Forums » Suggestions
Greyspace Convoy Mission
I've been thinking of a way to reduce the level of upset caused to newbies when they stray into greyspace too early.
A previous thread (somehwere) discussed adding some blurb to training or character creation to warn new players about the dangers of greyspace but listening to channel 1 makes it clear that a significant number of new players don't pay much attention to instructions/reading material.
What I propose is altering the game to prevent new players venturing into greypspace, or accepting missions missions that take them into greyspace, until they have taken a new mission called Convoy into Greyspace. Once taking this mission, regardless of whether they successfully complete it or not, unlocks the ability to travel into greyspace.
Details of the mission: Convoy into Greyspace
The mission can be taken at at station bordering greyspace. The mission teams the player up with a "seasoned trader NPC" who flies something like a Centaur Mk II. The mission goal is to travel to a nearby station in greyspace. As they launch from the station the seasoned trader chats to the player about the dangers of greyspace as they move towards the wormhole. (players who don't like to read blurb will probably ignore this but at least we tried).
Then, just as the player and NPC trader are about to jump, two Corvus Vulturises (or more) appear through the wormhole and proceed to attack the NPC trader. The two (or more) pirate ships evade the wormhole defenses and quickly dispatch the trader before grabbing some of the cargo and then disappearing through the wormhole. At this point the mission is failed, the player's Nav Map is wiped of the mission programmed route, but the player is now free to enter greyspace if he/she wants.
It should be possible for the player to complete the mission to be successfully if the player has good combat skills and can kill the corvults before they kill the NPC trader.
The missions should only need to be available once, as the player gets the freedom to travel into greyspace regardless of the mission outcome. The mission is only a short one so experienced players establishing an alt wouldn't be inconvenienced by this mission.
A previous thread (somehwere) discussed adding some blurb to training or character creation to warn new players about the dangers of greyspace but listening to channel 1 makes it clear that a significant number of new players don't pay much attention to instructions/reading material.
What I propose is altering the game to prevent new players venturing into greypspace, or accepting missions missions that take them into greyspace, until they have taken a new mission called Convoy into Greyspace. Once taking this mission, regardless of whether they successfully complete it or not, unlocks the ability to travel into greyspace.
Details of the mission: Convoy into Greyspace
The mission can be taken at at station bordering greyspace. The mission teams the player up with a "seasoned trader NPC" who flies something like a Centaur Mk II. The mission goal is to travel to a nearby station in greyspace. As they launch from the station the seasoned trader chats to the player about the dangers of greyspace as they move towards the wormhole. (players who don't like to read blurb will probably ignore this but at least we tried).
Then, just as the player and NPC trader are about to jump, two Corvus Vulturises (or more) appear through the wormhole and proceed to attack the NPC trader. The two (or more) pirate ships evade the wormhole defenses and quickly dispatch the trader before grabbing some of the cargo and then disappearing through the wormhole. At this point the mission is failed, the player's Nav Map is wiped of the mission programmed route, but the player is now free to enter greyspace if he/she wants.
It should be possible for the player to complete the mission to be successfully if the player has good combat skills and can kill the corvults before they kill the NPC trader.
The missions should only need to be available once, as the player gets the freedom to travel into greyspace regardless of the mission outcome. The mission is only a short one so experienced players establishing an alt wouldn't be inconvenienced by this mission.
There is a courier mission that sends you out to grey space and warns you that it's likely to be dangerous...
Judging by the amount of datapads I see floating in Edras and Latos, A lot of them get killed while doing that mission. Not VO's fault they didn't read the part about how it's risky.
Judging by the amount of datapads I see floating in Edras and Latos, A lot of them get killed while doing that mission. Not VO's fault they didn't read the part about how it's risky.
Well the idea of this mission is not to tell them it's dangerous but to show them by snatching the mission from under them by killing their NPC trader.
The NPC Trader's last words could be something like "Hey! What the... they're not supposed to... AArrgggh!"
Let them see death rather than warn them about it. Make them think "that could have been me"
The NPC Trader's last words could be something like "Hey! What the... they're not supposed to... AArrgggh!"
Let them see death rather than warn them about it. Make them think "that could have been me"
-1
"What I propose is altering the game to prevent new players venturing into greypspace, or accepting missions missions that take them into greyspace, until they have..."
This is a deal-breaker. Magic walls are stupid. I do not care what your justification is. I do not care how quick and easy the mission supposedly is. I do not care how many people it would help.
If you only wanted to block missions to grey until they take it or an equivalent, that would be one thing. Physically preventing people from exploring until they take a mission, however, is unacceptable. End of story.
"What I propose is altering the game to prevent new players venturing into greypspace, or accepting missions missions that take them into greyspace, until they have..."
This is a deal-breaker. Magic walls are stupid. I do not care what your justification is. I do not care how quick and easy the mission supposedly is. I do not care how many people it would help.
If you only wanted to block missions to grey until they take it or an equivalent, that would be one thing. Physically preventing people from exploring until they take a mission, however, is unacceptable. End of story.
-1. There is already a mission - Training VI, I think - that explains grey space.
-1 This is just silly. You can't fix stupid. If they didn't read the existing training mission then there not going to read the new one. All that is going to happen is 500 new people in /1 asking why they can't activate the WH to Latos. I think having their ship blow to little tiny bits is a good indication that they went somewhere that might not be safe.