For the outfitting topic, the creation of more gameplay loops and options and UI feed directly into this. New SRV's for recovery or exploration are a good idea, but those mechanics need expanding before that can be a thing. Same for Ship Launched Fighters which to me should rightly include ship launched ships so it is not just pew-pew that is emphasized (as is frequently noted).Hi all,
Setting aside all the common wish-list items, such as more planetary landings, walking in your ship, more alien encounters etc., I thought I'd share my own in-game wish list for you to comment on
Feel free to add more stuff below too, and I'll add stuff to this list as I think of it.
Mike
---------------------
Missions
- Exploration and Scouting - Frontier need to make exploration meaningful again, and this means we need long-range exploration missions. These are missions where you're sent to scan or discover systems suitable for mining or colonisation. In these missions you'd need to scan all the bodies in a system, perhaps bring back samples from planetary surfaces, scan comets and other astronomical phenomena, and discover new materials and the beginnings of life
- Allegiance and Galactic Powers - These would be where you undertake a series of chained missions for a power or faction. These can include destroying the power systems on a series of opposition bases, or scanning a series of bases to gain intelligence. These missions could take anything from a day to a week of gameplay to complete, and would really help relieve the monotony for a lot of players
- Passengers + Cargo - We're routinely transporting people around the galaxy, but what about their cargo and possessions? It's reasonable to assume that people, especially if they're moving somewhere like Colonia, would have a great deal of cargo to take with them. We need passenger missions where you need to also have cargo space available
- Rescue Missions - We need a new Rescuer role within the game. The Fuel Rats do a brilliant job, but why aren't there USS' and missions for pilots who need fuel or repair. AFMU limpets can be added to the game, so that we can assist in repairs to damaged ships. This would add a whole new role to the game, and give people a reason to wing-up as well, so the rescuer ship can be protected while it does its job (2.4)
- Salvage, Recovery - An additional type of rescue mission could see Commanders sent to find a ship that's can't be repaired, and that has perhaps crashed or been destroyed, and retrieve its passengers' escape pods (2.4)
- Transport to Colonia - I'm not sure where to start with Colonia. Why do all the passenger missions to Colonia only pay up "when you return"? We badly need one-way missions to encourage people to transfer there
- Passenger Missions from Colonia - Additionally, all the passenger missions currently at Colonia are heading back to the bubble, again with payment "when you return". I've seen almost no missions that head out into the galactic core. We desperately need more missions to the core and elsewhere in the galaxy from Colonia
- Ship Rendezvous - This mission type would mean Commanders would transfer passengers or cargo (or both) and meet up somewhere in the middle of the black with another ship, to make the transfer. There's a good opportunity here for black market and criminal transfers too
- Community Goal-type Personal Missions - When you look at a mission board, you'll see missions that you can't take because, you can't transfer that many people, or you can't carry that much cargo. Why should we be forced to do all this in a single trip? Surely it makes sense to allow a Commander to make the transfer in stages by, for example, transferring 28 tonnes of cargo over three trips instead of just one
- Scientific Missions - These would be similar to the exploration missions in some ways, but shorter range, and involve Commanders being sent to study things like alien ruins, planetary rings, or perhaps a particular type of planetary surface structure. These missions could also include scanning and following comets (we need comets in the game), or other new types of astronomical phenomena. Additionally, they could be chained and take anything from a few hours to a week of gameplay to complete
- Community Goal Offshoot Missions - There are many community goals where people work to obtain materials required to build a megaship, capital ship or base. All of these would also need lesser quantities of more specialist materials and commodities. In the way missions pop up in the comms panel, who not have additional missions appear when you're undertaking a community goal, where you're asked to obtain an additional, specialist commodity or material
- Intelligence and Spying - Great play was made a couple of years ago about missions that would suddenly pop up in a player's comms panel. I don't know how many people undertake these, but there's room to expand them to include secret intelligence and spying missions for factions and powers to which you are aligned
- Alien Encounters - With the coming of the Thargoids, how about introducing scientific missions where Commanders are sent to investigate signs of alien life. This could involve scanning alien transmissions, or signs a ship has traversed through a system. Who knows, some might even involve you running into a Thargoid, or another alien directly, which could bring many more players into alien contact than might otherwise happen
