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[Serenitis]

Imo, a story with an overarching goal is not really needed for a game like this, as it potentially railroads the player into following that goal to the exclusion of all the other content.
However.... You can integrate a story and goal into something like this, it's been done before (and quite well) by Egosoft's X series of games. All have a story and an end goal but the entire thing at every stage is entirely voluntary and you can ignore the plot and do your own thing forever if you like, and this gives the player a huge sense of freedom and allows them to set their own goals - like exploring/surveying/building.

another option for story line is just to create points of interest ......

This.
Random events waiting to happen, and things hidden in odd places waiting to be found.
And maybe small mission chains where an NPC asks you to map an area or retrieve an item. Some might be straightforward go-to-place-do-a-thing-return, and some might lead you on a bit of a chase.
But making each game different from the last is probably going to be the biggest draw for replayability.

[King Alfonzo]

Escort missions? Privateer missions (where you get more money for taking out specifically trade convoys, more if no one can figure out if it was you)? Contact missions (where you have to go and talk to several NPCs throughout the sector)? Mysteries to solve(You have to figure out via prompts who sank the battleship / raided the convoy / destroyed the mining fleet, all by talking to npcs, chasing suspicious fleets, talking to smugglers etc.)? Recurring characters (I.E. npcs you talk to end up in different stations over time as administrators to new or conquered sttations / they get to a hihger rank, maybe with your help from getting rid of pirates)?

Yeah, I think you could do a fundamental version of that.

[woodsmoke]

Yeah, I like the points of interest idea. Adds variety, gives extra goals to work toward, could be used to flesh out contacts and such, as King Alfonzo mentioned. Seems an excellent way to implement something story-like without doing something that will get old after the first few games.

[borgrel]

However.... You can integrate a story and goal into something like this, it's been done before (and quite well) by Egosoft's X series of games. All have a story and an end goal but the entire thing at every stage is entirely voluntary and you can ignore the plot

not a good example ........
in x:reunion u cannot befriend the religious nuts (paramores?) until after you complete the story line because of the guaranteed hostile status because of story, making them basically a fringe race in that game because there's no point in trying. not to mention being forced to complete most of the story if you want the M3+ ships (who doesnt)
in x:terran conflict you have the same problem with the terrans you have to 1/2 complete the story line to open the portal to interact with them (and some race is completely destroyed if u complete the story iirc?)

in the later x games the story actually hinders game play, forcing you to complete it unless u want to play 1/2 a game. i mean, u have to complete a portion of the story to get M3+ ships, but that doesnt stop them being thrown at you as opponents .... making it impossible to ignore.

[VuNut]

Not quite borgrel. Doing the story missions makes getting friendly with that race and access to better gear quicker, but both are very possible without touching the story at all. They're interesting challenges for a no-story run. There's also the option of alternate starts to change that basically baked into the game.

That said, what do you mean "later x games"? There's nothing else after X3 and it's expansions.
There is nothing else.
Zalgo doesn't work here. Sadpanda.

[Azimuth]

people are getting hung up on "the story" being restrictive. the solution is to have different storylines for different factions, and maybe minor factions as well (organized crime syndicates, mining guilds). so you can play the faction you want, and get replay value from doing different storylines in different playthoughs. as long as the storylines are opt-in and not mandatory, it shouldn't mess up the sandbox that some people are into.

[King Alfonzo]

I was thinking more along the lines of this: In the Missions screen, in addition to conquest, procurement and join faction mission, I'm thinking having additional missions, like "The Missing Convoy" (which is a procedurally generated storyline, where you have to figure out whodunit. Can have very good prizes at the end if done correctly.) or "Mail Run" (Based on the starting Steiner Foundation Mission, you simply have to go around delivering messages. Excellent for giving starting players a bit of a boost, and giving more dosh to traders) or "Assassination" (Based on the other Steiner starting mission, you have to assassinate / destroy a target ship in a fleet. The fleet itself is 'made' similar to the IBB fleets, flying around a planet. Extra difficulty if you have to kill a Sindrian Ambassador over Sindria. Doing these missions can raise the position of the guy who ordered it as well as your relations with that guy, so you can get stuff from them later (A la The Mayorate)) or "Privateer Licence" (Similar to assassination, except the game spawns three - five trade convoys that move between two systems, and you get a whole lot of dosh for sinking them discretely), or "Protection" (It's an Escort mission, where you have to protect an AI convoy going from point A to point B (Optionally to point C and so forth). Pirate / Luddic / Enemy fleets spawn along the way to hit you). Staying near the convoy gives you supplies and fuel, losing the convoy means you don't get the juicy reward)  or "VIP" (You pick up a special VIP token guy, and you have to take him to the next planet. Same thing as Protection, except you can move quicker) and so on and so forth.

Just little stories and missions that can add up to a bigger experience. I think we're already going to get 'Investigate and Explore" missions for the upcoming update.

[borgrel]

That said, what do you mean "later x games"? There's nothing else after X3 and it's expansions.

Actually there is X:Rebirth (unless ur disavowing it because its really bad?)

I played X2, but i dont remember the story. All i remember about the game is that M6's could carry an M5 or M4 externally docked (and then i lost my disks )
I dont think i played X1 or any of its expansions, so i cannot comment on the story lines or their impact in the first four X games

so when i say the later x games i refer to x3 and its expansions and exclude the earlier games from my generalization because i cannot comment on them.

[MesoTroniK]

X:Rebirth never happened.

MesoTroniK waves his hand

[Serenitis]

...as long as the storylines are opt-in and not mandatory, it shouldn't mess up the sandbox that some people are into.

Yes.

Xchat:
For clarity, I have played X:BtF, X-Tension, and X²: The Threat. Never touched X³ or any variant thereof.
The three I have played are all heavily into the sandbox realm, and while they do have a 'plot' it only ever moves if the player moves it. Which is probably the reason I stuck with them for so long - I still play X² now.
Pretty much infinite replayability with zero nagging or railroading.

Spoiler

Also: X² Split Iguana.

[close]

Post X stuff here so we don't threadjack.
http://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=11214.0