Why apply several layers of RNG to pirate elimation missions?

[Ghostflux]

You are tasked with the elimation of x number of pirates from faction y in system z. Seems reasonable (and fun) at first glance. But then you discover that there's additional variables at play that make it extremely boring. Not only do you need to find ships that belong to the given faction, but you also need to find particular ships that are marked as "mission objective" or they will not count even if they are from the same faction. But it doesn't end there either, if the ships are tied to a certain difficulty level then that automatically excludes all other ships.

This would have been fine if the game would detect that you were running this mission and the ships would automatically spawn for you. But instead I am pretty sure that you are dependent on RNG deciding whether a particular ship spawns out of a pool of other available ships with all of the above variables mixed. The end result is a mission system where hunting x number of ships can literally take hours as they simply don't spawn.

 

[m0rl0ck]

Its been like this for sometime. "kill x number of y faction" missions never really worked in my experience unless there was a haz res in the system and sometimes not even then. This is another good candidate to cross of the list of doable missions until they fix some things.
The only consistently reliable missions are the freight missions and the data delivery missions.

 

[Vardaugas]

Just include those missions into your normal bounty hunting endeavors. It's a bonus on top of your normal paycheck.

 

[Ghostflux]

Just include those missions into your normal bounty hunting endeavors. It's a bonus on top of your normal paycheck.

I'd like to view them like that, if it weren't for the fact that those missions are time bound. If they could be completed at my own leisure it'd be a different story.

 

[Hexcaliber]

You are tasked with the elimation of x number of pirates from faction y in system z. Seems reasonable (and fun) at first glance. But then you discover that there's additional variables at play that make it extremely boring. Not only do you need to find ships that belong to the given faction, but you also need to find particular ships that are marked as "mission objective" or they will not count even if they are from the same faction. But it doesn't end there either, if the ships are tied to a certain difficulty level then that automatically excludes all other ships.

This would have been fine if the game would detect that you were running this mission and the ships would automatically spawn for you. But instead I am pretty sure that you are dependent on RNG deciding whether a particular ship spawns out of a pool of other available ships with all of the above variables mixed. The end result is a mission system where hunting x number of ships can literally take hours as they simply don't spawn.

Despite the fact we have the solo game mode, ED is not a single player game; outside of instances spawned for specific targets such as assassination missions, you cannot just spawn targets for the first player to enter a given space such as a jump beacon or resource extraction site. Nor should you change your programming just because a player chooses to sit in solo and not interact with others.

ED is at it's heart a multiplayer game, that is the focus of the games design. While I support a players choice to play in solo, it should not come with changes to the base game play. Everyone's efforts affects the same BGS, even running those kill pirate missions in solo may be in direct competition with other players trying to elevate a different faction in the surrounding systems. And Frontier have done a damned god job of making it a level playing field regardless of your chosen mode.

 

[Ghostflux]

Despite the fact we have the solo game mode, ED is not a single player game;

I agree with what you are saying, but it is irrelevant to the problem. The problem here is the game loop presenting you with extremely big gaps of waiting time instead of gameplay.

 

[Hexcaliber]

I agree with what you are saying, but it is irrelevant to the problem. The problem here is the game loop presenting you with extremely big gaps of waiting time instead of gameplay.

It is not irrelevant in the slightest; resource extraction sites and jump beacons spawn targets from local factions at random, although there is some weighting based on a given factions prominence and current state. They are focus points where players can expect to see ships that travel and operate in and around the current system, and occasionally targets that fulfill our mission parameters appear and the players ship will flag them as mission targets.

In open or a private group because these spaces are open to all, others players may also operate in the same instance with missions to kill entirely different factions from the local area. If the game were designed to spawn target ships for everyone's missions, the situation could quickly become silly. The answer then is to ensure that missions to kill a fixed number of targets only display targets that inhabit or operate within the area. Some times we get lucky and complete these mission in short order, other-times not, that's just the luck of the draw, but its the same for everyone regardless of the selected mode or local faction players may be running missions for.

 

[Ghostflux]

If the game were designed to spawn target ships for everyone's missions, the situation could quickly become silly.

That's cherry picking an example I used out of context. The purpose of the example wasn't to suggest that this is how it should be implemented, but instead it was merely to show one particular way to do a "player driven" approach. If the game has specific requirements in order to keep the solo and open play experience consistent, that's completely fine. But if the implementation of these requirements work against providing a good player experience, then it is clearly the implementation that needs to change.

 

[Bladefeather]

Just something to add, but in 3.0.2 it seemed like these targets spawned in supercruise faster than I could interdict them and kill them. They were all Anacondas, FDL's, and Pythons, but they spawned in quickly. As of 3.0.3, I have had to wait sometimes 20 minutes sitting there for one ship to spawn of the target faction and type.

 

[andrak]

The answer: To waste your time, much like too many other parts of the game to mention.

- Fly to target system
- target not there, meet our representative in a different system
- waste 10-15 minutes of time
- representative appears and says go back to original system
- waste 10 minutes looking for a mission USS
- Take less than 10 seconds to kill the target once you're actually in the instance with it.

90% tedium, 8% gameplay, 2% challenge. Frontier gameplay patent pending.

 

[sollisb]

Despite the fact we have the solo game mode, ED is not a single player game; outside of instances spawned for specific targets such as assassination missions, you cannot just spawn targets for the first player to enter a given space such as a jump beacon or resource extraction site. Nor should you change your programming just because a player chooses to sit in solo and not interact with others.

ED is at it's heart a multiplayer game, that is the focus of the games design. While I support a players choice to play in solo, it should not come with changes to the base game play. Everyone's efforts affects the same BGS, even running those kill pirate missions in solo may be in direct competition with other players trying to elevate a different faction in the surrounding systems. And Frontier have done a damned god job of making it a level playing field regardless of your chosen mode.

ED is no way at it's heart a multiplayer game! Absolutely nothing requires multiple players, except maybe the 'story in a USS. Don't know where you cam with that nugget.

Secondly, A level playing field? So all those missions boards that come up empty but then magically come up with missions on a different mode, is well... Magic?

 

[El Grillo]

You are tasked with the elimation of x number of pirates from faction y in system z. Seems reasonable (and fun) at first glance. But then you discover that there's additional variables at play that make it extremely boring. Not only do you need to find ships that belong to the given faction, but you also need to find particular ships that are marked as "mission objective" or they will not count even if they are from the same faction. But it doesn't end there either, if the ships are tied to a certain difficulty level then that automatically excludes all other ships.

This would have been fine if the game would detect that you were running this mission and the ships would automatically spawn for you. But instead I am pretty sure that you are dependent on RNG deciding whether a particular ship spawns out of a pool of other available ships with all of the above variables mixed. The end result is a mission system where hunting x number of ships can literally take hours as they simply don't spawn.

Yeah, it's an awful timewasting placeholder mechanic. Should have been replaced with a sensible system for instanced mission locations long, long ago.