So I was thinking about what is going to separate an itani/serco fighter pilot from UIT traders. And it occurred to me that a major piece that does not show up in the game is the Freedom that UIT traders would have, not being beholden to anyone.

So Here's my idea, what if Serco/Itani special ships came with an additional price. AKA you have to be a member of the military AND
the Military may give you random missions when you log on.

If you do not accomplish them over time, you will lose access to your valk and have to reapply.

However, if you continually succeed at the RANDOM missions, this is how your char would be promoted.

ooh, I like :D

..on a related note, though, it wasn't until I made a Serco alt that I stopped taking the high faction standings given to all UIT for granted.. now I'm paranoid of seeing red on those bars, or even grey..

Neat idea, sort of akin to EV in a way, with random (well, random seeming the first time you play) missions as modes for advancement.

But to take it even a bit further and to reduce the randomness of it (because random is by nature unfair), perhaps it would start with every new player being asked to do the same first mission (or first few), then depending on how well (or if at all) you finished it, this would lead to a different unknown mission tree.

I do like the access to Valk/Prom thing though. Only people in good military standing would have access. Go around grey being a rogue, well, access stops.

This would also open the door to Corvus/Inuebis/whatever factions having "modified" versions for exorberant prices (painted all black of course as an homage to EV).

edit: The only problem I see with this, is it would be a relatively fundamental change in gameplay. I think it would be a fantastic direction to take the game in, but how would you integrate veterans into the system. Most would feel slighted if they had to start at the same level (mission wise) as brand new players.

I suggested a while ago that you could align yourself with nations and factions to get access to special missions (primarily attacking/sabotaging rivals).

Doing a lot of missions (relative to others aligned to your faction) would give you perks, ie capships.

Pros: Gives us something to do other than PvP, puts emphasis on conflicts in Itani/Serco war and between gray factions.

Cons: The only thing I could think of is making alts less useful, but I hardly think that's a bad thing.

I'm waiting for ananzi to ramble on about drafting and such

i'd rather see missions that once taken remain active for a set amout of time (say a week) and at the end of that week if you fufill a set of requiernments the mission ends, and sets a flag on your character info indicating a completed tour of duty. if you haven't fufilled the requiernments the mission continues for another week. while you have one of these missions active you can't take any other missions. if you abort the mission, your standing is set to KOS and a small bounty is placed on your head.

payment would be based on sucessfull objectives, such as being payed for each enemy kill.

Well, one of the things I like about this game is that skills are inherent. There's nothing you can take away from a player that their skills won't let them get back.

You can't take away what makes a vet a vet (Tons of experience).

But, if the game is going to progress it will have to change.

I like the idea of having a straightforward set of missions, however, what would be REALLY nice, is if the Devs occasionally used these Required "Military Missions" to further a storyline.

So, suppose the devs have decided that, owing to recent diplomatic snafus, there needs to be a build up of troops at the border.

So they post missions to all players in the itani-serco military, which will be granted to players as they login.

As players complete these missions, they BECOME the buildup on either side of the border. Furthermore, by virtue of players following where the missions took them, the devs then have the freedom to start a war (Lots of people in and around Deneb)

Additionally, some form of this could be extended to corporations.

what would be REALLY nice, lucifex, is in the *faaar* future, replace "devs" in that sentence with "high-ranking players"... what if the council of [ITAN] made all foreign policy decisions for the Itani nation?? what if someone made a guild called [TPG], that would actually *BE* The Propeller Group??

I don't really like how currently Serco/Itani can get PoS with the nation they are supposed to be at war with..

I'm not sure UIT should be able to get PoS with both either, they should either be neutral to both or liked by one and hated by the other.. Perhaps both could like them as traders, but should they be able to access both sides military ships?

They could have a mission for both sides, that gives them access to that sides military ships, but completing that mission would remove access to the other sides ships..

netherby, Oppenheimer was German but was definitely both US and British PoS (excuse the analogy) during a war wich opposed the two countries. Heck, he built the US atomic bomb knowing full well it might end up decimating the German forces (thought actually ended up in Asia...).

Though, if your PoS (or even just admired) from the opposing faction, one shouldn't be able to buy that other nation's special ships (Prom or Valk).

start sarcasm - Im sure Germans loved US and British POS Oppenheimer during a war. - end sarcasm

yeah, what we're saying here is that you *should* be able to defect (ie get PoS with the opposing nation), but it should cost you standing with your starting nation.

IE, itani standing + serco standing <= 0, always

you *could* even put the same system in for a few other factions, though maybe with slightly more flexibility, eg corvus standing + UIT standing < 401 etc etc

I really don't like the current ability to get EVERY faction to like you, when those factions really hate each other.

Even UIT should have to pick a nation to trade with, or stick with neutral for both sides - neither side is going to trust someone with their best tech if they're well known for trading with the enemy...

The faction limitations should only be if they KNOW what else you are doing. Obviously, flying a Valk into Giera would be a bit of a giveaway. However, if a UIT behemoth stops by Pyronis twice a week, whose to say it did or did not also stop by Divinia twice that week?

Dirty UITs, never satisfied unless they can ripoff money from everyone.

I think this will work well with what Incarnate has planned for the eventual mission tree. As in, levels are abolished and you'll have to complete missions to have access to ships, very much like you have to do to get the Raptor.

Maintenance is good as well. As in "What have you done for me lately?" Heh. I like this idea a lot.

I'm still waiting for ananzi...

I assume this'll be in the Soon(tm) category.

I do not think levels should be abolished, but instead represent some progression up mission trees rather than some XP from time spent in-game. That way you cannot take the Itani Military Ship Certification mission until you have finished at least the Level 9 Combat License mission.

lucifex, I think you are definitely on to something, and from what I understand this matches Incarnate's vision of the game fairly well.

I still don't think they should do away with XP... leveling up and getting new equipment is one of VO's few hooks that gives cause to spend time in game...

I do think there oughta be more interesting ways to earn xp, such as storyline missions or the military missions that lucifex proposes.

NOOO

DON'T TAKE AWAY MY SHINY BLUE VALK!

*Sobs and hugs valk*

Okay, ananzi you are demoted.