially need a significant amount of power to operate. Should the power fail, the commander has to reboot the suspension bay and has a chance of losing the patient - the chances of this happening depends on the level of the npc medic. A powered suspension bay should also be immune to ship scans. Un-powered, they would revert to a finite backup power supply - but this only maintains minimum functionality of keeping the patient suspended.
The patients could range from workers on mines, or planetary/orbital outposts to high ranking officials/leaders even criminals who need medical attention.
Some high level criminals may choose to accept suspension as their chances of being discovered are lower, but the payment they offer would take this into account - as well as the risk of death.
It may be possible to effectively murder patients by depriving their unit of power, this should be treated as an evil action and should affect any future Karma system.
Medical vessels could also be used at USSs where the are escape pods of survivors. They could collect the pods and be given a mission after the pod was revived (placing a patient in the med bay) to take the new patient/passenger to a particular location. You may receive an additional wrinkle during this mission to turn in the patient as a fugitive, hand them over to an enemy -failure would result in being chased, or to take them to their intended location.
In order for Medical/Mercy missions to work, the mission board would need to be filterable and plentiful.
Being able to select
Passenger Legal
Passenger Illegal
Passenger Prisoner
Passenger Medical Emergency
A ship containing a medical bay or a suspension bay would spawn a rescue or suspension pod upon destruction. A medi bay uses less power so its onboard emergency powersupply would keep the patient alive for a few minutes. A suspension bay needs a lot of power so it would begin to fail after a short time - increasing the chance of patient death.
Another players could collect the passenger and be offered a mission upon their collection. This could potentially lead to other missions in Open where a player gets a mission to hunt down a player carrying a high ranking official - destroy their ship and capture the official.
The amount of money a contract is worth should depend on the background simulation - it could be substantial depending on the level of the patient, but there should always be a plentiful supply... afterall, in any city on Earth there are always people needing to travel around or need medical attention. More missions is just more realistic.
By including a filter like this, and by making sure the mission board always contains a plentiful supply of missions for any filter, This would solve another problem.. that of people board hopping.
By always having a healthy list of missions, the temptation to board hop would be greatly reduced... it will never be fully eliminated, but if the basic gameplay rewards staying in group/open/solo instead of switching, players would be more inclined to stay and get on with the game.
You could also make it so that the patient has a chance of perishing based on a bad result from a Karma system if board hopping is detected... but filtering should help anyway.
A medical/mercy role in the game could also have paint packs and commander suits associated with it.
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
More to do than PewPew
