Cargo and passenger missions are dreadfully dull, with absolutely nothing to do than jump, supercruise, fuel scoop, and occasionally fight off an incredibly easy interdiction.
This is certainly not reflective of how dangerous it can be to drive logistics and transport in reality, especially when working in tense conflict areas, or when transporting high value or famous people.
War, interstellar crime, assassinations and celebrities are certainly present in Elite.
So I had an idea, why not create a new kind of mission that correctly reflects the state of the galaxy, and shakes up the meta of stripping your cargo/passenger ship as much as possible?
This introduces the concept of High-Risk transport missions. They combine cargo/data/passenger delivery with a solid amount of danger, forcing you to reconsider your strategies and loadouts.
The challenge in these missions would primarily manifest in interdictions that are much harder to evade, having a difficulty level similar to that of being interdicted by another player.
This prevents a basic shield & wake strategy, as opposing ships will be combat-ready, possessing solid speed and weaponry in order to stop you from reaching your destination.
Waking out will also lead to the enemy renewing their offense, chasing you and likely attempting to interdict again through multiple systems.
High-Risk transport missions can be found anywhere, but are increased around systems in conflict. Systems in war would likely have you transport reinforcements or supplies for a faction, with their opposing faction mounting a strong offense to cut their support, which is you.
Depending on difficulty rating, interdictions may also include enemy reinforcements, larger and better armed enemies, and engineered weapons at a high level, like FSD-disrupting missiles, drag munitions, and cascade torpedoes as examples.
This makes a player think on how to best approach the objective. Do i build my ship for speed and agility and try to wake out as quickly as possible, dropping mines behind me?
Do I load up on shield boosters, cell banks and try to tank through? Can i build my ship for Silent Running to sneak out of combat situations and avoid scans?
Or do I just deploy hardpoints and fight for my life, possibly earning a bonus from the faction i'm working for?
There are three main types of high-risk transport missions; those that aid a faction in conflict (reinforcements, weapons, aid, strategic data, soldiers/officers), those that attract criminals (rare goods, alien artifacts, survey information, famous/rich people), and those that are direct criminal activity, causing a response from system security or superpower authority. (hostages, slaves, contraband, stolen rare goods...)
While wars and police response is fairly simple, assuming you are intentionally committing an act against them, pirates are less predictable. They may demand all of your cargo, some of it, or simply fire hatch breaker drones at you to take it. A small ship may interdict you and goad you into an agile fight, only to wake out as their larger, better armed ships jump in. You may encounter no pirates at all, or a calculated, surgical heist to quickly rob you of that Painite, Hafnium-178, or SAP 8 core containers.
These missions that involve cargo also have an important aspect; the commodities have an innately high value.
This means that it can be lucrative for other commanders to steal your cargo from you to sell on the black market, adding onto the viability of piracy.
This is certainly not reflective of how dangerous it can be to drive logistics and transport in reality, especially when working in tense conflict areas, or when transporting high value or famous people.
War, interstellar crime, assassinations and celebrities are certainly present in Elite.
So I had an idea, why not create a new kind of mission that correctly reflects the state of the galaxy, and shakes up the meta of stripping your cargo/passenger ship as much as possible?
This introduces the concept of High-Risk transport missions. They combine cargo/data/passenger delivery with a solid amount of danger, forcing you to reconsider your strategies and loadouts.
The challenge in these missions would primarily manifest in interdictions that are much harder to evade, having a difficulty level similar to that of being interdicted by another player.
This prevents a basic shield & wake strategy, as opposing ships will be combat-ready, possessing solid speed and weaponry in order to stop you from reaching your destination.
Waking out will also lead to the enemy renewing their offense, chasing you and likely attempting to interdict again through multiple systems.
High-Risk transport missions can be found anywhere, but are increased around systems in conflict. Systems in war would likely have you transport reinforcements or supplies for a faction, with their opposing faction mounting a strong offense to cut their support, which is you.
Depending on difficulty rating, interdictions may also include enemy reinforcements, larger and better armed enemies, and engineered weapons at a high level, like FSD-disrupting missiles, drag munitions, and cascade torpedoes as examples.
This makes a player think on how to best approach the objective. Do i build my ship for speed and agility and try to wake out as quickly as possible, dropping mines behind me?
Do I load up on shield boosters, cell banks and try to tank through? Can i build my ship for Silent Running to sneak out of combat situations and avoid scans?
Or do I just deploy hardpoints and fight for my life, possibly earning a bonus from the faction i'm working for?
There are three main types of high-risk transport missions; those that aid a faction in conflict (reinforcements, weapons, aid, strategic data, soldiers/officers), those that attract criminals (rare goods, alien artifacts, survey information, famous/rich people), and those that are direct criminal activity, causing a response from system security or superpower authority. (hostages, slaves, contraband, stolen rare goods...)
While wars and police response is fairly simple, assuming you are intentionally committing an act against them, pirates are less predictable. They may demand all of your cargo, some of it, or simply fire hatch breaker drones at you to take it. A small ship may interdict you and goad you into an agile fight, only to wake out as their larger, better armed ships jump in. You may encounter no pirates at all, or a calculated, surgical heist to quickly rob you of that Painite, Hafnium-178, or SAP 8 core containers.
These missions that involve cargo also have an important aspect; the commodities have an innately high value.
This means that it can be lucrative for other commanders to steal your cargo from you to sell on the black market, adding onto the viability of piracy.
