passenger mission revision.

[sibullski]

For starters I would like to say that passenger missions were done well as far as out of bubble cruises are concerned. Being asked to transport a passenger 1200 lightyears gives the player some time to do some exploration as well as potentially see something amazing when they reach their destination this format of passenger mission does not need to be changed at all and is a great edition to elite dangerous. My problem is with the regular sightseeing passenger missions. These missions seem to run into a bit of a rut because even though the passenger is deemed highly valued I never suffer interdictions and when the passenger is dubbed demanding I only ever get one demand. Not only this but meeting the demands of the passenger isn't even a benefit to the mission whatsoever because not meeting his demands doesn't cause me to fail the mission or lose money on the mission because it doesn't degrade passenger satisfaction properly which is a problem. When I saw the passenger mission trailer before 2.2 was released it showed a passenger asking to go to a conflict zone and then a few minutes later asking for some liquor. This should be more of the standard for passenger missions because then it makes the long cruises more entertaining. Passengers should also be very disgruntled when you don't meet their demands as well and not only this but they should make more than one demand they should make several so that the player has to decide which demands to meet and which ones not to meet. This way the player is forced to make choices to make sure that the passenger doesn't become so disgruntled that he jettisons of the ship. So let's say a player with several demanding passengers aboard will be able to meet some of the demands from the passengers, just enough to keep them content and ignore the rest. This creates a new gameplay mechanic which is a good thing. Another good thing would be to increase interdictions of passengers who are in fact highly valued targets because I have taken several of these passengers and have not been interdicted once. It is a huge problem it makes in bubble cruises very boring. Now mind you these npc's who will be interdicting you should not be high level enemies because it is more than likely that the passenger ship is not a combat vessel. So they probably shouldn't go any higher than master in combat rank. These interdictions should actually be somewhat more regular because by doing this you make the long dull journey's more exciting and by not presenting the player with challenging enemies the player is allowed to enjoy combat with npc's that aren't too challenging. It would be a great way to pace these types of passenger missions. Not only this but in my opinion blowing up the enemy ships that interdicted you because you were carrying high value passenger's should increase passenger satisfaction because the passenger will know he is safe. It should also decrease passenger satisfaction for passenger's who are low value targets. By doing this you create an interesting gameplay mechanic where the player will have to choose to either escape the interdictions or boost away when the player is interdicted. The player will essentially have to make the choice of fulfilling the demands of the high value passengers or blowing up the ships which will also make the high value passenger happy. Now if the player has a low value target on board he will have to escape interdictions and simply meet all passenger expectations.

I hope you are still with me as I continue rambling on. The last thing I would like to be bring up are the value of luxury cabins. I did watch one of the streams from elite dangerous on their youtube channel where a programmer made a valid point in saying passenger missions should be enjoyed by everyone. This is perfectly fine and understandable Most missions boards should have a multitude of missions that do not require luxury cabins but at the same time it is still possible to make luxury cabins more valuable by designating them to a certain type of economy that is in boom. Let's say only high tech economies that are in boom will passenger lounges that are blown up with only luxury class passengers. This way the owner of a beluga or orca will feel like he got his money worth when he bought the ship.

Thank you for reading this if you did I do hope A staff member of frontier does find this. I have been playing the game since it was released on xbox one preview. I do hope I displayed my points in a clear manner. I'm open to criticism as well as questions as to what I mean in my post if I did fail to make some things clear.

 

[zxalexis]

TLDR;
If you carry tourists to distant location - there should be noone to interdict if they are clean. If you carry a criminal to the nearest anarchy you will be interdicted at 99% of cases. Choose your taxi clients to fulfill expectations)

 

[Airwolfr]

I was finally getting back into ED and enjoying passenger missions when 2.2 was released and the payouts were worthwhile, however as usual FD swung the nerf bat on them and they are no longer worth the effort and as a result i rarely touch this game anymore.

Please bring back the original payouts for passenger missions FD, i have lots of friends that abandoned this game in recent months and have now invested in alternatives such as Star Citizen to stop the bordem.

 

[foxwalker]

You have heard of Carrot vs the Stick? Right now Passenger Missions have way too much Stick and not enough Carrot.
1. Missions with very low payouts. Not enough Carrot to be worth taking.
2. Big payout Missions - Much Carrot. but-
- very long distance relative to reward - Stick.
- Always need to smuggle - - Stick.
- Always make demands - Stick.
- Often also wants to avoid danger - Stick. By the way. Why are passengers smuggling and afraid of danger?

Currently there is no balance in Passenger missions for risk vs reward.

 

[sibullski]

You have heard of Carrot vs the Stick? Right now Passenger Missions have way too much Stick and not enough Carrot.
1. Missions with very low payouts. Not enough Carrot to be worth taking.
2. Big payout Missions - Much Carrot. but-
- very long distance relative to reward - Stick.
- Always need to smuggle - - Stick.
- Always make demands - Stick.
- Often also wants to avoid danger - Stick. By the way. Why are passengers smuggling and afraid of danger?

Currently there is no balance in Passenger missions for risk vs reward.

my issue is that although they are afraid of danger there is never danger presented I'm almost never put in harms way when doing passenger missions and as far demanding goes well they seldom do make demands and when they do you can just ignore them. So there isn't much stick nor is there much carrot. Passenger missions have the potential to be very dynamic and at their current state they are not.

