Wider Variety of Search-And-Rescue Activities

RELSPI · May 20, 2019

Search-and-rescue is currently limited to either completely incidental gameplay (scooping up escape pods at a danaged station or planet) boring grindfests (station rescue) or simplistic 'shoot limpet to win' Distress Call missions.
A wider variety of Distress Call USSes, planetside distress calls, and dedicated search-and-rescue missions would help make the activity more enjoyable without having to constantly remind myself I'm doing the right thing. I know charity work isn't always 'fun', but in a game there should at least be some variety to it.

EMM4 · Jun 18, 2019

I agree. There does need to be more variety to Search and Rescue activities.
It would be nice if there were group Evac activities for the burning stations where you can coordinate either with other players or NPC ships. It would add a little more to that. Right now all you have is just patrols circling the Stations scanning you.

Avoiding other ships inside the burning station would also make that a little more interesting. And the airlock destruction of ships that get stuck should be turned off.

I deployed my landing gear a little to early once going in and got hung up. Before I could release the ship from the edge of the airlock, BOOM. My ship was destroyed. I'm glad I wasn't heading out with a load of refugees and retracted my landing gear late.

Thunderchild142 · Jun 19, 2019

Absolutely agree. I've been flying a Search and Rescue ship for a long time but there's just so little to do in it besides the same old burning station gameplay. I think more emergency service and authority work is needed in the game. The ability to take S&R missions, System Authority back-up missions where you're called in to assist taking out a large group of wanted ships alongside authority ships, and stuff like that.

EMM4 · Jun 19, 2019

Thunderchild142 said:
The ability to take S&R missions, System Authority back-up missions where you're called in to assist taking out a large group of wanted ships alongside authority ships, and stuff like that.

If what you're talking about is more combat related then they do in the auspex of Bounty Hunting with a wing type missions.

But, you have to be equipped with weapons. I prefer to take a pacifist's approach to my game play and fly weaponless. Much more Zen that way. True, the occasional Pirate and Naval interdiction is a bit of a nuisance, but as long as you don't have what they want they don't bother you otherwise.

I would rather see something more clean up type missions for SAR.

Darth Wonko · Jun 19, 2019

I haven't really done any of these (other than some burning station missions once) simply because the opportunities are so few and far between. If, for example, I use the FSS to fully scan all of the signal sources, I might see one distress call every 6 or 7 systems.

The planet-side SAR would be very cool.

Another idea is SAR missions could be a type of mission given by various factions at stations.

For example:

"Commander, we lost contact with one of our research vessels in the <insert system name here> System. We need for you to scan that system for signal sources and try and locate our ship."

These could also be tied into Exploration activities:

"Commander, we sent a ship to <insert system name here> System because our intelligence indicated some of the planets there would be ideal for terraforming/mining/locating Thargoid sites/locating Guardian sites/whatever. We need you to scan that system and map the planets there until you find our missing ship."

In either of those scenarios, escape pods and valuable cargo could be found and made mission requirements (similar to Black Box or Commercial Samples missions). Or, the ship could be there, but needs repairs or fuel or whatever.

In the latter scenario, the player would be able to find Guardian/Thargoid sites, different types of planets, stars, life forms, etc. for the Codex, in addition to racking up Exploration credits and helping their rank progression. Plus, it gives players an extra reason to use the FSS and DSS.

RELSPI · Jun 19, 2019

A fun thing I've noticed is that in the high threat pirate-lord missions where you drop in and the pirate is in a 'Vette/Conda, floating there, and there's a severely damaged trader, you can actually heal the trader and let them evac before you take down the pirate. More stuff like that, with aiding piracy victims in ways other than 'shoot bad guy, boom' would be really nice.

Lestat · Jun 19, 2019

If they add walking. I could see going to a semi-destroyed Mega ship or a Regular ship to go in and collect materials or even crew members.

Darth Wonko · Jun 19, 2019

@RELSPI - Nice catch! And that would be a great addition.

Speedcuffs · Jun 19, 2019

Dunno if this is still a thing...

Pirate Activity Detected USS, occasionally would be chock full of escape pods.
And pirates.
Grab some pods and run!

