Forums » Suggestions

Group Missions

Oct 04, 2004 SuperFreeza link
I think the Group Mission system needs to be changed. I have not worked with it a whole lot yet, but from the experience I have had with it the last few days, I think there are a few problems (and these might not be the only ones, since as I said before, I have not worked with it for very long).

Problem #1:
Currently, the Combat Group Mission gives you a list of bots to kill. The bots are often spread out across the system in different sectors, sometimes you have to go to multiple systems to find all the bots. This I don't think is a problem. But what IS a problem: it is more efficient to spread out and find/kill the stuff as fast as possible.

The whole point of being in a team in online games, is to work together and have the sense of being part of a team and fighting alongside others for a common goal. When your spread out in the darkness of space, that "sense" is kind of lost.

Solution:
I suggest creating special sectors for group missions, where there are "fleets" of the enemy bots, traveling together, so it is REQUIRED that the group travel there together and fight together in order to destroy the "mass-number" of bots (no matter how weak they are, they are strong in large numbers).

Now of course this wouldn't be required for big stuff like high-level Guardians (unless it is extremely strong veterans doing the missions). But for example, Collector bots and small Transports.

Problem #2:
When a group member dies, the mission computer often assigns higher-level enemies to kill, even though the group is of the same strength as it was before. This sometimes makes it impossible for a group to complete the mission.

Solution:
Instead of assigning higher-level enemies when the group member(s) die, just assign extra of the same-level bots as they are currently on.

SuperFreeza
Oct 04, 2004 Spider link
My take on this:

Entry level group missions (level 1/2 players ) are too hard, mostly due to the goddarn guardians and the fact that sectors are multi-populated. using a 4 squad with pair piloting helps here.

Higher level group missions: here its very much a continous fragfest. players don't communicate much, and most of the time are in different systems. Its a group mission, with each individual fighting as themselves.

What would be "nice" is a set of missions that actually require group members to work together. The current ones don't, unless you count the guardians for beginner players. Perhaps a mission like "take out the strike force" ;)

Overall, it depends on your players' skilllevel. I think this is unevenly distributed at the moment, because from the old group we were pretty Good most of us. Especially the crowd who thought it "fun" to spend time getting a level 12 license ;)