Ship related missions

[medwyn]

Seeing the number of topics arising on whether certain ships are worthy to keep or no or what for, I got something in my mind.
Maybe the easiest way to give extra purpose for a game element is to encode it into the mission system.
I'd love to carry out missions which require a certain ship type to be completed and not available for any other ships to take on.

The money these missions pay could not necessarily be related to the size of the cargo hold so a stock Sidewinder would be as important in the game as a bigger cargo ship for some courier missions.
I can imagine local governmental parties/corporations fancy of a certain kind of ship and giving missions only for commanders flying those - for example one party uses Pythons only so they put up missions on the bulletin board requiring a Python commander to take on and nobody else. Or a courier service which operates with a fleet of Cobras. Also when passenger transport arrives how appealing it could be to buy ticket to an Orca flight rather than a rusty T-6? Also when an "Asp Squad" is looking for a bounty hunter to take on a pirate lord, etc.

This way I guess there could be more reasons to own a certain kind of ship rather than their value in terms of primary profit. Mission driven events could also make people invest in ships they saw no purpose in having them earlier.
What do you think?

 

[rebelredneck]

I loved the thargoid warship i had in FFE after completing the mission

 

[AV2012]

Sounds like a good idea to me. For example you for some mission you would have to fly a smaller ship like a SideWinder or an Eagle in fly inside capital ships. Other missions would only become available for bigger ships with bigger risk/reward levels. This would provide more incentive to fly the bigger ships.

 

[medwyn]

Let me go back to the Sidewinder as it appears to be a good example of how ships are "rated" here in ED right now (or at least how I understand all this).

The Sidey is the starter ship. I would work on the terms a bit more with regards to "starter" and "starting".
If the Sidewinder is a "starter" ship it means that players will step over it as soon as possible because it's not really good for anything but at least flies so a pilot career can be started in it. So the Sidey becomes a filler in ED universe. I feel the same for the Eagle - it's fun to try but there's no real outcome or career requires constant and consequent use of the Eagle - another filler.
I know that's the way how it goes in games: some elements are way out of importance than others but if there's a chance to give them more meaning why not think about it?

To convert the Sidewinder to a "starting" ship from "starter" it needs potential. Obviously as it has it's limits in upgrades it will never be a viable option for pilots EXCEPT if it can do something other ships can not. Specific missions for example. A specific career path. If the hours flown in it would mean anything to a faction. Or whatever else makes it a desirable opportunity to fly it.
Same applies to the financially debated big ships too - give them a purpose so it's a deal to take on the upkeep costs.

 

[medwyn]

Another thing came into my mind in relation to this - it's the warzone-effect.
Since it's battle after all I guess as the time goes in ED there'll be only bigger ships involved (Python+) as they are the ones capable of resisiting enough punch and deliver enough firepower. Even Vipers may bleed out as they have smaller shields and much more fragile hulls.
This is a concentration towards big ships I expect happening and converting warzones to a high-level instance where only the big boys can enter effectively. Again it's only my assumption (based on my previous experience in MMOs) and may be inaccurate but it would be strange to see battlefields filled up with only 3-4 types of ships and not a smaller one.
Another argument to create a way for smaller ships to be meaningful.

Specific missions into warzones?