RELSPI · Jun 19, 2019

Just off the top of my head, with no major additions to gameplay, there's a lot of flavour stuff that could be done to increase the perceived bulk of SAR content:

VIP Rescue Missions - 'fly to x system, retrieve escape pod from USS'
Fuel Rat Missions - 'fly to x system, there's a guaranteed Distress Call, if you refuel them you can get some extra rewards as opposed to just picking up random distress calls'
Same as above for repairs
Surface SnR missions - we already have the resources available to make this work, easy - fly to a given planet and SRV-scoop an escape pod from a POI
Lots of other SAR variants of existing mission types

There's some additions that could be done, for instance:

new Distress Call events with occupied escape pods that need extraction from deep space rather than a live ship
extracted Occupied Escape Pods have a 'home station' they want to be dropped off at (increase the SAR reward for doing so, but allow normal SAR pricing elsewhere (presumably the SAR organisation sends them back home))
slaves can be handed into SAR (this one's a bit iffy - station SAR isn't a slave-freeing organisation as far as I can tell, but I'd really like to free slaves)

All these things would have the added benefit of reducing the amount of RP I need to do to convince myself SAR isn't just the same thing over and over again ingame, and would also make my squadron a little more appetising ;P

Speedcuffs · Jun 19, 2019

RELSPI said:
Just off the top of my head, with no major additions to gameplay, there's a lot of flavour stuff that could be done to increase the perceived bulk of SAR content:

VIP Rescue Missions - 'fly to x system, retrieve escape pod from USS'

Fuel Rat Missions - 'fly to x system, there's a guaranteed Distress Call, if you refuel them you can get some extra rewards as opposed to just picking up random distress calls'

Same as above for repairs

Surface SnR missions - we already have the resources available to make this work, easy - fly to a given planet and SRV-scoop an escape pod from a POI

Lots of other SAR variants of existing mission types

There's some additions that could be done, for instance:

new Distress Call events with occupied escape pods that need extraction from deep space rather than a live ship

extracted Occupied Escape Pods have a 'home station' they want to be dropped off at (increase the SAR reward for doing so, but allow normal SAR pricing elsewhere (presumably the SAR organisation sends them back home))

slaves can be handed into SAR (this one's a bit iffy - station SAR isn't a slave-freeing organisation as far as I can tell, but I'd really like to free slaves)

All these things would have the added benefit of reducing the amount of RP I need to do to convince myself SAR isn't just the same thing over and over again ingame, and would also make my squadron a little more appetising ;P

Bring it all! \o/

RELSPI · Jun 19, 2019

I do reckon there could be more Thargoid-themed SAR missions. Mostly stuff like 'o h n o I ' m b e i n g s c o o p e d b y t h a r g o i d s' and you have to heroically rescue them by drawing aggro and then extracting them (then probably running away).

Thunderchild142 · Jun 20, 2019

EMM4 said:
If what you're talking about is more combat related then they do in the auspex of Bounty Hunting with a wing type missions.

But, you have to be equipped with weapons. I prefer to take a pacifist's approach to my game play and fly weaponless. Much more Zen that way. True, the occasional Pirate and Naval interdiction is a bit of a nuisance, but as long as you don't have what they want they don't bother you otherwise.

I would rather see something more clean up type missions for SAR.

I was sorta talking about two separate things there. For me mu S&R Ships have to be able to put up a fight (EMERESS MKI was a Python, and MKII is a Krait MKII with a SLF) because the main signal source I'm excited to find are Distress Calls, which nearly always involve a bit of combat. I outfit with hard-hitting weapons including a regen sequence beam laser, repair/refuel/collector limpets, 64t of cargo, FSD Interdictor, and shield cells. I can also swap out for manifest scanner and hatch breaker limpets for hostage rescue missions, or an SRV for planetary missions.

EMM4 · Jun 20, 2019

Something that also would be cool for SAR "missions".

Mine Sweeping! More in the way of debris fields with mines in them around the burning Stations clear of the airlock.

You could outfit for the role very easily with what is currently available. Just outfit for the hull and Shields with point defense as well as equip a limpet controller and limpets to clear the mines. The mines can't tell the difference between a ship or a limpet and the limpets are basically disposable anyway.

Conversely, mine laying missions could also be introduced so the mine launchers could have more usefulness.

Thunderchild142, I can see your point of view. My perspective on SAR is a First Responders perspective without weapons, IE the Fire Department. Your approach is from a Police Departments perspective as far as far as First Response goes, sans Law Enforcement.

Rogue1474 · Jun 20, 2019

To add to the discussion, when you kill a ship either as part mission, because it's wanted or you're being a pirate/killer, there should be a black box and or an escape pod in the wreckage. You then have the option of scooping these items up, all legal, and then handing them in at the nearest station. In the case of the person being wanted, you should get a bonus for bringing them in alive to stand trial. If you've gone down the pirate route, maybe get a ransom payout or sell them into slavery.

dxm55 · Jun 20, 2019

Speedcuffs said:
Dunno if this is still a thing...

Pirate Activity Detected USS, occasionally would be chock full of escape pods.
And pirates.
Grab some pods and run!

I actually ran into one of these in the Pleiades. But it was a Thargoid roaming around some destroyed Corvettes.
I ran in, scooped up some pods, and made a bee-line for it.

Oh yeah. Was carrying some Thargoid sensors. That was probably what riled up the critter.... LOL