Daily missions

[Lurkily]

Okay, so apparently these forums take the earliest post as the TOPIC when merging posts.  I wanted to add my suggestion to ManTheMister's thread.  Instead, my earlier topic supplanted his. Here is a link to his suggestion, originally posted not as a comment, but as a feature request: 

So that the content of what I posted previously (but was less popular) isn't lost, my suggestion follows:

I would like to see missions that alter conditions on a planet.  I think this would contribute to the galaxy seeming like a living, breathing place, instead of just a playing field.  Maybe there is a significant corp presence (multiple transmitters)  or maybe snake eggs (but not a snake) are present where they shouldn't be. Failure to take these missions soon will permanently change conditions on that planet.  

For instance, in the first mission, you might have a research base and more corp guns/drones as an additional mission to the default mission.  With the eggs, you might have a snake present and eggs to destroy along with the default mission. Maybe some failed missions would add bio barrel pollution for you to clean up. 

The passage of time should be measured in completed missions.  Visiting a planet and returning wouldn't count, but if you complete (let's say, oh, something arbitrary like ...) three missions without getting to the pop-up mission, it counts as failed, and changes conditions there permanently. 

[ManTheMister]

I do like the idea of missions having multiple objectives, but I don’t think that forcing a player to do a specific mission is a good idea.

[Lurkily]

But they're not forced to. If they don't, they either have to deal with a tougher planet, (which may have been their desire all along) or they pursue their unlocks via other planets or paths.

[ManTheMister]

But there are still irreversible affects if they do not do it, and for some people who want to avoid said irreversible affects, it is essentially forcing them to do a mission type that they may not enjoy. I do not think that there should be any negative incentive to do anything in Nimbatus. However, if instead of irreversiblely changing the planet, that mission had a higher reward, then I would be all for it.

[Lurkily]

I'm assuming that the game won't always remain so much like a sandbox - but it's perfectly possible I'm mistaken in that.

If I'm not, eventually we're going to have to involve strategic decision making - that means balancing risk and reward.  Right now, the only risk the game incurs is that you can lose your progress in completing a single mission - maybe five minutes of time.

[ManTheMister]

Each day, Nimbatus will either

A.) select a random unlocked planet. There will be a special icon on/next to that planet in the galaxy, and also a button to go directly to the daily planet. Enemies on that planet will get a substantial buff (range, health, damage, rate of fire, etc.), or some other way to make the mission substantially harder. Once the planet has been defeated, you get a reward, which increases each consecutive day that you complete the mission, and the planet reverts back to normal. There will also be a skip mission button in case you need to beat that planet on normal difficulty to progress in the campaign.

B.) pick a random mission from a special pool of dialy missions, which are harder than normal missions. On each mission that planet type (graphically), gravity, and air resistance (and possibly more, I just can’t think of any right now) get randomized to help make the missions feel more diverse.

C.) somehow procedurally generate an entire planet for the mission. I’m not sure if this is reasonable with the current code of the game, but it would be cool.

im not sure what the reward would be. Maybe make it the green resource, which is exclusively available from Sumo/other PvP events and the daily missions.

 

[Alpino_WILL_STEAL_ oats!]

The game won’t remain as sandbox as it is right now. Stuff like this is almost confirmed.

[Lurkily]

I like A.  Anything at all to make the galaxy more alive.

As for C, aren't all planets procedurally generated?

I still like the idea of the universe changing in response to your completion or noncompletion of a mission, though.  It's less like a galaxy and more like a board game's playing field, right now; every square on the game board is static and unchanging.  It doesn't feel like a living place at all.  

I know you don't like making an existing, accessible mission harder in response to noncompletion.  What if we provide access to a challenge, instead of making an existing mission more challenging?  What if certain routes (NEVER blocking progress - always just a link to a single dead-end system that can't possibly impede your route to the wormhole) are locked, and only pop-up missions can grant access to these systems?  

Within those systems, you might see much more challenging missions, but you also might find more rewards.  (Part unlocks, when some kind of progression is implemented, or large ore reserves.)

[Lurkily]

8 hours ago, Alpino_WILL_STEAL_ oats! said:

The game won’t remain as sandbox as it is right now. Stuff like this is almost confirmed.

I know I've heard the devs talk about an eventual transition to progression mechanics, but things do change, and it's been a long time since I've heard talk about that.  But then, I was on hiatus awhile during the Great Laptop Disaster.

[unmog]

I like the idea, but I think it should work in both ways. For example a warning could go off in a planet saying "you have such and such amount of time else something will happen", for instance a snake egg being found. And if you dont help then the planet gets a giant snake. Later on you could still fix the problem by going to the planet and annihilating every single egg, which would be more than the standard amount to just "lower the population".

For the corporate example, maybe after destroying a base it doesnt pop back right away, allowing you to set up another new defensive mission where you protect the planet by shooting down any new corporate pods trying to set up shop. You could get an alert later at some point telling you the corporate people are sending a force to take down your defenses, and if you dont act in time they retake the planet.

Or for another example, if you destroy the transmitters in every planet for a system, it lets you set up your own transmitters for your own effect.

[Lurkily]

Oooo.  My own transmitters.