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Author Topic: Freelancer option  (Read 2334 times)

Space Cowboy

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Freelancer option
« on: March 08, 2020, 12:25:07 PM »

The freelancer mount and blade mod is one of my favorites, it allows the player to join an npc army (or fleet in this case). I think it would work amazingly in starsector as well. This could add a nice early game option and a new rp path. You could slowly earn creds, experience, relation with the admiral, and relation with the faction. As you level up you might have the option to upgrade your ship hull and loadout. You could rise through the ranks of your faction, and perhaps eventually be offered your own command.
« Last Edit: March 08, 2020, 12:33:17 PM by Space Cowboy »
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Plantissue

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Re: Freelancer option
« Reply #1 on: March 09, 2020, 08:34:27 AM »

The freelancer mount and blade mod is one of my favorites, it allows the player to join an npc army (or fleet in this case). I think it would work amazingly in starsector as well. This could add a nice early game option and a new rp path. You could slowly earn creds, experience, relation with the admiral, and relation with the faction. As you level up you might have the option to upgrade your ship hull and loadout. You could rise through the ranks of your faction, and perhaps eventually be offered your own command.
Most of this already kind of happens if you take a commission with a faction. You can do this by talking with a station commander or similar characters on the colony screen. You get regular payment, payment for destroying enemies, and your relationship improves rapidly from such. You gain the ability to buy ships and weapons from the miltary market depending on reputation. The only thing missing is being offered your own command, but that wouldn't gel right with starsector. Aiding a faction in another fight without a commission increases relation with that faction as well.
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outdated

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Re: Freelancer option
« Reply #2 on: March 09, 2020, 11:18:19 AM »

The only thing missing is being offered your own command

Which is the entire point of M&B's Freelancer, to facilitate role-playing as nothing but a tiny cog in someone else's war machine.
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Space Cowboy

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Re: Freelancer option
« Reply #3 on: March 09, 2020, 02:52:59 PM »

Most of this already kind of happens if you take a commission with a faction. You can do this by talking with a station commander or similar characters on the colony screen. You get regular payment, payment for destroying enemies, and your relationship improves rapidly from such. You gain the ability to buy ships and weapons from the miltary market depending on reputation. The only thing missing is being offered your own command, but that wouldn't gel right with starsector. Aiding a faction in another fight without a commission increases relation with that faction as well.

Taking commission is very different from freelancer, it's the equivalent of signing a merc contract in m&b. Freelancer allows you to join an npc army/fleet. You don't control where they go or what fights they take, you just participate in the battles, take leave when you stop at a friendly town/station, and talk with your commander/ fellow officers about past battles/ the state of your faction/ the state of the current conflict/ etc. It's mostly for rp purposes but also provides a nice early game option for new players who want to focus on learning combat mechanics.
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Baarogue

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Re: Freelancer option
« Reply #4 on: March 10, 2020, 06:48:01 AM »

I haven't played M&B, nor have I tried taking a commission in this game yet so forgive me if this is already how it works, but what it sounds like is that you want to be given missions by the faction you commission with? Maybe along the lines of, "meet X fleet by Y date in Z system for action?" That way you could learn the mechanics without taking the brunt of the risk for a while, and gradually be given more challenging missions but without being given complete command?
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outdated

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Re: Freelancer option
« Reply #5 on: March 10, 2020, 05:29:13 PM »

I haven't played M&B, nor have I tried taking a commission in this game yet so forgive me if this is already how it works, but what it sounds like is that you want to be given missions by the faction you commission with?

