Let's face it, there are some inherent flaws in the mission system.
The biggest flaw lies in what and how we get paid.
Sure, hauling some minor data one hop away for a faction that has never heard of you should be, and is, an appropriately low-paying job.
Likewise, taking on a dangerous mission for a faction that hasn't heard of you might pay more, but we all know even this does not compare to the payouts that come from factions that DO like you.
But even the factions that absolutely love you will still try to buy your services in means that, frankly, would lead many of us to find new friends.
And if you're not familiar with the pain of searching for missions for a specific item reward, well, you will be.
Unless...
We need a means of negotiating with these faction people for what they're offering us to take on various assignments - after all, we're the ones with the ships and we're the ones taking the risks hauling their crap all over space. They need us, or they wouldn't be trying to hire us in the first place.
So how would this work, and does Reputation have to do with it?
Well, Reputation affects a few things - it affects the missions we can receive, how much they pay, and to some degree which lines of dialog are displayed.
But it could be easily used in another manner as well - to negotiate our pay.
Consider this rather common mission sort:
Haul 40 tons of Biowaste to This Other System. Pay: 120,000 credits, 4 Microweave Cooling Hoses.
Not terrible, but Microweave Cooling Hoses are basically trash - they serve no purpose at this point, and we can't throw them in a junk bin, so we end up selling them for a few k credits wherever we happen to be, because other than pirates, no one wants them.
So how do we make negotiation for better pay work? Not that difficult really. It starts with adding a button to the bottom of the mission descriptions, curiously enough marked [Negotiate]
When clicked, this brings up a new interface - one that shows the current offering, and some drop down lists of options.
Those options should include the amount of pure Credits being offered, Material Rewards offered and Commodity Rewards being offered.
So, with our mission example from above, we would see 120,000 in the Credits Offered box, nothing in the Materials Offered box, and Microweave Cooling Hoses in the Commodities box.
I don't have a problem with Credits being offered, but I don't want or need any hoses. What I really need are some Exquisite Focus Crystals instead.
So, I change the option in the Commodities box to "None" and I change Materials Offered to "Exquisite Focus Crystals" instead, and click "Submit".
My faction contact then takes a look at my current Reputation.
My reputation is currently Friendly, so they consider my offer, and come back with a new mission reward offering: 110,000 Credits and one Exquisite Focus Crystal.
I can live with that, and take the new offer - they get their crap delivered (possibly literally), and I get what I really need from the mission.
Of course, this does strain our relations a bit, and my reputation drops just a little - though I can make that up by completing the mission.
It is possible that my counter proposal is deemed too outlandish - perhaps I feel I should be paid 300,000 credits for the mission instead.
I submit this offer, and it is just rejected, and my Reputation takes a hit for it, and they do not change the offering at all.
OR, perhaps I just happen to plain like this faction, and I'm willing to haul their crap for free - this time, my Reputation goes up instead. by quite a bit more than I could have made just by completing the mission.
We Need This.
We Really Need This.
For those that perceive a grind in the game, this will considerably lessen it.
For those who do not, this will make Reputation much more meaningful, and will allow us more time actually doing the things we enjoy and less time looking for the things we need to do the things we enjoy.
In short, everyone stands to benefit here.
Thoughts?
Frontier Folk, your thoughts?
The biggest flaw lies in what and how we get paid.
Sure, hauling some minor data one hop away for a faction that has never heard of you should be, and is, an appropriately low-paying job.
Likewise, taking on a dangerous mission for a faction that hasn't heard of you might pay more, but we all know even this does not compare to the payouts that come from factions that DO like you.
But even the factions that absolutely love you will still try to buy your services in means that, frankly, would lead many of us to find new friends.
And if you're not familiar with the pain of searching for missions for a specific item reward, well, you will be.
Unless...
We need a means of negotiating with these faction people for what they're offering us to take on various assignments - after all, we're the ones with the ships and we're the ones taking the risks hauling their crap all over space. They need us, or they wouldn't be trying to hire us in the first place.
So how would this work, and does Reputation have to do with it?
Well, Reputation affects a few things - it affects the missions we can receive, how much they pay, and to some degree which lines of dialog are displayed.
But it could be easily used in another manner as well - to negotiate our pay.
Consider this rather common mission sort:
Haul 40 tons of Biowaste to This Other System. Pay: 120,000 credits, 4 Microweave Cooling Hoses.
Not terrible, but Microweave Cooling Hoses are basically trash - they serve no purpose at this point, and we can't throw them in a junk bin, so we end up selling them for a few k credits wherever we happen to be, because other than pirates, no one wants them.
So how do we make negotiation for better pay work? Not that difficult really. It starts with adding a button to the bottom of the mission descriptions, curiously enough marked [Negotiate]
When clicked, this brings up a new interface - one that shows the current offering, and some drop down lists of options.
Those options should include the amount of pure Credits being offered, Material Rewards offered and Commodity Rewards being offered.
So, with our mission example from above, we would see 120,000 in the Credits Offered box, nothing in the Materials Offered box, and Microweave Cooling Hoses in the Commodities box.
I don't have a problem with Credits being offered, but I don't want or need any hoses. What I really need are some Exquisite Focus Crystals instead.
So, I change the option in the Commodities box to "None" and I change Materials Offered to "Exquisite Focus Crystals" instead, and click "Submit".
My faction contact then takes a look at my current Reputation.
My reputation is currently Friendly, so they consider my offer, and come back with a new mission reward offering: 110,000 Credits and one Exquisite Focus Crystal.
I can live with that, and take the new offer - they get their crap delivered (possibly literally), and I get what I really need from the mission.
Of course, this does strain our relations a bit, and my reputation drops just a little - though I can make that up by completing the mission.
It is possible that my counter proposal is deemed too outlandish - perhaps I feel I should be paid 300,000 credits for the mission instead.
I submit this offer, and it is just rejected, and my Reputation takes a hit for it, and they do not change the offering at all.
OR, perhaps I just happen to plain like this faction, and I'm willing to haul their crap for free - this time, my Reputation goes up instead. by quite a bit more than I could have made just by completing the mission.
We Need This.
We Really Need This.
For those that perceive a grind in the game, this will considerably lessen it.
For those who do not, this will make Reputation much more meaningful, and will allow us more time actually doing the things we enjoy and less time looking for the things we need to do the things we enjoy.
In short, everyone stands to benefit here.
Thoughts?
Frontier Folk, your thoughts?
