Missions in ED have greatly improved since I started playing (beta). They're more interactive and interesting and FD have put a lot of effort into improving the missions we can take, giving us more variety over time. The introduction of the Passenger lounge in 2.2 takes that another step further, giving us a completely different type of mission in its own area. This is great; more content for us to enjoy.
However, what I feel FD have made little progress on since beta is the way we get missions. It's changed a lot since beta but with a greater variety of mission types (with all the varied reputation and rank walls as well) comes mission saturation, with a finite number of missions to choose from in one go. This is one of the things about missions that I feel is most frustrating.
And it's even more so now that Engineers requires mission rewarded materials. Suddenly, we not only want a specific type of mission (combat, trade, smuggling, etc), but we also want that mission to offer a specific reward. And the whole thing is as near to RNG as may as well be purely RNG. You can learn the meta to improve your chance of getting the exact mission you want but it's still pure RNG.
Worst of all, the only way to refresh the board to get a new set of missions is to log out and log back in to another group/solo/open etc. I don't think anyone thinks this is fun. But many do it out of necessity. If it were to be removed, it would be nigh on impossible to regularly find a mission you want to do, that gives you the rewards you're looking for.
So this is where my suggestion comes in: Contracts.
The Contracts page would provide the player a way to much better define the types of missions they want, for the type of pay and rewards they need. In doing so, the player agrees to a contract with a faction in their chosen system and that faction provides them with ample missions of a certain type to fulfill, where the rewards are fine tuned more towards what the player actually needs.
This is a summary of how I think it could work:
Bulletin boards will still remain useful. You'll need to use these to gain enough faction to get a good contract, or to regain faction if you lost the contract. They'll also be useful for a quick mission fix if you need it, but don't have a contract in that system (or don't wish to hold one).
The idea here is that you can build up a meaningful relationship with a faction in a system you feel is "home" (or several homes if you have a high enough rank). Through this, you can get multiple missions of a more specific nature. The missions you want to do, when you want to do them. Want to take a full hold of passengers to Sag A*? Agree to a passenger contract. They'll offer you only passenger missions to Sag A*. Want to focus on materials to get those Modular Terminals? Renegotiate your contract to a 50% pay cut and get 3 materials for every mission. Want to quickly build your reputation? Take a 50% pay cut and double your reputation gains.
Fancy doing something else? Find another faction that focuses on what you want to do and agree a contract with them.
What do you think?
However, what I feel FD have made little progress on since beta is the way we get missions. It's changed a lot since beta but with a greater variety of mission types (with all the varied reputation and rank walls as well) comes mission saturation, with a finite number of missions to choose from in one go. This is one of the things about missions that I feel is most frustrating.
And it's even more so now that Engineers requires mission rewarded materials. Suddenly, we not only want a specific type of mission (combat, trade, smuggling, etc), but we also want that mission to offer a specific reward. And the whole thing is as near to RNG as may as well be purely RNG. You can learn the meta to improve your chance of getting the exact mission you want but it's still pure RNG.
Worst of all, the only way to refresh the board to get a new set of missions is to log out and log back in to another group/solo/open etc. I don't think anyone thinks this is fun. But many do it out of necessity. If it were to be removed, it would be nigh on impossible to regularly find a mission you want to do, that gives you the rewards you're looking for.
So this is where my suggestion comes in: Contracts.
The Contracts page would provide the player a way to much better define the types of missions they want, for the type of pay and rewards they need. In doing so, the player agrees to a contract with a faction in their chosen system and that faction provides them with ample missions of a certain type to fulfill, where the rewards are fine tuned more towards what the player actually needs.
This is a summary of how I think it could work:
- This would be a new page on the station menu. It won't replace the bulletin board.
- The bulletin board would still be there for players to get quick missions, work towards the BGS, gain reputation and cash and so on.
- The Contracts page would be similar to the bulletin board (contacts on the left-hand panel), but instead of missions they list currently available contracts.
- A contract is an agreement you make to work for the faction.
- You're not bound to the contract and can cancel it at any time.
- You're not bound to work a certain number of missions, you can choose to take them whenever you like
- Each contract can be of various types, such as:
- Bounty Hunting
- Trade
- Exploration
- Passenger missions to x location
- Conflict zones
- Piracy
- Smuggling (and so on)
- The types of contracts available are limited to the type of faction and the system's current state (as the missions are)
- With each contract, you can specify a minimum credits award (limited by your ranking relevant to that contract type and your reputation)
- You can also request a cut in the credits to gain material rewards. The more you choose to cut the pay, the more materials you can gain per mission (to a maximum of, say, 3 per mission)
- In addition to this, you can negotiate a lower cut of credits to gain a greater reputation reward.
- Essentially, your contract might be agreed on the basis that you gain zero credits but get materials and the greatest reputation rewards.
- All of this is limited by your standing and ranks, of course (a harmless pilot cannot negotiate their contract at all and only gain normal reputation, normal materials and normal credits awards)
- Once you have agreed the contract, you can view it on the Contracts page.
- From here, you can cancel, renegotiate the terms of the contract and accept missions
- A contract will only provide the missions you want. If you agreed to a bounty hunting contract with a base credits award of 1m credits, with 50% pay and enhanced materials, then you'll only be offered bounty hunting missions worth 500 credits or more, that also reward materials.
- The mission system works exactly the same way as the bulletin board, otherwise.
- Your contract will improve as you progress naturally
- If you gain a new rank, the base contract automatically improves (or perhaps you must renegotiate, not yet decided)
- If you lose too much reputation and it falls below the contract's minimum, the contract will be terminated by the employing faction
- An additional benefit of this system could be a contracts tab on your left panel, allowing you to browse and accept missions whilst out in space
- You can only have a certain number of contracts at one time. I'd say this should be 1-5 (Harmless to Mostly Harmless = 1, Novice to Competent = 2, Expert to Master = 3, Dangerous to Deadly = 4 and Elite = 5)
- You cannot agree to a contract if you're in a contract with a conflicting faction.
Bulletin boards will still remain useful. You'll need to use these to gain enough faction to get a good contract, or to regain faction if you lost the contract. They'll also be useful for a quick mission fix if you need it, but don't have a contract in that system (or don't wish to hold one).
The idea here is that you can build up a meaningful relationship with a faction in a system you feel is "home" (or several homes if you have a high enough rank). Through this, you can get multiple missions of a more specific nature. The missions you want to do, when you want to do them. Want to take a full hold of passengers to Sag A*? Agree to a passenger contract. They'll offer you only passenger missions to Sag A*. Want to focus on materials to get those Modular Terminals? Renegotiate your contract to a 50% pay cut and get 3 materials for every mission. Want to quickly build your reputation? Take a 50% pay cut and double your reputation gains.
Fancy doing something else? Find another faction that focuses on what you want to do and agree a contract with them.
What do you think?
One (only) bump, if no one replies I'll assume it's not as good an idea as I thought 