Missions and searching through USS has got to go!

Crooked

C
Spending hour after hour looking through random USS that all do the same thing makes me nuts. The only reason I'm still trying is because I get progression missions to improve my Empire rank where I need to kill 2 pirates. I've tried these before and always end up binning them because they suck. As I mainly trade, here is what happens with a few contracts in my transactions tab.

1. Spend 5 minutes looking for and then closing in on USS.
2. Trader. Updates my transactions tab. Increases value by about 500 credits for a faction I'm not interested in. Nobody will do this, ever.
3. Back to 1. Go to 4.
4. Trader. Updates my transactions tab. Asks me to drop a mission for 50k+ for 170 credits. Nobody will do this, ever.
5. Back to 1. Go to 6.
6. Sidewinder. Scan him, no bounties anywhere. Doesn't say anything. Has no cargo.
7. Back to 1. Go to 8.
8. 7 cannisters of Chemical Waste. Oh gee, thanks. Not even worth the bounty if I get caught.
9. Back to 1. Go to 10.
10. Rebel plans floating in space. Hmm I didn't even take that mission? Maybe if I take them to a Black Market? Nope.
11. Back to 1. Go to 12.
12. Trader. Updates my transactions tab. Increases value by 50 credits for a faction I'm not interested in. Nobody will do this, ever.
13. Back to 1. Go to 14.
14. Sidewinder with funny name. No bounties.
15. Back to 1. Go to 16.
16. Trader that wants to buy something I'm not carrying and I won't be able to find him again. Useless.
17. Back to 1. Go to 18.
18. Dock at friendly station, switch to Cobra Mk III and make some real money before I slit my own throat.


In order to not just be a whiner, here's what needs to happen. First of all it seems logical and infinitely more playable that if you're hunting something you should have at least an idea of where to look. Spawn some mission markers. It makes sense, doesn't break immersion and I would be OK with a few of them being "normal" USS as long as you know that eventually you're hitting the target. This also allows you to get into some more interesting scenery, as these should spawn close to planets so you get to view that fantastic backdrop of a planet while you're engaging in combat.
Secondly, the Traders who are trying to convince you to drop a mission have to actually make it worth my while because 99% of the time it will go against the faction I'm working for. You're not going to be a dealbreaker and destroy hours of work for +500 credits, but maybe for 3 times the actual deal (modified post potential bounty) you'll consider it.
Third. That Sidewinder with no bounty and nothing to say. I've seen him/her too many times for it to be funny now. Why is this butthole considered interesting and spawning a completely useless USS?

There's more but I'm hungover. It might come off negative but I'm trying to seed some useful info here. Give us mission markers. I can't think of a single reason right now to explore an USS voluntarily, and if forced to by a progression mission you just see 2-3 hours of your life disappearing into the void.
 

Wicz

Wicz
Mission markers??

grumpy-cat-no-2.jpg
 

Faerie

Faerie
Gave you+1 rep because I can see where you're coming from, but these are the kinds of things you have to learn to deal with if you're going to become a successful player.
The only thing I'd seriously ask for is the right to shoot those ships that offer a piffling amount to renege on a mission because they're mildly offensive. ;)
 

AndyHill

A
The USS system needs a total overhaul, but I don't see mission markers as a huge step forward. If you want to spend less time hunting USS, just sit still (or 30km/s) and they will pop right in front of you and you can just jump in without having to chase them down first.
 

Weps

Weps
Some of the OP's points are valid. What I would like to see in regard to the things mentioned above:

1. Alternative mission outcomes: increase the reward for switching sides substantially. As a trader, besides the reputation aspect, chances are that I have chained several missions to a particular station or carry goods I intend to sell at that station. Your paltry 100cr will not persuade me to abandon my trade route. Easy fix.

2. Finding USSes: I would love a coordinate system in the game. Maybe polar coordinates with the origin at the main star. This would also help with emergent gameplay, have people meet in certain places. Hard to implement, I don't expect this any time sooner than an expansion.
 

Muthax

M
Faerie said:
Gave you+1 rep because I can see where you're coming from, but these are the kinds of things you have to learn to deal with if you're going to become a successful player.
The only thing I'd seriously ask for is the right to shoot those ships that offer a piffling amount to renege on a mission because they're mildly offensive. ;)
Click to expand...

I blew up one with no consecuences
 

Bangfish

Bangfish
I hate these missions with passion and never take them. If it was feasable to scan a ship in SC and make a desicion based on ship loadout which type it is and after killing it it would count towards mission then why not. But the current implementation of going through x randomly generated USS (which are also incredibly immersion breaking, given their spawn mechanism) is just horrible.
Mission markers are definitely no go though.
 

ollobrains

Banned
O
SOME hae black market traders who will buy youre illegal stolen goods plundered from other uss sits all without needing to go near a station
 

razoromero

R
Hi mate, I know what you mean! Regarding the taking then discarding of missions; do you know if this has a negative effect on reputation or no effect at all? Once you click ACCEPT, I'd like to know that after wasting time on seemingly impossible missions, you can dump it without caring about reputation progress.

