Minor Faction Community Goals for those with Allied Status

[Walt Kerman]

With the recent advent of community goals to Elite Dangerous, I began thinking of new ways it could be applied. As it stands now, Community Goals are a galaxy wide event hitting the galnet. Multiple events would just clog up the news menu. It doesn't have to be this way (very few community goals) though:

The idea is that if you became allied to a faction you would be able to access the minor factions community goals. They wouldn't necessarily be big events like what we see currently but rather small ones. This could use already implemented game mechanics, for example, if a boom occured, the community goal could be for the faction to import a certain number of luxury goods, if certain stages are completed, various boosts to system stats like wealth and standard of living would be implemented depending on the level achieved. An example:

Hello Commander,​

As a valued member of ____ faction and known philanthropist to our cause, the [government] of [planet/station] would like to build a new military academy for the use of our newest recruits to the system authority that keep our space lanes safe. With the construction of such a facility we would be able to ensure that the skill level of each our authority pilots is up to the par our citizens and you expect. We know due to your past efforts that you have an interest in keeping our space lanes safe, and this is the best way to do so.

As we achieve different levels of funding we can provide further benefits and facilities for our recruits resulting in better pilots the higher of a funding level we achieve.

Level 1 example

Level 2 example

Level 3 example

etc

​

In this example, various levels would see improvements in AI skill level for system authority. In this way you could boost your adopted factions ability to fend itself from npc and player pirates. This would be achieved through donation missions (your own pocket) or courier missions with the purpose of contacting "investors". Again this is just one example - there are so many places you can go with this.

Not only would this provide a benefit to being allied with a faction (there really aren't many benefits at the moment), but it would also provide immersion and help the smaller communities as well. Players would also feel more connected to aspects of the back ground simulator which really seems to be broken at the moment, and the galnet board wouldn't be spammed, but rather you would only see it in the local galnet if allied status was achieved.

 

[Beauseant]

This is what I always thought community goals would be. I was very excited to start being involved in them in my favorite local minor faction.

 

[Walt Kerman]

This is what I always thought community goals would be. I was very excited to start being involved in them in my favorite local minor faction.

Its what I thought they would be too, actually. I was sort of disappointed when I realized I wouldnt be seeing them, since I never reallygo that far from my local area, but at least some people are enjoying it. Many more could though.

 

[Ytheleus]

I was about to start a thread along these lines and found yours near the top. I agree strongly.
To expand a bit more, I think major faction, minor faction and military ranks offer a chance to add depth to gameplay that hasn't been built upon yet. They seem to be place-holders without consequences at the moment.

There are some pretty obvious things that might be implemented.
1) Per OP, limit some community goals to major/minor faction 'allied' players. This would also provide better reasons to become allied if the rewards are sufficiently tempting. Perhaps scale some rewards by how much the faction already likes that player too.
2) Make faction alliances more rewarding by offering goods/ships/weapons that are exclusively sold to favoured players, whether for minor (thus minor goods) or major factions.
3) Military ranks should offer better weapons (overcharged, low heat etc), there is already a hint of this in the military ships available through ranking. But if you have a military rank in more than one faction, this should be restricted I think. Perhaps the weapon set available would be calculated by:
effective rank for buying special weapons (or whatever) = military rank with my faction - military ranks with other factions.
4) Further restricting access to station services in 'core' major faction systems (with high populations, close to capitals) to allied and friendly players.
5) Making it harder to be allied with all factions at once. More 'us and them'. If a player is allied to one major faction, the player should have to work a lot harder to become allied to other factions. Positive for one faction means negative for another.
6) Altering costs of station services and goods according to how much the faction likes you.

The upshot being that players are encouraged to make choices with consequences, and to become aligned. The more you tune these things up, the more interesting the galaxy gets in my opinion.

This is not meant to hijack by the way, or go off topic, I just think we're talking about the same sort of ideas with the intention of creating and rewarding faction loyalties to differentiate the player base more. If that's wrong I apologise and will hawk my daft ideas elsewhere..

 

[Walt Kerman]

I was about to start a thread along these lines and found yours near the top. I agree strongly.
To expand a bit more, I think major faction, minor faction and military ranks offer a chance to add depth to gameplay that hasn't been built upon yet. They seem to be place-holders without consequences at the moment.

There are some pretty obvious things that might be implemented.
1) Per OP, limit some community goals to major/minor faction 'allied' players. This would also provide better reasons to become allied if the rewards are sufficiently tempting. Perhaps scale some rewards by how much the faction already likes that player too.
2) Make faction alliances more rewarding by offering goods/ships/weapons that are exclusively sold to favoured players, whether for minor (thus minor goods) or major factions.
3) Military ranks should offer better weapons (overcharged, low heat etc), there is already a hint of this in the military ships available through ranking. But if you have a military rank in more than one faction, this should be restricted I think. Perhaps the weapon set available would be calculated by:
effective rank for buying special weapons (or whatever) = military rank with my faction - military ranks with other factions.
4) Further restricting access to station services in 'core' major faction systems (with high populations, close to capitals) to allied and friendly players.
5) Making it harder to be allied with all factions at once. More 'us and them'. If a player is allied to one major faction, the player should have to work a lot harder to become allied to other factions. Positive for one faction means negative for another.
6) Altering costs of station services and goods according to how much the faction likes you.

The upshot being that players are encouraged to make choices with consequences, and to become aligned. The more you tune these things up, the more interesting the galaxy gets in my opinion.

This is not meant to hijack by the way, or go off topic, I just think we're talking about the same sort of ideas with the intention of creating and rewarding faction loyalties to differentiate the player base more. If that's wrong I apologise and will hawk my daft ideas elsewhere..

Well number one is on topic. Why don't you expand on that one a bit.

 

[Ytheleus]

What's to expand? I can't see much to discuss apart from someone either agrees or doesn't agree with your suggestion. By itself it won't change the game much, but it's a small step in the right direction.
I support your suggestion. That's all I've got so I'll leave it there. I'm happy to edit my first post if you prefer.

 

[Loskene]

Yeah man, I see community goals as another feature that's barebones right now but with a lot of potential if used right. Using it to flesh out other existing mechanics is the right way to go.

 

[Stocker]

even i was hopeing CG was going to happen in every system. but i thought they would make it once you get friendly. tier 1 would turn you to allied. then the faction advancement tiers start. to finally last tier take representative to another system. then the start of the next set to take over the new system.