 

[Captain Willard]

I'll disagree. I took 2 transport missions today, 5 and 8 mil each, 3-4 jumps. A tourist mission for 2 beacons 16 mil. All the way up to 38 mil for 4 beacons. Just not all the time.

 

[Deleted member 115407]

I'll disagree. I took 2 transport missions today, 5 and 8 mil each, 3-4 jumps. A tourist mission for 2 beacons 16 mil. All the way up to 38 mil for 4 beacons. Just not all the time.

Went on one last night that took far too long for the 2M. Saw a couple tonight (2 stops) that I would have taken for the 4-5M they were offering, had I had the time.

 

[foxwalker]

I'll disagree. I took 2 transport missions today, 5 and 8 mil each, 3-4 jumps. A tourist mission for 2 beacons 16 mil. All the way up to 38 mil for 4 beacons. Just not all the time.

OK, so It is possible there are a few missions that do not require "Secretive" but the majority of greater than 2-3 million are. (Unless you have found a location this is not true). It seems disproportionate. You can easily do 2-3 million credit slave hauling with a much lower degree of difficulty. I believe there are way too many hurdles making passenger missions harder than they should be.

 

[Tryst]

OK, so It is possible there are a few missions that do not require "Secretive" but the majority of greater than 2-3 million are. (Unless you have found a location this is not true). It seems disproportionate. You can easily do 2-3 million credit slave hauling with a much lower degree of difficulty. I believe there are way too many hurdles making passenger missions harder than they should be.

Yes, it's the first thing I saw when I looked at passenger missions. I have not done them and probably won't unless some better system is devised.

They are flying in a spaceship in deep space where there are several nasty people whose sole aim in life seems to be to turn your ship into scrap metal. For this reason, the passengers shouldn't penalise you if you get into trouble and take a bit of damage but still get them safely to their destination, you already lost money due to repair costs. If they can't take that much stress, they should have stayed where they were. Especially when it's probably their enemies and not yours who are attacking you.

Those wanting to go to scientific sites to gather data should also realise that space is dangerous and sites such as those they want to visit, probably even more dangerous. Again, they shouldn't penalise you for taking a bit of damage due to the dangers involved.

The mark of a good pilot is getting them to where they want safely, even if it means a minor bit of combat damage or damage from natural forces on the way.

If they don't like the danger of flying in space, they'd be absolutely terrified flying in a ship piloted by the mad London cab driver (docking autopilot).

 

[6xes]

The passenger missions should have had voice over dialogue that loads from their servers upon accepting missions, making things more interesting.
Even if it was a little story, or peice of history, or a mystery, even abusive passengers, and smart ones too anything but silence, and a little video box with their faces & mouths moving wouldve added extra to taking passenger missions.

Cmdr's couldve had return dialogue by way of a sentence selection panel, to engage with passengers to alleviate the boredom, and get immersed into the passenger dialogue element of the game.

theres alot that can be added in terms of Cmdr / passenger interection enroute to the destinations

who knows perhaps its further down the line!!??

 

[sibullski]

Yes, it's the first thing I saw when I looked at passenger missions. I have not done them and probably won't unless some better system is devised.

They are flying in a spaceship in deep space where there are several nasty people whose sole aim in life seems to be to turn your ship into scrap metal. For this reason, the passengers shouldn't penalise you if you get into trouble and take a bit of damage but still get them safely to their destination, you already lost money due to repair costs. If they can't take that much stress, they should have stayed where they were. Especially when it's probably their enemies and not yours who are attacking you.

Those wanting to go to scientific sites to gather data should also realise that space is dangerous and sites such as those they want to visit, probably even more dangerous. Again, they shouldn't penalise you for taking a bit of damage due to the dangers involved.

The mark of a good pilot is getting them to where they want safely, even if it means a minor bit of combat damage or damage from natural forces on the way.

If they don't like the danger of flying in space, they'd be absolutely terrified flying in a ship piloted by the mad London cab driver (docking autopilot).[/Q]

Sorry tryst I had to edit my post a bit and I don't know what I did but now it says I'm not quoting you but for the record The above message is from Tryst and the below message is from me.

I've done a lot of passenger missions where the passenger was sensitive to hull damage and they typically don't complain unless your hull is at 80 percent. But by and large confrontations while hauling passengers are extremely far and few in between maybe they could atleast change it to where passengers you pick up in systems that are in war or in civil war could cause a lot of interdictions to happen. That way passenger missions won't be so mundane.

 

[foxwalker]

I switched from Cantor Hub to O'Donnell Ring in Chujojimba, and I am now seeing a few missions (a very few) 10 Million and below credits without Secretive or wanted passengers. Anyone with knowledge of locations that have more of these, it would be nice to share.

On an aside, you should be able to hire better employees in the game. Constant messages that the Gym equipment is broken, entertainment cancelled, or the Promenade is closed. I would think passengers would be more upset about that than, a few run ins with pirates!

 

[Tryst]

On an aside, you should be able to hire better employees in the game. Constant messages that the Gym equipment is broken, entertainment cancelled, or the Promenade is closed. I would think passengers would be more upset about that than, a few run ins with pirates!

Apologies from the Commander, as a result of space limitations, the promenade can now be located via the airlock. Enjoy your walk.