Why I don't take assassination missions

[Narase]

Maybe its a little OT, but can anyone say where I can find the most missions per station? Tried in systems with a huge amount of people (10Mrd) but there werent more than in my previous system (2Mio)

 

[rootsrat]

Think you answered your own question. Having tier two npcs and as you attack they offer chain missions to save there skins i.e. come "wing up" with me on a smuggling mission......and the plot unfolds.

NPC wingmen are coming at some point in the future as far as I know.

::EDIT::

They need to get the core mechanics right (most of that is already there but carelessly implemented) and then indeed hire some folks who get the content right and figure out how to snip them properly. It's not that much of a technical issue. It's how to use what's there and fill that with life what FD is miserably failing at. Not wasted resources because you can recycle the guys for CGs, which suffer from the same problem.

I think you're being too harsh. Sure, it's not ideal, but calling it "miserably failing" is not true either. Be reasonable, really. Also, remember that ED is still a WIP.

 

[Trafalgar Law]

That's true. But they aren't exactly engaging or even interesting either when you've done a couple of them. That's why I said what I think they are good for. Credit farming IF you smuggle or mine or if you want to grind for ranks. Otherwise they are just not worth it. Not credits and not otherwise.

I disagree with this. While they're not the most imaginative missions ever, I find them far more interesting than just farming in a res site. I'd much rather take a mission to kill x pirates and then go a res site than go there without a mission even though I'm doing the exact same thing. Having a simple mission makes it feel like I'm actually doing something important, such as clearing out a pirate infestation so miners can mine in peace, rather than just farming neverending pirate spawns which doesn't matter in the slightest, for me missions are a big part of the whole immersion, roleplaying thing. Assassination missions are equally part of this as I deal with incompetant military leaders, problematic enemies, pirate lords, terrorists and annoying, extremist, religious leaders. As for the credits they used to be worth it too during 1.3/1.4, although the payout amounts seem to have been reduced to 1.1/1.2 levels since horizons, which is further exacerbated by the lower spawn rate.

 

[drholliday]

I think you're being too harsh. Sure, it's not ideal, but calling it "miserably failing" is not true either. Be reasonable, really. Also, remember that ED is still a WIP.

Would you play the game if all there is would be the missions? I wouldn't. I'm not saying the game fails miserably. There's more to it than just the missions. In fact I do missions very rarely and still play the game quite a lot. But the missions are failing and quite badly so. There is no reason to slab some paint on that problem by taking 5 steps back.

 

[drholliday]

I disagree with this. While they're not the most imaginative missions ever, I find them far more interesting than just farming in a res site.

I'd agree on the immersion part IF missions would be better and they are if you do them once in awhile. But if you play the game for any reasonable time then they can't really create the feeling of 'doing something' for me anymore. It's not just because they're bad. You do get a little snippet around them but at the end of the day they are hardly much less shallow than just skipping them and shoot up a res site. Pretend you're tasked with patrolling it and it's just as good as any mission from the BB. The other problem with them is that nothing you do in the game feels like having consequences. The irony with that is that in fact EVERYTHING you do has consequences. But really only in the grand scheme of things where they become so little that you don't normally see them. But on a small scale of you being a CMDR in the game it's virtually irrelevant what you do. And I don't mean it's up to you. That too. I do mean irrelevant. There's nothing you can do that you cannot undo by just not playing for a week.

 

[Jezzah]

I don't understand why the mission text doesnt say what ships and targets you are facing. It's fine just accepting these missions blind but then annoying when you see that your target is an anaconda with a wing of 3 sideys or whatever. Knowing this sort of information would influence what ship and outfit I would take on the mission for example.

 

[Trafalgar Law]

I'd agree on the immersion part IF missions would be better and they are if you do them once in awhile. But if you play the game for any reasonable time then they can't really create the feeling of 'doing something' for me anymore. It's not just because they're bad. You do get a little snippet around them but at the end of the day they are hardly much less shallow than just skipping them and shoot up a res site. Pretend you're tasked with patrolling it and it's just as good as any mission from the BB. The other problem with them is that nothing you do in the game feels like having consequences. The irony with that is that in fact EVERYTHING you do has consequences. But really only in the grand scheme of things where they become so little that you don't normally see them. But on a small scale of you being a CMDR in the game it's virtually irrelevant what you do. And I don't mean it's up to you. That too. I do mean irrelevant. There's nothing you can do that you cannot undo by just not playing for a week.

I still find that even that tiny amount of extra 'immersion' or whatever you want to call it makes a big difference for me. Yes I could make it all up, but it just isn't the same for me.
.
I would definitely like to see some consequences for my actions, I would love to get interdicted by someone hours/days, even weeks later who says hello my name is ....... you killed my father prepare to die or something like that. Other interactions that would be great are things like why does nobody ever try to bribe me? (ok there are the alternate follow me missions, but does anyone actually take those?) Why does nobody from the faction I've been working for ever show up to warn me that assassins have been hired to kill me? There are so many cool ways (all of which are already possible in the games as there are similar encounters) that this game could be made quite a bit deeper.

 

[Bertrand Du Guesclin]

I don't understand why the mission text doesnt say what ships and targets you are facing. It's fine just accepting these missions blind but then annoying when you see that your target is an anaconda with a wing of 3 sideys or whatever. Knowing this sort of information would influence what ship and outfit I would take on the mission for example.

^this

Some basic info like :"he was last seen in this system, in a Python, and according to our informer he had friends, so be carefull."

Also, a little disclaimer in the mission description : "the target may not be wanted in that system, so take him out at your own risk"

This alone would solve a lot of issues with these missions.
But given the risk/reward ratio, for a new pilot I wouldn't recommend those missions until they are in a Vulture.

edit : I did a lot of assassination missions a few updates ago, but now I don't pick them up anymore. I used to be able to guess if the target was wanted or not based on the mission description. Now the title and description changed a little bit, and it's not easy to understand who the target really is, a pirate lord or just a random guy somebody wants dead.

Also, I don't know if it just me, but I find the mission rewards lower than they were before.
I was ranked Master at the time, I'm now ranked Deadly, and I don't seem to find the same kind of rewards as I used to.

 

[_Fissure]

The value of mission reward highly depends on your 1) Standing with the issuing faction and 2) Your rank in the given trade. If you're Allied with the issuing minor faction and have Elite in Combat you should see much better payouts. Patiently work on your reputation with local factions and it should get better for you!

I'm allied with the minor and major faction issuing the missions, and my combat rank is Compitant.

Regardless of that, I dont see how someone could justify creating a 50k assassination mission where the target is an Anaconda or Fed Corvette. That's insane.

 

[Trinity Star]

Some of those mission descriptions to "can you kill good? then go kill this person in this system', couldn't they at least give you a clue as to why and whether this person is wanted or not?

 

[_Fissure]

Btw those 50-100k Annies & Corvettes have low rank (novice-expert), so they are quite lame tbh, and gigantic bounties to boot your paycheck (250-300k).
I really love those missions. Sadly these days (1.5-2.0) I cannot reliably find systems that consistently spawn them. Do you guys know where to look?

When a "mostly harmless" Anaconda has turrets, PAs, godlike shields, can flip in a dime, never seems to miss a shot, and is somehow still engaging you well outside of their weapons range, I wouldn't consider it "lame."

I'm a new player. I'm still trying to build my ranks and bank account. The way I see it, assassination missions should scale. Act as a stepping stone if sorts. Whats the point of throwing a new player to an Anaconda for 50k? All it will do is lower their rep with the faction they took the mission from, because they don't even have a ship that is close to completing with an Anaconda .