I just visited an Unauthorised Installation at Istanu. There I found 4 log files written by a Federal agent who had gone undercover. His cover had been blown, so he'd hidden himself in an escape pod, with a message to be returned to Ross 154 if he was found.
Sure enough, after a bit of searching around *inside* the installation, I found an occupied escape pod floating around. I recovered it and took it to Birkeland City in Ross 154. At the station, there was a Ross 154 Herald article reporting a missing federal agent, and asking for anyone with any information to let the authorities know.
There were no missions from the local factions there to recover the escape pod, so I handed it into Search and Rescue and got awarded a very ordinary 2527 credits.
And that was it.
The logs, the mini-game of finding of the escape pod in the tunnels of the installation, and the skirmishes with local pirates after I had recovered it, were all fantastic.
More of this please! [yesnod]
But the lack of follow up was probably more disappointing than the meagre reward. It felt like the development of this was so close, but the last mile went missing somewhere. There were a number of ways this ending could have been improved on. You could have received any combination of the following:
* A thank you from the agent, and a tip off.
* A follow up mission from the controlling minor faction to destroy the pirate lord responsible for blowing the agent's cover (so they can immediately go back undercover ready for someone else to rescue!).
* A significant increase in rank progression with the Federation, and/or minor faction rep.
* A planetary scan (or a new installation scan) mission to find there whereabouts of her captors (followed by the assassination mission above).
* A clue to another installation representing the next piece of the story she was uncovering.
My hope is that this is something that Frontier can handle much better with the forthcoming player codex in 2018, since individual accomplishments will be more readily accessible. But even without it, I can't help but feel that most of the mechanics to do this are there right now - they just need to be pieced together with some hand-written missions.
Sure enough, after a bit of searching around *inside* the installation, I found an occupied escape pod floating around. I recovered it and took it to Birkeland City in Ross 154. At the station, there was a Ross 154 Herald article reporting a missing federal agent, and asking for anyone with any information to let the authorities know.
There were no missions from the local factions there to recover the escape pod, so I handed it into Search and Rescue and got awarded a very ordinary 2527 credits.
And that was it.
The logs, the mini-game of finding of the escape pod in the tunnels of the installation, and the skirmishes with local pirates after I had recovered it, were all fantastic.
More of this please! [yesnod]
But the lack of follow up was probably more disappointing than the meagre reward. It felt like the development of this was so close, but the last mile went missing somewhere. There were a number of ways this ending could have been improved on. You could have received any combination of the following:
* A thank you from the agent, and a tip off.
* A follow up mission from the controlling minor faction to destroy the pirate lord responsible for blowing the agent's cover (so they can immediately go back undercover ready for someone else to rescue!).
* A significant increase in rank progression with the Federation, and/or minor faction rep.
* A planetary scan (or a new installation scan) mission to find there whereabouts of her captors (followed by the assassination mission above).
* A clue to another installation representing the next piece of the story she was uncovering.
My hope is that this is something that Frontier can handle much better with the forthcoming player codex in 2018, since individual accomplishments will be more readily accessible. But even without it, I can't help but feel that most of the mechanics to do this are there right now - they just need to be pieced together with some hand-written missions.
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