###### tags: `Design`
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### MISSIONS:
- We need to reinforce our gameplay loop.
- The "loop": Go to the outpost, get gear from the outpost, go out and do Things, come back to the outpost, repeat.
- It is important that you have to LEAVE THE OUTPOST!!
- Requiring more trips back to the outpost is good: gating more stuff like the rewards from mining fights behind the outpost somehow, further removing ORMs, etc.
- With regards to missions and bounties:
- I want to somewhat discourage ways of getting money that boil down to "turn in this item" -- because you can collect the item before. certain special items can be turned in (unique items found in ruins?) as bounties, but most should not be easily acquired
- these items should not be turned in as missions, but rather turned in at a separate "bounty" console. it may have different pricing rules
- Even still, payouts for these should be small. it should be an EXTRA bit of cash, but hard to make a lot of cash out of
- Produced items have a similar issue: you can make them FROM YOUR SHIP on the outpost. This is why i'm wary of e.g. chems / mechs / research items. Again, if they depend on HIGHLY LIMITED items FROM PLANETS AND RUINS, it's okay
- Keep an eye on "foraged" cash, from legions, survivors, and ruins. This can slip under the radar as an income source but can serious effects.
- Could we make a unit test for this????? spawn in worlds and check their cash?
- On the structure of missions themselves:
- Most, if not all, missions should be linked to a location, with coordinates: that is, you have to go HERE and do something, not just "away" from the outpost.
- Greebles allow for linking to more locations: you can link to a greeble on the planet
- missions for distress signals????
- Possible objectives:
- Kill a specific enemy (souped up?)
- clear out all enemies
- scan something (or the area)
- retrieve an item of interest (blackbox, documents, research sample, ID or bank card, experimental weapon, downloading data from a doohickey with a datadisk, )
- defend a point of interest? (similar to mining attacks: maybe you need to plant a bomb to clear out a goliath den?)
- Delivery missions are fine! Having no-main-level outposts (with limited internal markets?) that must be delivered to? Or "planetary" POIs?
- We should be careful not to take activity away from the primary outpost! Limit trading and mission acceptance significantly (or entirely) -- people will EXPECT to be able to head to other hangars, so they should still be able to, but that should be it!
- The system currently mostly supports this, but it would require some extra work. Or they could be tiny stations that don't even have hangars, and have a limited number of external ports.
- How missions are given out and taken:
- Can missions be used to encourage teamwork? With the current system, accepting a mission effectively... instances it as a singular distinct quest.
- It's worth noting that we're constrained by planet generation and the limited number of planets at a time. Currently, leaving a planet deletes it and regenerates it, providing an infinite number of ruins. Additionally, only two ships can dock to a planet at a time. Consequently, we need to make sure that we don't "run out" of available missions or ruins.
- dynamic allocation of docking spaces?
- Ruin-running WITHOUT a mission should still be possible, just less rewarding
- IF missions require going out to a location and coming back with something, maybe they don't need to be accepted? Again, though, there is the generation problem... Missions must be accepted so that new planets generate.
- "Factional" mission boards: Missions (always?) stay visible after accepting, and are located on "factional" boards (in addition to a single shared board; independents should probably get a unique board). Factional boards are only visible to ships of that faction.
- Missions should still require "acceptance", but maybe you can turn it in without "having" the mission? I.E., accepting the mission either spawns the planet or gives you an ITEM to spawn the planet, but once the thing has been acquired from the POI, it can be turned in by anyone (of the right faction?)
- Limit the number of "accepted" missions (just one?), STILL, to stop people from claiming all the missions of their faction and then just not doing them. Or have a penalty for failure? It might be fine to just have one!
- One issue: make sure that cash gains from missions are commensurate with this! Tricky problem in that some crews will "hustle" and finish them at 20 minutes, and others will drag their feet and take an hour.
- System with "secondary" missions?
- Factional missions should have objectives related to the faction, and give extra rewards.
- Both delivery- and ruin-missions require showing up to a specific place that may be hidden. I would implement this as an ITEM that comes with accepting the mission, and which can be USED IN HAND while your ship is on a specific overmap tile to spawn the overmap object*