Community Goals
- Staggered Community Goals - I'm self-employed and work from home, but not everybody has my flexibility when it comes to playing Elite, and many people work on weekends when Community Goal activity is as its peak. There should be two waves of Community Goal in the game. One beginning on Thursday as it does now, but another beginning every Monday
- Weekly Colonia (and other bubble) Community Goals - We need weekly community goals for all the players in Colonia (and any future settlement regions) to help keep them involved in the game
Commodities
- Black-Market Purchasing – Being able to buy black-market goods at stations, rather than just being able to sell them
- Materials Purchase and Sale - Being able to buy and sell materials, especially being able to sell rare ones, at stations and black markets
- Data Sale - Being able to sell certain data types (Firmware, Obelisk Data, Files and Archives, etc.) to stations and black markets
Engineers / Modules
- Shielded cargo racks – to aid with smuggling
- Stealth Armour - a lower grade armour that hides the ship from scanners at long to medium range
- Full Engineer Info - being able to view the full range of Engineer mods available for all unlocked Engineers, and to see what materials and data you need, at any time (with what you already have, highlighted). This will mean we will need to resort to online resources much less frequently
- Extend Engineering to SRVs and Fighters - to include engines, shields, weapons and weapon special effects
- Ammunition Racks - Suggested by some respondents to this thread, being able to carry additional ammo or missiles when going into battle would be useful to many Commanders
Outfitting
- AFMU Drones – to fit with the Rescuer role I’m suggesting. Enabling repair of other ships that have taken damage using limpet drones, and for repairing hull damage to your own ship. (2.4)
- More SRV types - to include recovery, cargo, long-range exploration, racing, mining, and combat types
- More Fighter types - perhaps to include stunt ships for race events
- Software modules – moving the Docking Computer to software, and moving the Kill Warrant, Wake, Discovery and Surface scanners, and lifeform scanners to new generic scanner modules, with each run from software. Also introducing new AI modules to include flight and battle computers to aid players
Roles
- Rescue – A new role bringing the Fuel Rats into the game. Through missions and USS’, finding ships that have run out of fuel, or that have taken damage and that cannot proceed until they have received repairs or aid. This would be a good excuse for players to wing-up, so the rescue and distressed ships can be protected from pirates (2.4)
- More for Explorers to do – Exploring can be dull and monotonous. More needs to be added in deep space, such as damaged ships with salvageable components (including both cargo and materials, but also limpets and AFMU cassettes. Also interesting exploration finds such as comets and additional types of astronomical discovery should be introduced to the game
- Alien life on planets – I talk more about this later, but high exploration data payment rates for the discovery of everything from basic amoeba-type lifeforms, to perhaps advanced but pre-spacefaring alien life
Mining / Materials
- Super-rare materials only found outside the bubble – used to perhaps unlock Grade 6 engineer mods, or to be sold for an extremely high profit, materials that can only be found through mining or surface scavenging outside of the bubble
- Mining in Asteroid belts – if we can do this already I've never heard of anybody doing so. Why is this not already in the game?
Ships
- Panther Clipper – come on Frontier, give me this one please!
- Long-Range Explorer - Python or Anaconda-sized ship, better equipped for exploration than an Asp Explorer, but with massive, long-range engines and designed with a focus on purely exploration, so foregoing hardpoints and other non-exploration ship features
- Rare ship types – Just a few very rare, and very hard to find, ship types (perhaps like classic cars or prototypes) where only a limited number are available for sale, and the purchase locations will regularly change. This could include classic ships from the Original Elite game
- Older ship types - It would make the galaxy a much more realistic and believable place if you'd occasionally encounter an older ship type, still travelling the space lanes. Perhaps a Cobra Mk II, or an Asp Mk I, or a superseded Type-8 freighter, with a few spots of rust but still flying
- Salvage - This fits in with my suggestion on ship graveyards (below) with being able to scan derelict ships to discover salvageable components and materials. Perhaps some entire ships might be salvageable, which would be a great way to gain your first Anaconda. Of course the repair costs would be massive, and it's possible the ship or component would never operate at maximum capacity, but it would certainly add something to the game
- Transporter and other Mega ships - We know ship transporters exist in the game, but it would be brilliant to occasionally encounter one. Likewise encountering other mega-ship types, such as massive cruise liners, tankers etc. would really add something to the galaxy.
