What stations/encounters are required for the game?

Post ideas & suggestions you have pertaining to the game here.
KA101
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Regarding Tinkers, I'm inclined to agree that they need to show up early or not at all.

Charon is pretty cavalier with their frigates--I'd expect that something that can launch gunships would at least try to stay out of the primary battle area. If nothing else, having the Kronosaurus roll after the fifth rather than the third frigate-kill gives players a better shot at the class V.
FourFire wrote:Otherwise I think most of us agree that having at least one armor and one weapons dealer at Rigel is a Must.
(what is the point of ventari and Abbasid stations?)
Rigel w/o armor/weapons dealer would incur disbelief: where are all the combatants getting their hardware?

PM covered the good portion of Ventari; I'd think that they're a severe hazard to friendlies in the area, but then I'm fond of omni-weapons and miss the mod that let one automate them to fire on any hostile w/in 20 ls. (IOW: I'm obviously a poorer player than PM.)

Abbasid are a fairly tame loot-pile as all the wrecks they spawn with typically have loot. Unfortunately, there are usually Salvagers around, whose NonCritical armor & turbolaser can defeat an Abbasid station last time I checked.
FourFire
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Datal : though the storyline does imply that the fleet is suffering severe supplies shortages Ammo would probably be the thing which runs out last... considering the poor combat abilities of the majority of pilots... Ships would run out faster than missiles :P
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KA101
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FourFire wrote:Datal : though the storyline does imply that the fleet is suffering severe supplies shortages Ammo would probably be the thing which runs out last... considering the poor combat abilities of the majority of pilots... Ships would run out faster than missiles :P
That is one thing that bothers me. If the player must be a Korolov Legend or Arena Legendary Hero in order to join the militia*, let alone the Fleet, then why is it that both have less-than-top-notch pilots? One would think that their pilots ought to be fairly skilled.

(Losing a gunship probably also involves losing its ordinance. Not sure they have over 16x as many missiles as gunships. <shrug>)

*It would help if the St. Kats militia HQ specifically stated why no missions are currently available: insufficent combat cred, arbitrary/capricious** refusal to grant mission, no hostiles in system, maxed rank, etc.

**There's a Sapiens station in the outer belt, or--better yet--that Marauder Raid & Platform that nearly blew up the Hotel near the Charon gate. Its Outpost is still intact. I can haz kill-station mission plz?...or not.
whaleduck
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This my sole opinion:

Well...
a) I'd like a Fleet mission where the player gets to take part in the battle in which Antarctica betrays the Fleet. And the truce request should show up at the bottom of the screen where "Docking Request Denied" shows up. A decisive and properly equipped player can defeat a Ares Shipyard solo, so the mission would definitely show the trouble the Fleet is going through, attempting to prevail in the war against the Ares Orthodoxy.

b) If the player doesn't wander to Heretic for long enough, all remaining Ares stations and ships will turn friendly to the player, because they surrendered to the Fleet, due to the player destroying several Phobos dreadnoughts(encountered as several missions, each mission requesting a Phobos destroyed), which I imagine are hard to mass produce, as well as the Fleet/player destroying many Ares stations, namely communes.

c) The Black Market is neutral to all factions, right? In a BM mission, you have to give a crate of illegals to some Outlaws, giving the player the chance to become friendly to a formerly enemy sovereign.

Offtopic: Uh, it's ultimately your choice what goes into the game, so the title should be "What stations/encounters would you like for the game?"
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Song
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I'd have at least one assured tinker spawn in the post-St.K's game. THis lets a player use the XM900 missile to its fullest (if they've worked out how to make them) at the point in the game where it is at its best. Personally, I consider that their main use. (I'd also suggest overhauling them so that they buy damaged goods and sell fixed ones, possibly with a repair-time based on item level, how common it is, whether it's NotForSale or not, and a random component.)

Having some 100% certain fuel stations would be nice as well.. the RNG can result in fuel being extremely hard to find. While there's a bit of fun in racing ahead desperately trying to find fuel, it can be problematic if it happens too often. I might also be worth having a slightly different version that sells somewhat higher level fuel (Xenotite, for example) in the later game.

Making sure the player sees multiple Sisters of D. stations would be nice, although when they do crop up in the game you tend to get 2-3 in the same system...which is usually annoying as heck.

One other thing I'd suggest is bumping Dvalin's placement in the game. At present, he's at the first Rassiermesser plant you come across....long before you've got any real source of NotForSale gear (let's leave aside the dubious rewards the player gets for giving him stuff). Putting him in a more visually distinct station (Rass. HQ?) somewhat a bit later in the game would give players more opportunity to try him out. It's not essential, but it'd be neat.


In terms of encounters....I'd like to see more setpiece and background events to make things feel more alive (or dead. or whatever's appropriate for a particular part of the game). A long-dead station the player can take a risk and dock with in the hope of finding something, a former battleground with specific evidence of two factions meeting each other (Eg. Bunch of britannia wrecks around a Deimos), some gaians stripping away the crust of a dwarf planet for minerals.....an abandoned colony with scavengers ripping out the fittings, a ship with signs of pteravore infestation, a damaged ship that will pay the player for fuel or spare parts......that kind of thing. Stuff that isn't necessarily an opportunity for the player to continue their quest to kill all living things, but that makes the atmosphere even better.
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