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### More stuff about missions, based on an impromptu discussion
These are currently being worked on by Fallcon.
.
cleared up certain bits of behavior:
- generation, planet deletion
- planets generate first, missions are derived from them.
- ruins have specialized mission types, found in the same file, which contain most important information
- planets stick around while they have extant, uncompleted missions even when people undock.
- this should be communicated to players!! maybe a message from the helm implying that the planet will be inaccessible if it's about to get cleaned up.
- listings
- docking to a planet lets you know that the mission exists -- these missions do not need to be accepted.
- the mission listing shows how many ships are currently docked to the planet linked to the mission in addition to the planet's coordinates (if applicable). this allows people to plan which missions to run
- turning in
- time limits are less important. if people want to sit on a planet and fuck around on one mission for 2 hours, maybe we should let them
- missions do not automatically verify. instead, they require a specific item or set of items to certify completion, which must be turned in at the outpost.
- assassination / retrieval / "kill everyone" missions are trivial: the item(s) to turn in come from getting the item or killing the mobs
- science and engineering missions may have specialized equipment (backpack scanners, etc.) to verify that missions have been completed. some ships might start with them; others can purchase them.
- a little interaction goes a long way: having to plug into a power wire, wait for the scan while it plays sound effects, etc.
- missions may randomly come with "complications" that switch things up a little bit
- a time limit that starts when you land, likely linked to a bomb / delaminating reactor / self-destroying lockbox / etc.
- extra or stronger enemies

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mission ideas:
- basic / combat
- assassinate a specific (stronger) enemy
- clear out all enemies (or, like, take samples from them that requires them being dead (or friendly? bleh, capture missions))
- fetch an item
- or a corpse, or an item INSIDE a corpse
- or a computer file, or diagnostic data from a machine
- wave defense against monsters after activating something
- take a bomb to a certain spot and set it off
- start a Sensor Tower and defend it while it scans... might also require restarting power
- kill several enemies with this experimental weapon? or try it out? or something?
- science / engineering
- most missions probably require a scanning device that handles certification
- repair a... Large, Complex Machine. get a TEG running?
- getting power running. maybe requires replacing wires, which are guarded by mobs? and there's a Machine that needs to be powered.
- just deconstruct the whole fucking thing so it can be turned into a construction site or something
- clean things up
- radiation? look at radiation levels across several points on the ruin. maybe randomly-chosen at the time of scanning so they can't be easily shielded
- atmos. requires breathable atmos in certain rooms, which might involve making them airtight. requires anti-cheese as well, so people can't make a breathable 1x1
- scan certain locations, get certain "samples".
- maybe you just have to wave a sensor around
- maybe you need to do an archeological dig

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discussed with latency:

- missions have the potential to integrate ruins deeper into gameplay and the game loop
- keep customization easy. no proc calls if at all possible.
- focus on equipment-based gameplay. set up machines, disrupt "enemy" machines.
- infestation-based missions?
- "robot infestation" is setting up Reproductive Machines. hivebots are building a thing to replicate.
- enemy respawning? tricky thing
- "enemies respawn in this area."
- the Spider Cave which Makes the spiders.
- the Hivebot Factory.
- use ruin-weighting and better randomization to discourage people farming one ruin over and over
- after all, if you can tell the ruin type based on the mission, many people might target that ruin based on its LOOT, not the mission reward
- certain missions that stand out more (visible on the overmap?)
- it's helpful if people can't instantly tell what ruin is on a planet just by looking at it on the overmap, though.
- mission "difficulty ratings"?
- missions can change the way that players interface with the map: it becomes about using the ruin to your advantage. affecting the environment to make wave fights easier, etc.
- ruins are often at risk of becoming synonymous with their loot. they become so easy to kill that it's just trivial
- "events" that take place as the mission progresses
- get the power up / start the wave, and new enemies spawn. or the environment changes. or something.
- enemy-spawning missions lead into the idea of "ruin variants" -- very simple form of this.
- the mission may become an integral part of the ruin itself. maybe a ruin has a "hivebot" mission and a "spider" mission that are mutually exclusive with each other. now the ruin VARIES based on the mission it rolls.
- more landmarks than there are enemies set to spawn -- means that enemy locations vary somewhat based on your run

otherwise on my mind:
- "specialization", and making ship crews feel different from each other
- consider core drilling and "mandatory mining" as part of the game loop...
- the issue with making missions show up whenever you dock is that it encourages crews NOT to specialize: they just do everything that's on the planet!

