first military mission

[Betelgeuse]

The first military mission seems too easy now. It is basically handing you the id.
An idea I had is that when you dock you overhear a distress call and then you go off and try to save that ship. That way it doesn't seem that they are hiring random people with a ship and there is a chance of the player failing and making them play without the military id.

[Burzmali]

They don't hire random people, you have to prove yourself before you even get that mission. Personally though, I would add a few enemies patrolling the area and require that the player remove them.

[Betelgeuse]

I just want a chance of failing the first mission without having to kill off the player. Even with enemies you will always have an id after that.

[Petrus]

A few enemies to kill would be nice, or a station that would normally appear 2 systems above the current system to destroy. This might suggest why the commonwealth wanted help destroying it, and why they'd be willing to accept non-military personnel... if you were successful, you had proven yourself. If you failed, they just send the next ship that comes by on the same mission. It'd be a field promotion.

[F50]

I agree. Also, if the said ships aren't destroyed and you dock at the station, you should fail the first mission and have to do it again.

[Boris the Cat]

I dunno, I always thought the first mission made a bit of sense. Kinda like the military's way of making sure that you can follow orders, and actually *pilot* that hunk o' junk you show up in.

[F50]

interesting thought... But you prove your competence with Korolev and/or the Arena. You have yet to truly demonstrate allegiance however.

[Betelgeuse]

the only problem with having to fight enemies is that you can't fail. I think all missions should be able to be failed and for the id not taken again to force people to play without once and awhile.

[goat not sheep]

YOu can fail...just that you fail when you die...
But...i suppose what you are trying to suggest is that you have to destroy all the ships at each beacon/stargate before moving on or else...mission fail?

[Betelgeuse]

well I want a mission you are not guaranteed to get the id even if you are skilled. The Korolov missions are good examples of this even if you have super weapons you can still fail with friendly fire or just bad aim. They are always a challenge and you always have a chance of failing.

I want a mission that even if you have a super ship you are not given the id. Having enemies to fight can't be failed without dieing and that never has the player playing the game without the id. Nothing in the game should be given to the player other than reactors.

The main point of all this is that I want to force people to play without the id once and a while. Plus it would make the game more balanced to those who don't want to play with the military.

[Boris the Cat]

...The main point of all this is that I want to force people to play without the id once and a while. Plus it would make the game more balanced to those who don't want to play with the military.

You should never force the player to do *anything* but the critical path. So what if people like to play with military IDs?

[goat not sheep]

I think they already have a choice. Nobody is telling them to do the military missions... why do you want to force? Plus... think of the beginners who begin to play Transcendence... what would they say? Oh no...no military ID

[Betelgeuse]

so alot of people like playing with just omni weapons. We shouldn't encourage just playing in your comfort zone. The game quickly gets repetitive that way. I thought the whole point of making things random is so that people couldn't play the same every time.

As for beginners I don't think they would care. They don't know any better and its post mid game. Plus it would have the added benefit of having a harder game than what is average. Changing up the pace of the game adds something you know you can do better next time.

This does give me another idea. Make the last boss random. Some would be fast attack ships some would be like the current ship. That way people would be motivated to beat it more than once.

[OddBob]

[quote=Boris the Cat]You should never force the player to do *anything* but the critical path. So what if people like to play with military IDs?[/quote]

I agree with this in principal, but I don't believe this is one of those situations.
If you have to prove your worth to get access to the military ID and you prove to be unworthy you aren't being "forced" to play without it in the sense we're talking about. While you are technically left with no choice but to play without (or find one, remember they do show up randomly) it is not a random event (like the occasional arrest at the restaurant "forces" the player to find an ID elsewhere, which, now that I think about it is the exact same situation - if you get it for no risk on the players part it is added artificially) and thus I don't hve a problem with it. You failed the mission. Your fault. The game isn't taking matter into it's own hands.

[Icabod458]

I have a thought about the Military ID and the missions. I somewhat agree the the fly around to the check points is too easy to get a M ID. Would there be a way to have different levels of the ID? Sure you get a level 1 after the first mission but it will only allow you access to certain items in the armory, not the whole armory. And the level will increase after so many successful missions while the level will decrease with a failed mission.

Is this a valid solution to this problem? Would it be difficult to be coded? As a player is granted rank, the ID level would then increase as well. But you could still have the rank of Master Sergeant but only have a level 1 ID because of failed missions.