NC Terminal Mission Revamp

So gramps always said; if it’s not broke don’t fix it.

It would be fair to say it’s not broke but is in need of a tune up. (It is 12+yr old)

Currently when you take a mission from the terminal you chose the difficulty and the faction and sift through the missions until you find what you want to do.

This could be as quick as 1 second or as tedious as 80 seconds. Basically the trouble here is the missions are not organized. I seriously doubt ReKKtor said when building this NC. “Getting a mission in NC should be a mission all in its own; don’t make it easy”.

That being said; all we need is another category to choose from.

Players should first choose their faction.
Second their difficulty level.
Third their type of mission. (IE Research/Construct/Runner/Fighting/Discovery)

Say if a player chose Cran>Very Hard> Research.

They would see only missions for 150/140/130 Research. My idea also includes that their is only one mission of the same type so to prevent searching pages for the right mission. It would all pop up once and you choose.

IE:
Cran - Very Hard - Research Missions:
Research TL 150
Research TL 140
Research TL 130

This would eliminate lost time and encourage newbie players to use the terminal for missions. As it would be easier to navigate. I know many new players who refuse to use the terminal.

SO no flame but let the brain start talking.

I absolutely concur with the suggestion to add a "type" filter. It would make things a lot easier! :)

Sounds good, though another change that gets into the spirit of your suggestion is to make a "Take Last Mission" on the missions tab. It would duplicate the last CityCom mission you took including faction. It'd keep the front end search time but would save a massive amount of time for those who are doing the same quest over and over again (ie, everyone).

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Originally Posted by Jest

Sounds good, though another change that gets into the spirit of your suggestion is to make a "Take Last Mission" on the missions tab. It would duplicate the last CityCom mission you took including faction. It'd keep the front end search time but would save a massive amount of time for those who are doing the same quest over and over again (ie, everyone).

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I like it :thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by SilentEye

[...]add a [mission] "type" filter[...]

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jest

[...]make a "Take Last Mission" on the missions tab[...]

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Either solution will also reduce the access frequency to the database. Maybe the "take last mission" function can be easier implemented.

as much as i would like to see those changes, i fear it's an intended, albeit pointless, time sink. as is running from bunker to mb to do launcher missions. the reason is simply to artificially prolong the leveling experience. i do understand the notion, because otherwise you could just start your character on */63, although a more meaningful approach seems adequate. it's a really dated method to convey the feeling of progress and achievement. especially since it's so easy to level certain professions and lom afterwards, that there's basically no need for missions if you just choose the optimal path.

on the other hand the whole tl150 res mission seems broken to the point of being an exploit. making it even easier to do those missions would be a step backwards, although i strongly believe that another solution to the tl150 res missions needs to be found.

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Originally Posted by eNTi

as much as i would like to see those changes, i fear it's an intended, albeit pointless, time sink. as is running from bunker to mb to do launcher missions. the reason is simply to artificially prolong the leveling experience. i do understand the notion, because otherwise you could just start your character on */63, although a more meaningful approach seems adequate. it's a really dated method to convey the feeling of progress and achievement. especially since it's so easy to level certain professions and lom afterwards, that there's basically no need for missions if you just choose the optimal path.

on the other hand the whole tl150 res mission seems broken to the point of being an exploit. making it even easier to do those missions would be a step backwards, although i strongly believe that another solution to the tl150 res missions needs to be found.

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True that's the "best route" but I much prefer leveling a specific character class from day one in its own skill set. Yes I don't cap in 3 days but a few weeks of fun is worth more than capping in 3 days.

I take use of the missions as a newbie to raise PSI and other none base skills for whatever class. I would just like to see a bit more thought put into it.

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Originally Posted by HkyPnky

Players should first choose their faction.
Second their difficulty level.
Third their type of mission. (IE Research/Construct/Runner/Fighting/Discovery)

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I would rather like to see that players choose their faction and difficulty level and then get all missions listed that are available for this difficulty level. At the moment you only get three missions listed and sometimes need to click the "Next"-Button many times till you got the mission you want.

For example you choose NEXT -> Very hard you get a list like this:
Research TL 150
Research TL 140
Research TL 130
Construct TL 150
Construct TL 140
Construct TL 130
Kill mob A
Kill mob B
Kill mob C
etc.

The "Next"-Button could be deleted.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eNTi

on the other hand the whole tl150 res mission seems broken to the point of being an exploit. making it even easier to do those missions would be a step backwards, although i strongly believe that another solution to the tl150 res missions needs to be found.

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Perhaps a change so that only the character that makes the BP's can turn the mission in but a change like that would probably be hated and easily got around by people who can make them by just running missions on one char and then transferring the cash to the char you want it on via a 3rd party.

I do have a researcher and I do make TL 150's but as each one takes 1 minute 20 seconds to attempt you can only attempt 45 per hour and as they have already said they will enforce the rules against people using macro's to res 24/7 the market itself should dry up.

The proposed change does sound good since even when your doing other missions (like launcher ones when there was a city com in the bunker) you could spend several minutes looking for one mission that would then take you about a minute to do.

True that

Please, please get rid of the existing system. "Kill x numbers of y." is just the worst example of a mission terminal I've seen. Mind you, I've yet to see a game with a "perfect" mission system. The best I can remember has mission terminals with sliders that allow players to set preferences. It didn't have tradeskill missions, but in my opinion those are a completely different story anyway (clue: boring grindfest).

First a difficulty slider. Affects enemy levels.
"Pacifist" slider - want to retrieve/rescue or rather kill a target?
Mob types - want to deal with robots, mutants, animals, ..?
Access - what about locks? Will you need to find keys, or have one of more hackers?
Enemy weapons - force/pierce, or psi powers, fire, poison, ..?
Mob violence - are they aggressive?
Finally there's a "XP vs Money" reward slider.

Missions were randomly generated and usually had players enter big "apartments" with multiple rooms, corridors, various mobs, traps, locked doors, etc. inside. I think such a system could work really well with Neocron. Factions give you a random password, send you to a random nearby (npc-)apartment and have you do things there. Provided the engine is able to create them on the fly.

This would be lots of work, but I am sure it would be worth it.