Something that I've recently started doing you may like to try. It does involve random USS fishing but under the right circumstances it has proven to be fun and profitable.

I'm gaining rep for a faction in an Independent system. They have a remote outpost (no scans when docking and no feds lurking about) plus there is a Black Market ;)
So, I launch, enter super cruise (keep throttle in the blue sweet spot) fish for USS, drop out and see what I've found. Most of the time It's worth it.
So far I've found some lovely, valuable cargo - straight back to outpost and Black Market.
Lone pilots who are Wanted. Start fighting, they get scared, dump their load and if they're quick enough, escape, otherwise they explode beautifully and net me some bounty! Back to outpost, claim bounty and sell loot.
Getting them to dump their load is really good sometimes, I've had quite a few tonnes of 'Rares' that I'd never even heard of!
Sometimes there's a bunch of ships, two or three of them scan as Wanted. Makes for some really fun dog-fights.

Missions though, you're right. Give us at least a bit of direction!
 

Pyrion

Pyrion
I don't like the current USS implementation either, but mainly because it is immersion breaking. So, your task is to find a pirate. What will you do about it? Yea, sitting in the middle of nowhere, throttling donw engines and waiting for the pirate to appear next to you. Sure, sounds plausible. Space is sooo small..., he is bound to come close to you soon.

I am not sure about an alternative. Maybe you need to find him in FSD... that's at least less boring. USS are still nice for other purposes, scenarios where it is likely that somebody/something is sending a signal. Why on earth would that pirate be a source of a signal?

Another idea would be some kind of target scanner. Could be a bit harder to use, like only giving some signal strength and you have to triangulate yourself. Or first you need to find that secret pirate base, circling some remote moon. Maybe somebody else has more ideas?
 

Crooked

C
The idea of a scanner tuned to some ship signature that highlights certain USS is a damn good one and would fit nicely. Good one!
 

crushdepth

C
Instead of 'go find USS' missions I'd love to have some where the baddies come to you, like you take a courier run and people try to mug you on the way.
 

AV2012

AV2012
I think the main problem with the USS's is there random nature. This of course works both ways. I couple of times recently I picked up some typical "find the black box" missions. These were in the same system as the station offering them. So I SC'd out from the station, immediately slowed to 30 km/s in SC and on two occasions the black box appeared on the first USS that spawned around me. I agree that finding the Mineral Magpie time and time again gets tiresome. However, I can't help wondering if it's worth stocking up on the red crystals they want.

I think it's probably worth re-iterating that you don't need to fly around chasing USS's. Just slow right down in SC and they come to you. They typically have a spawn rate of about 1 every 2 mins. It's also worth scooping up Black Boxes and Rebel Transmissions as the missions requesting these don't validate the origins of the cargo, so you can complete these missions immediately with the cargo you've already scooped. This way you can work through the wheel of random relatively quickly and get to something you actually need.
 

rdslw

R
I support OP in request to rework USS.

Simple verification that it's borken:
1. take in parallel 10 missions (which require you to visit USS).
2. visit some USS, and you will be flooded with 'counter proposals' to your missions.

They're plain idiocy as:
a. occur ultra frequently
b. offer nothing (marginall increase in CR)
c. due to faulty ergonomy (can't even imagine how it passed some basic QA on fdev.. ) it's hard to know what mission offers what now :)
d. they reduce chance of finding you'r main USS
e. just the idea of somebody out of blue KNOWING YOU, FINDING YOU AND OFFERING countermission (on almost every USS occassion) INSTANTLY creates awarness that this is artificial game world. Insta immersion wakeup :(


:-(
 

ellay

ellay
Totally agree with the OP that something needs change, I got a mission to find 2 tons of Prototype tech.

The first USS appeared, but it only had one ton in it.

I then had to wait for roughly 12-15 USS's until another one appeared with prototype tech canisters.

The time it took me to muck about trying all the USS's to make around 12000, I could have spent trading and made so much more.

I don't understand why instead of simply naming them USS's, it can't give you more of an idea about what might be there. Ie, Space craft wreck, Spacecraft engine emissions etc, unidentified canisters etc and save Unidentified signal source for the TRULY unidentified stuff - alien spacecraft etc
 

Cythrawl

C
I have yet to have a faction change mission offer me less than 2000cr more to abandon the mission and do it for them instead.
But some of the missions where you have to look for a Black Box/Rebel Trans/Prototype/Military plans, etc in systems that just have two stars in them, I am finding that sometimes I can travel around that system for 20 mins and get NO USS's at all...

Now THAT is frustrating..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom