[Suggestion] Military Assets and possible overhaul of the Military

[Marc_Hicks]

So after we saw the CGQ assets that are going to be imported into Elite: Dangerous-particularly the Military Station-it got me thinking that we will have Military Outposts, Military Stations (albeit initially only in visual form) and Military Settlements after 2.2.

So I was also thinking, is this then part of the plan they have for the overhaul of the military component of the game?

My hope is that *all* military assets will be off-limits to commanders who lack the rank in the appropriate military. Outposts would be available to those of the lowest rank, Stations would be available to those of up to the Middle Ranks, and Settlements would be available to those of the highest ranks.

These assets would have the regular facilities, but missions would be military only (i.e. the only "Faction" would be the appropriate Military......and probably the Dominant Civilian Faction), & any commodities would be of a military variety (weapons, armour, land-mines, high explosives, fuel etc).

These assets would also have outfitting for Modules not available outside of the military-off the shelf Module Upgrades that can only be accessed as a benefit of military rank. Ultimately they would also contain varieties of ships unavailable to civilians (outside of those already only available to those with military rank). It would also be nice if these assets could sometimes be home to Engineers with a particular military bent.

Anyway, what do you guys think? Do you think the shift of Military bases to the main game is part of the larger game-plan, in relation to the military game.....or am I just reading too much into it?

 

[Chrystoph]

The idea that a facility, of whatever nature, be off limits based on rank is... inappropriate.

I don't disagree with the idea of missions or even equipment, having gates, but facilities should not be restricted.

 

[Hydrino]

Interesting idea. It makes sense given the stated goals to one day make military careers a thing. I'm not sure if I agree with Chrystoph or not, but he has a point - civs can drive through some military bases in the US, but definitely not all and not special ones and access to areas is restricted, of course. So I think some military areas/assets should be gated, especially if one is ranked with an opposing major faction.

Games always lend themselves to military allegories, story-lines and assets as it is a natural way to get conflict and therefore interesting action into the game. ED is no different, although broad enough in scope that the military should not dominate the entire story and possible game-play.

For modules, there should be military engineers. I rather dislike the Engineers concept being used to limit the variety and look of modules we can just buy outright. And having to travel to each location and unlock them, meh. But if we are going to have it, don't make it different for the military.

FD have a lot of opportunity and challenge to integrate the player actions further into the BGS and feed that up into Power Play, which doesn't happen today. That could make military careers even more interesting to play (and Power Play potentially more relevant to everyone).

No shortage of work for FD. And they don't lack for ideas.

BTW, military fuel is coming "soon" as well as a couple of grades of fuel as was discussed in the DDF. At least it seems under development since they exist in the current live game files sitting on your PC right now.

 

[Marc_Hicks]

The idea that a facility, of whatever nature, be off limits based on rank is... inappropriate.

I don't disagree with the idea of missions or even equipment, having gates, but facilities should not be restricted.

Why not, though? I can't simply walk into a military facility in real life.....so why should the Elite: Dangerous galaxy be any different?