Please take these suggestions in the manner I intend them. I am not a programmer, so have no clue how difficult these ideas would be to implement. That said, some of the stuff I will suggest either is or was in the game in some fashion. Please feel free to add any other suggestions to the list!
1. Bring back Chained Missions: Seriously, I genuinely don't know why these were removed, but they need to be restored-and expanded to on foot missions.
2. Generate minor narrative elements for standard missions: When we get on-foot missions from mission givers standing around the concourse, you can see that there is always a brief narrative about why the mission needs to be done. I would love to see a simplified version of this applied to missions we get from mission boards-whether for ship-based, SRV-based or on-foot based missions. Even before the advent of AI, several games with procedural generated quests had these simple "narrative generation" tools-usually reliant on coding strings or the like to create a semi-believable narrative.
3. Expand the number and frequency of mission wrinkles: Pretty much self-explanatory.
4. Expand the ways in which we can get missions beyond the mission boards and mission givers: NPC pilots, scanning of various outpost beacons, collection of various types of salvage (like black boxes and escape pods) are just a few additional ways in which we should be able to get missions within the game.
5. Provide greater flexibility in how to complete missions: For example, if an SRV-based mission requires you to interact with the Uplink of a surface outpost, it should be possible for the player to disembark and do it whilst on-foot....perhaps using a method similar to when we encounter crashed Nav Beacons and satellites. Likewise, if a mission requires you to salvage hostages or escape pods from a planetary surface with your SRV, you should have the option to release the NPC(s) (maybe using an Arc Cutter or an E-breach) and take them with you on your ship as passengers.
6. Create new variants of existing mission types: There are several mission types in the game for which I feel variants would work very well. For instance, we can currently salvage goods from abandoned surface outposts and facilities, and also missions to repower them. So why not a variant for orbital outposts and facilities-using a variety of methods to gain access to the inside of the location-with some possibly housing hostile NPC's within. In a similar fashion, you could have on-foot massacre and assassination missions in these same locations. Passenger missions should also be obtainable whilst on foot, with the added wrinkle that you may have to escort the NPC(s) from one location onto your ship, then safely escort them from your ship to their ultimate destination.
7. More tools for completing missions and other activities: I have mentioned elsewhere that it would be great if our Artemis Suit had a tool for sampling non-organic material-like material from fumaroles and geysers, or samples of soil or gas from these kinds of locations. In a similar vein, it would be great if the Maverick Suit had an additional tool especially for picking locks in the absence of an e-breach or a cloned security level. I am thinking of something akin to the tool used in Alien Isolation, if anyone is familiar with that.
Anyway, those are just the thoughts that immediately come to mind. I'd love to hear what you guys think.
Marc_Hicks.
1. Bring back Chained Missions: Seriously, I genuinely don't know why these were removed, but they need to be restored-and expanded to on foot missions.
2. Generate minor narrative elements for standard missions: When we get on-foot missions from mission givers standing around the concourse, you can see that there is always a brief narrative about why the mission needs to be done. I would love to see a simplified version of this applied to missions we get from mission boards-whether for ship-based, SRV-based or on-foot based missions. Even before the advent of AI, several games with procedural generated quests had these simple "narrative generation" tools-usually reliant on coding strings or the like to create a semi-believable narrative.
3. Expand the number and frequency of mission wrinkles: Pretty much self-explanatory.
4. Expand the ways in which we can get missions beyond the mission boards and mission givers: NPC pilots, scanning of various outpost beacons, collection of various types of salvage (like black boxes and escape pods) are just a few additional ways in which we should be able to get missions within the game.
5. Provide greater flexibility in how to complete missions: For example, if an SRV-based mission requires you to interact with the Uplink of a surface outpost, it should be possible for the player to disembark and do it whilst on-foot....perhaps using a method similar to when we encounter crashed Nav Beacons and satellites. Likewise, if a mission requires you to salvage hostages or escape pods from a planetary surface with your SRV, you should have the option to release the NPC(s) (maybe using an Arc Cutter or an E-breach) and take them with you on your ship as passengers.
6. Create new variants of existing mission types: There are several mission types in the game for which I feel variants would work very well. For instance, we can currently salvage goods from abandoned surface outposts and facilities, and also missions to repower them. So why not a variant for orbital outposts and facilities-using a variety of methods to gain access to the inside of the location-with some possibly housing hostile NPC's within. In a similar fashion, you could have on-foot massacre and assassination missions in these same locations. Passenger missions should also be obtainable whilst on foot, with the added wrinkle that you may have to escort the NPC(s) from one location onto your ship, then safely escort them from your ship to their ultimate destination.
7. More tools for completing missions and other activities: I have mentioned elsewhere that it would be great if our Artemis Suit had a tool for sampling non-organic material-like material from fumaroles and geysers, or samples of soil or gas from these kinds of locations. In a similar vein, it would be great if the Maverick Suit had an additional tool especially for picking locks in the absence of an e-breach or a cloned security level. I am thinking of something akin to the tool used in Alien Isolation, if anyone is familiar with that.
Anyway, those are just the thoughts that immediately come to mind. I'd love to hear what you guys think.
Marc_Hicks.
.