Hi all,
maybe there is the same topic but It seems I cant find any, so I want to suggest/give some tips on mission generation from my perspective.

Im a big fan of X games series, but one of the things that i really dislike in it - missions that you get from NPCs. They are just bland and are generated for player only, it has no real connection to the universe you are living in.
Currently, im a tester for one great modification for X3 (the best mod as for me) that is still in development but will be released soon (hopefully ). One of the main tasks for Dev team was making real living and breathing universe (just like you want LT to be) and so vanilla mission system was discarded.

So, my point is that EVERY mission generated in game should be a real in-game event (nothing should be generated SPECIFICALY for player).
I.E.: If there is patrol mission - there IS a real patrol (every ship of which was build at shipyard from raw resources) that will start from station when its ready regardlees to if player will participate in it or not. The only thing it does is asking for help in patrolling from privateers like you while they are preparing ships for launch, rearming them, painting or what ever.

If there is a mission to deliver some goods, there IS a REAL shortage on this station, and they need help of private freighters to restock their resources.

If there is a call for help from neighbor sector militia, then there IS a real pirate/enemy invasion.

Just examples, but this should give the hole idea. Such system brings a good flavour and player can REALY influance universe, he is living in.

Such system also gives opportunities for other NPC privateers (that are just like you) to take this missions/jobs and interect with universe (and maybe even you).
It can be complicated, but its just the only right way for jobs/mission system in LT for me (and many others i believe).

Thank you Josh for making game of our dreams.

PS: think of butterly effect this system can bring to the game (lets say, you answered on distress call from freighter that was under attack, you saved him, and it turned out that he was bringing very rare component to the shipyard to complete construction of new cruiser, and this cruiser made a big influence on the battlefield between two factions. So, only because you saved that freighter, faction managed to capture the hole sector)

This is pretty much how Josh has said he wants to implement missions, I guess we'll see how close he gets tomorrow

If there are centres of production and consumption, that should create the main incentive for commercial transport and associated missions.

At low LoD, it can be modelled as resources relocating. AT high LoD, it can be modelled as transport missions being generated and ships accepting them.

Perhaps it should be NPC-centric; spawn a few NPCs with money, and they will buy ships at shipyards. These ships will take up the transport missions, netting the owners more money. Shipyards will need more resources to build ships, themselves being centres of produciton and consumption. Planets will be the largest consumers of just about everything, modelled as the stations that serve planets. These stations could also be the main spawing points of new NPCs with enough money to start doing things that make the background economy run. Other NPCs will buy mining platforms and refineries - more production and consumption - and they will create transport missions for others to carry out. There would end up a living universe of all sorts of resources being shipped all over.

If that can be achieved, the next trick would be to add factionalism and crime; factions want to take over the resources of competitors; some by fair means, others foul. Pirates will want to grab cargoes and ships, either as gangs or freebooters. If all this can be added, then there are corporations and individuals who will use combat to achieve their aims. War. Add in exploration and the quest for new resources, and then most of the game will be done!

OK, perhaps not most, but a useful part anyway.

JabbleWok wrote:If there are centres of production and consumption, that should create the main incentive for commercial transport and associated missions.

I can see LTs Jita now (central trading hub from EVE, where you can buy and sell anything and where you can hire and be hired by anyone)

I think it would be cool if the player could create missions that NPCs would snap up and do - would add to the flavor a lot.

felldiddy wrote:I think it would be cool if the player could create missions that NPCs would snap up and do - would add to the flavor a lot.

If you're buying remotely, isn't that the same as giving someone a mission to deliver it to you? Or maybe you're just agreeing the sale, but then you must separately hire someone to collect it. Plus maybe an escort if it goes through a dangerous region.

A living economy could generate all sorts of tasks, mainly around buying/selling and transporting goods, and those activities would provide the missions. If you are part of that economy, then you can provide missions too.

Which is exactly what Josh wants to do! *happy*
If, of course, he can get to that level of detail without slowing the cpu down to a crawl. *touch wood*

I'm guessing the clever trick will be getting it to work acceptably well at low LoD, so that it's entirely compatible with that area becoming high LoD again.

Say you're in System X (hence high LoD) where there are various commercial activities. You go travelling, so that System X becomes low LoD. Later you come back, so it's high LoD again. What type of processing will change/preserve the commercial activities so that it's no different (or close) to the player staying there? Preserving persistence is one thing; changing it convincingly at low LoD seems to me much more difficult.