Stations
- Different space station types for the Empire and Federation – The Empire and Federation have different ship designs, but why do they all use the same space station designs? The Empire and Federation should have their own space station types, this could implemented in the same way space station internals were changed in 2.2
Systems
- Systems Where X or Y is Prohibited – Systems in the game where, perhaps for religious or political reasons, X or Y is prohibited. This can include Engineer mods, certain weapon types (Mines or Plasma Accelerators), or specific ship types, such as combat vessels
- Additional New Bubbles – Colonia is a fun place to be, but if Frontier want to encourage more players to go exploring, they could place additional bubbles near Sagittarius A*, Beagle Point, and the other far side of the galaxy where there may be heavy Thargoid action
- Naming of Systems - To be available only if you have first discovery on every body in a system, and are also the first Commander or faction to place a base or Megaship in the system (see my later suggestion on that)
- Ship Scrapyards & Debris Fields - It would be great to be able to explore ship scrapyards, graveyards and debris fields from destroyed ships, and from battles
Alien Life
- Additional Alien Races – It's widely recognised by all now, that we can't be the only life forms in the galaxy. Additional life should be discovered, both on planets where missions and powers can either exploit it, or work hard to protect it, and spacefaring races, where they could be anything from unfriendly to very timid
- Alien motherships / Generation ships - We have our own motherships and generation ships. It would be great to be able find derelict alien ships floating in space, or perhaps even the occasional live one
Narrative
- More stories and tension between the Empire and the Federation – The Empire and Federation all-too often seem to indicate the two powers just live next door to each other in harmony. We need more storylines and conflict between the two major powers
- Make Alliances Meaningful - Currently, Commanders can be allied with anyone and everyone. In addition to my suggestion on ranking (below), we should be able to specify allegiance to a specific faction or power to gain additional missions, benefits. This is part of bringing PowerPlay into the main game.
- Consequences for gaining Imperial / Federation / Alliance ranks – Why should I be allowed to be both an Admiral in the Federation, and a King in the Empire? Gaining rank with one power should make your more unfriendly with the other. You should be able to state an allegiance to a power to gain rank (not doing so would prevent you from gaining rank) and also be able to relinquish your rank should you wish. This could be linked with an Federation / Imperial narrative to have the effect of suddenly making Commanders unfriendly in systems where they were friendly only the week before, adding to interesting gameplay. Remember we can already become friendly or allied with a power without taking rank increase missions (this effectively begins to bring PowerPlay into the main game) and it also means that more in-game activities could count towards your rank increase
Other
- Cargo insurance – it’s been mentioned in the game since day one, but has never appeared
- Outpost / Megaship ownership – being able to build, buy, maintain, expand and defend your own outpost(s), and build their trade to make credits
- In-Game Wiki and Information System - so we don't all have to rely on external websites and forums so much
- Planetary bookmarks - being able to set bookmarks for features on planetary bodies, so we can easily navigate to them again
- Coloured Bookmarks - being able to have different coloured bookmarks in the galaxy map would help Commanders navigate our sometimes extensive lists, and make sense of what's what, and where's where
- Apply FSD Crafting to Current Route - a modification to FSD range extension crafting, that when selected it will auto apply the range extension to your currently plotted route
- Helping other players - by being able to sell / give ships to, or donate credits to another Cmdr
- Removal of CQC Rank from the game - Alternatively, CQC could be brought directly into the game, along with flight and SRV race events. I'd like the ability to hide it from my status panel though
For the modules, I agree some items like docking computer should be Software Modules. And Software Modules could be expanded in scope. However, I disagree that all scanners are the same and should be mostly in software. There are many different instrument types that are absolutely not the same. I would like to see Explorer ship outfitting where the ship is bristling with antennas, dishes, non-combat lasers, phased array radar, etc. Ships like the Anaconda should be faced with the choice of equipping hardpoints with exploration equipment or combat but not have room for both. Smaller ships conversely need a few more options to make them as useful, so software modules and some other type of module slots might be fun.
Most of the ideas have been mentioned many, many times. But those two stand out to me at the moment.