That would be nice, because currently commission is just free money, but what Freelancer mod does is allows player character to join NPC's party, so NPC moves about, and you only regain control in battle.
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bobucles

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Re: Freelancer option
« Reply #6 on: March 10, 2020, 05:53:27 PM »

There are mods that reduce the monthly stipend and instead give more money per kill. The upper end on monthly payments can get quite generous if you do nothing but explore, but of course nothing compares to growing your own empire.

shoi

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Re: Freelancer option
« Reply #7 on: March 10, 2020, 05:53:34 PM »

I haven't played M&B, nor have I tried taking a commission in this game yet so forgive me if this is already how it works, but what it sounds like is that you want to be given missions by the faction you commission with? Maybe along the lines of, "meet X fleet by Y date in Z system for action?" That way you could learn the mechanics without taking the brunt of the risk for a while, and gradually be given more challenging missions but without being given complete command?
Not exactly. I don't think a lot of people understand what OP is really asking for.

To put it super simply, freelancer would basically be like an inversion of the standard fleet makeup, where the player is an officer in the fleet of an NPC.

in the m&b mod, your upkeep is basically supplied to you along with a stipend, but you don't have any real control except in battles
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Space Cowboy

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Re: Freelancer option
« Reply #8 on: March 10, 2020, 09:34:24 PM »

Shoi explained it well. You become an officer in someone else's fleet, that's the basic idea. Then as you participate in battles, you will gradually get promoted (which might mean a better ship, an escort, different layout options, higher pay, etc). None of it (aside from your pay) will belong to you however, it's being loaned to you by your faction/ commander for as long as you stay a member of their fleet. The compromise is that you don't have to worry about fleet management or supply and fuel costs, you can just focus on your own combat capabilities. Once you reach high enough reputation, they might let you keep your ship and start your own fleet.
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Sandwich

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Re: Freelancer option
« Reply #9 on: March 28, 2020, 03:02:45 PM »

That's a freaking cool idea, I'd love to see this in the game. Plus, it don't seem to hard to implement in comparaison with other potentially new mechanics that would require a lot of time to make.
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Henco Hawkins

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Re: Freelancer option
« Reply #10 on: April 27, 2020, 10:50:46 AM »

Shoi explained it well. You become an officer in someone else's fleet, that's the basic idea. Then as you participate in battles, you will gradually get promoted (which might mean a better ship, an escort, different layout options, higher pay, etc). None of it (aside from your pay) will belong to you however, it's being loaned to you by your faction/ commander for as long as you stay a member of their fleet. The compromise is that you don't have to worry about fleet management or supply and fuel costs, you can just focus on your own combat capabilities. Once you reach high enough reputation, they might let you keep your ship and start your own fleet.

Maybe this could work at the very beginning as a choice of how you want to start the game. Sort of how in that board game Life you could "go to college" and come out a little behind everyone else but better off in the long run. It might even be a way to set up how you start. Maybe the commander is super aggressive, tries to take on a fleet that winds up overpowering him and you're forced to flee, but now you're labeled a traitor by the fleet you commissioned for. Plus you could maybe make friends with other lieutenants and pick up some LTs after your commission ends. Or you're guarding a research fleet and have to fend off pirates and remnant fleet while they run scans and come out with the knowledge of a few high level places already surveyed / hidden caches (because you're smart enough to look over the fleet logistics shoulder and remember coordinates every once in a while)
I don't think it would work after the early game though, especially if you go about it with the ship being loaned to you. The way we play is according to our playstyle, and by midgame you're already working towards a specific fleet comp. If they let bring your fleet in with you, you're just a merc which you kind of already get paid to be with commissions and bounties. The only way it could work in mid game is if your fleet gets wiped and you're hurting for money to replace it with
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Sharp

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Re: Freelancer option
« Reply #11 on: April 27, 2020, 03:04:54 PM »

You can RP it yourself, just take a single ship packed with fuel and supplies, take a commission and just follow a fleet.

Unfortunately in Starsector fleets are fleeting, and from just patrolling their sector a fleet might not see much action. You are better of looking out for invasions or raids and joining fleets in attack or defence during these events or joining a fleet in a system with warring owners.

Fleet Admirals aren't like M&B Lords, they won't just persist and do a variety of actions, they will pretty much do their one job and then potentially disappear.

It's an interesting idea but not one suited for Starsector to how it currently is.
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