Thoughts on Naval Progression

RedWizzard

RedWizzard
The naval progression system is a great addition to the game. But having spent some time ascending to the illustrious rank of squire with the Imperial Navy I have thought a bit about changes I'd like to see to the process. Here are my suggestions:

  • Overall the process of finding the missions is too random. It seems logical that most high-population stations in the Empire/Federation would have naval liaison offices. Ideally I think such an office should appear in the contacts list in the station rather than having missions pop up randomly in the bulletin board.
  • The first mission is a lot harder than the following few due to the short timer. I think this mission should be slightly easier (12 or 15 minutes).
  • The next few missions (at least for Empire) were simple cargo delivery or courier missions with generous timers. I think these timers need to be reduced significantly. There is essentially no challenge to these missions at the moment. These missions would also feel more meaningful if some of them involved longer distances (e.g. a 50 Ly trip).
  • The one mission = one rank progression feels too easy to me. Even with the current random availability of missions it still possible to ascend 3 or 4 ranks in a few hours. That seems too quick. I wouldn't want to return to FE2/FFE's heavy grinding requirement (for the higher ranks, at least), but I think having to do multiple missions per rank would make the sense of accomplishment on ranking up a bit more substantial.
  • Some more variety in the missions would be nice. Salvage missions seem really well suited: "go find us this black box/plans/rebel plans/etc". Also combat zones seem obvious: "go to the warzone near X in Y system and kill Z opposition ships". Engineered test situations could be used as well: "smuggle these goods into X station in Y system. They have been instructed to treat you as hostile. Do not destroy any of their ships".
  • It seems weird that the major powers are quite happy to let you hold ranks with the opposition. "I see you're a baron with the Imperial Navy, but that's fine, you can join the Federal Navy and we won't even ask you to give up your position with the Empire" seems unrealistic.
  • It'd be nice if your title was used with your name, at least once you reached a high enough rank: Baron RedWizzard rather than Cmdr RedWizzard.
 

ShadowGar

Banned
ShadowGar
RedWizzard said:
  • It seems weird that the major powers are quite happy to let you hold ranks with the opposition. "I see you're a baron with the Imperial Navy, but that's fine, you can join the Federal Navy and we won't even ask you to give up your position with the Empire" seems unrealistic.
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That definitely seems wrong. I wonder if that was intended. Maybe ticket that to see what the response is?
 

Rearden

Rearden
Getting one rank per hour sounds silly, at that rate we'll have more generals than soldiers anytime soon.

Actually, now that I think of it, maybe it should be a limited number but lets not open that pandora box just yet and instead make the ranks mean something to begin with.
 

Dablin

Dablin
kamenjar said:
I am Unfriendly Recruit for Feds. Got ranks while I was hostile/unfriendly only.
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I think negative ranks are accredited more easily then positive ranks. You can spend along time getting on the good side of somebody only to make one mistake and be back where you started.
 

kamenjar

kamenjar
Dablin said:
I think negative ranks are accredited more easily then positive ranks. You can spend along time getting on the good side of somebody only to make one mistake and be back where you started.
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Yes, I know that. I got scanned once and went from neutral to very hostile back in beta.
My point related to the discussion is that I was able to get naval ranks while unfriendly/hostile.
 

Valethar

Valethar
With those 'Black Ops' missions where you have to kill a General, is the ship you're after going to be in-system, or do I need to pick up an interdiction module so I can chase it out of SC?
 

RedWizzard

RedWizzard
Valethar said:
With those 'Black Ops' missions where you have to kill a General, is the ship you're after going to be in-system, or do I need to pick up an interdiction module so I can chase it out of SC?
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As Mephane said, they're in a USS. If you've got a choice of missions (I had two) pick one in a system that's not owned by whatever side you're working for because there have been reports that you'll lose reputation by doing it. Which is pretty silly.
 

Icarus1

Icarus1
RedWizzard said:
As Mephane said, they're in a USS. If you've got a choice of missions (I had two) pick one in a system that's not owned by whatever side you're working for because there have been reports that you'll lose reputation by doing it. Which is pretty silly.
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I just did a 2 hour search of every USS I could find, I can't find my intended target. This issue is been around since Gamma version. My progression completely haulted since release now, because once I gave up already searching for Maelstrom, now I got 2 more navy progression missions for 2 different targets. None of the 3 can be found!
 
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RedWizzard

RedWizzard
Icarus1 said:
I just did a 2 hour search of every USS I could find, I can't find my intended target. This issue is been around since Gamma version. My progression completely haulted since release now, because once I gave up already searching for Maelstrom, now I got 2 more navy progression missions for 2 different targets. None of the 3 can be found!
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As I said, there is a bit too much randomness. I found the general I was hunting in the first USS I tried. But it took me a good 3 or 4 hours to find the second mission, though they do seem to be a lot more common in 1.03.

I quite liked how assassinations were done in FE2/FFE. You knew when they would leave a particular station and what they were in and could attack them either before or after they jumped.
 

iFred

I
Icarus1 said:
I just did a 2 hour search of every USS I could find, I can't find my intended target. This issue is been around since Gamma version. My progression completely haulted since release now, because once I gave up already searching for Maelstrom, now I got 2 more navy progression missions for 2 different targets. None of the 3 can be found!
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You have to take the mission again (if you took one before the yesterdays patch, just abandon and youll get a new one).
 

Tembuktu

Tembuktu
Got a general traitor assassination mission today from Federal Black ops - found the guy in the 3rd USS and he opened fire immediately from his Dropship. Took some damage in my Asp but also some neg rep from the Federation - will have to follow the advice to make sure the kill is in a non-fed system.
 

Morbad

Morbad
RedWizzard said:
It seems weird that the major powers are quite happy to let you hold ranks with the opposition. "I see you're a baron with the Imperial Navy, but that's fine, you can join the Federal Navy and we won't even ask you to give up your position with the Empire" seems unrealistic.
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I lied on my resume and unsurprisingly neither the Federation nor the Empire were overly eager to tell the other side about their double (actually triple) agent.
 

Daeron

Daeron
Double-dipping naval careers for rewards, is a silly mechanic that doesn't make a lot of sense, given that someone should be shot at some point. I'll just say it since it is that time of the year: Humbug!
 
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