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### PROGRESSION, RESEARCH REMOVAL, CARGO BALANCE:
- Research sucks. We should move away from research as much as possible: Almost all progression should come through missions and purchases.
- To an extent, this means toning down on ruin rewards, but probably not too much.
- Most research items should be MOVED into cargo, esp. "faction" cargo. Some should be in ruins?
- LATHES: I think we should remove protolathes entirely. Autolathes only. Protolathes should be gone: they're basically redundant after we remove research. Circuit imprinter should also be merged with the autolathe.
- Fuck the BEPIS. Get it out of my sight. Put it in the black market or the fucking TRASH
- Some players will just beeline for the best, top-tier equipment: they "jump" from the bottom to the top. We should have ways of slowing them down
- We want to encourage ship diversity, to a degree, including factional differentiation
- Limited-stock systems: Some items should be limited in circulation?
- The issue is people buying EVERYTHING up. Possible solution: locking most very good items (automatic weapons, highest-tier armor) behind faction, and limiting those? The only things with single-digit total availability should be EXTREMELY valuable, like mechs. This also slightly discourages rounds with 5 ships of the same faction: more variety is good
- IDEA: "Outpost" reputation.
- Earning credits from an outpost, especially (but not exclusively) through missions, should increase "outpost" reputation
- If there are other ways of earning cash from an outpost (hydrogen, bounties), they should also give reputatoin!!!!!
- Give small amounts of rep to ships joining late in the round? Say 1/2 or less of the average reputation
- High-value items, ACROSS FACTIONS, are locked by high "reputation", in addition to a very high cost.
- Average length is 3-4 hours; we want closer to 2-3. Reputation gains should probably be tuned so that the top "tiers" probably become available after 1.5-2 hours?
- Mechs are the best example of this "top-tier" gear.
- Factional reputation
- Should be static: it is reset after every round, so it should never change. Additionally, we cannot expect other crews to respect it or CHANGES in it.
- Two-tier system for faction-related items: "Faction-locked" and "open-faction".
- Open-faction items are available to everyone, but you get a slight (~10%) discount for buying it if you are aligned with that faction and a slight (~5%?) boost in price if you are not.
- Faction-locked items require being in that faction. MAYBE we can let people "aligned" with the faction buy them at a SEVERE markup and higher outpost rep requirement. (at least 50% more expensive, at least 20 extra rep on a 0-to-100 system)
- Most items should be "open-faction"; *specialized* items should be disproportionately faction-locked. The best weapons, hardsuits and outfits, and however we lock research items
- Also can have simple-ish "gimmicky" items factionlocked to encourage "gimmicks" and help characterize factions.
- At some point: round-end "crisis" or "major event" that conclusively ends the round? Only announce it halfway through; probably doesn't happen 100% of the time? This is in the far-future.
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### PEER-TO-PEER TRADE AND THE CARGO EXPERIENCE
- Crates should spawn in a conveyor belt in the hangar.
- "Shopping cart" crate-batching.
- After the above two: very small ($50? $100?) fee for spawning in-hangar as opposed to a distinct location on the outpost. Encourages traffic, especially THROUGH AN AREA.
- Should be a way, on the outpost main level where you pick up your crates, of posting an object for sale. This should show up (in a certain tab?) on the cargo console. You should be able to set a custom price, and the outpost should take a meaningful (15%? 20%?) percentage cut.
- Together with the hangar gratuity, these encourage people to move through a space on the outpost. With the percentage cut, people are encouraged to do off-the-record purchases.
- Some basic safety features? Name-list for things in contents and a picture of the item? Prevents TRIVIAL scams (rename a piece of paper).
- You should also have to like. Enter a name or scan your ship key or something??? So people know who you are??????
- Some sources of randomness/variety:
- Slightly variable prices on items?
- Some stock-limited items that are only available rarely (okay place to shove dumb shit like genetics or slimes or nanites if you really fucking want to keep those)
- These require some small but nontrivial improvements to outposts (better elevators, maybe a second elevator. Those should be enough) so that it isn't so much of a pain to drag crates around

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### PR candidates:
Missions, ruinmissions
Cargo QoL + peer-to-peer trading
Faction-locked cargo, limited stocks
Outpost reputation (may be rolled into above or below)
Research (and bepis) removal