Starsector > Suggestions

"Explorer" contact type

(1/3) > >>

DrTechman42:
   Every contact is devoted to a certain playstyle. You like trading and interacting with the economy? Go to the Trader. Smuggling? Underworld has got you covered. Bounty hunting? The sector is filled with those who deserve death and the Military contact is happy to make you the executioner.
   This being said, rifling through the trash left from the Domain is just as important part of any playthrough (for me at least) but it doesn't have it's own contact. Here I'll try to come up with a few mission types for these contacts (and I really hope that you, dear reader, will aid me in this endeavour) following these guidelines:

* Starsector is at it's best during combat and the game should lead the player into more fighting.
* Every other contact is sustainable (you can ask them for missions indefinitely) and Explorer should be no different.
* The bar is filled with possible outcomes and adding more will make it extremely difficult to find those you need.
   How should the player find this contact?
I really don't want to make the bar even more bloated so I think that the contacts should appear during common exploration contracts. After you finish the scan you have to send the data back, right? And there will be some human being to recieve it. Some of those "Exploration Coordinators" (recievers) may be in need of some adventuring captain. In order to determine the quality of contact the game should take both the distance and the scanned object into account. Scanning a coronal hypershunt should always lead to someone important while probes and planets should not.

   Low relations (0-25)
1) The same thing but with a twist. You also take probe/planet scanning missions but these will have significantly more drone protection. There is a reason why this mission is offered to you, after all. The reward should scale accordingly.
2) The Academician mission but on a significantly smaller scale. You get some blueprints but nothing as important as an alpha core or capital ships. You'll still have to shoot some drones though.

    Favorable relations (25-50)
1) Scanning some dangerous stuff. Remnant nexus? Cryosleepers? Derelicts in medium/high danger systems? This will make the player to change their fleet. Stealthy phase ships? Fast small frigates and interdiction pulses? There are many ways to do this.
2)Type 1 from low relations but with some guaranteed loot like beta cores or minor colony items?

    Friendly relations (50-75)
1) The academician mission but on a larger scale? More drones to fight but the loot is still inferior. That mission is unique for a reason. Thus it makes a unique mission repeatable but more difficult and with less loot.
2) Shooting down some specific Remnant ordo for analysis. You get the loot and the reward, they get the data. This should be a high level threat.

    Cooperative relations (75-100)
1) Lets imagine that there were some advanced Domain interstellar automated stations. Like motherships but a bit different. Since the collapse they were up to themselves and are sometimes sighted here and there with significant drone escort. They linger in a system for a while and then move somewhere else.
The contact may lead you to these structures to get some specific data and you go there to get some very advanced loot. The game is to spawn these structures thus making exploration inexhaustible and making the contact sustainable. Here the game can unleash hell onto the player and make it a very difficult fight. But the spoils are worth it: guaranteed colony items and maybe something on top. The time limit is also explained: the station will move somewhere else if you aren't fast enough.


Most of the ideas come from the time when I was pitching a research mechanic. Developing something totally new seems to be lore-unfriendly (I strongly disagree though, the Tessaract is definately post-collapse). This idea is all about scavenging what is left.
Hope that you'll like this and that there will be some more mission ideas. I was unable to achieve a satisfactory amount on my own.

JAL28:
I don't believe you can get missions from scanning coronal hypershunts, and that would be lore-breaking considering nobody else except the Hegemony and Tri-Tach leaders know about them.

DrTechman42:

--- Quote from: JAL28 on October 02, 2021, 05:31:22 PM ---I don't believe you can get missions from scanning coronal hypershunts, and that would be lore-breaking considering nobody else except the Hegemony and Tri-Tach leaders know about them.

--- End quote ---

And yet I’ve got a couple. Maybe it was a bug though as I remember it happening before the patches for .95. Then the research stations would be the highest tier?

JAL28:
I believe coronal hypershunt scan missions were bugs, like how you could get items from the Historian which were in hypershunts, or get survey missions for Alpha Site.

Though, I do remember having seen survey missions for domain-era survey ships and sometimes even motherships too, so those could be used instead. Or alternatively just use research stations.

DrTechman42:
Another idea: people have been asking for an upgrade to the Tech-mining for a long time. Maybe these two can interact with one another? The contact may have some specialists to spare that could boost the efficiency of the industry. The ruins depliting slower? Improving the chance of getting better loot?

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page