Random Encounters

sitheach

Like in the TV show? An option that can be unlocked and toggled on and off. Or maybe even worked into the core of the game. But that'd be a lot of work. Basically randomly popping up foundry missions while you fly around sector space. Either space battles or defense on board your ship. Just an idea I had..

Lotta downsides to this just cuz it's this game right away. Like, foundry missions taking a few minutes to load every single time being my main gripe. Other gripe would be the "generic" feel to the single player missions.

Another idea: Landing on planets manually with shuttles as just an option to do it just because you can. I imagine a ton of ST geeks would love that too.

orondis

That's.... quite a good idea.

sandormen123

+1 to this. Any. Even the worst foundry missions are better than the standard template explorer missions.

tikonov

Ugh, we sorta had something like this back in the first year.

'Enemy Contacts' would fly sector space maps and attempt to chase and 'touch' you : if they were succesful you were dumped into one of those ' red orb in space ' defence maps

It was a real pain in the TRIBBLE

sandormen123

tikonov wrote: »

Ugh, we sorta had something like this back in the first year.

'Enemy Contacts' would fly sector space maps and attempt to chase and 'touch' you : if they were succesful you were dumped into one of those ' red orb in space ' defence maps

It was a real pain in the TRIBBLE

Hence, make it an optional. We have so many buttoncliks already. One more can't hurt.
These days, flying close to/through a enemy contacts doesn't interfere with spaceflight anyways.

davidwford

tikonov wrote: »

Ugh, we sorta had something like this back in the first year.

'Enemy Contacts' would fly sector space maps and attempt to chase and 'touch' you : if they were succesful you were dumped into one of those ' red orb in space ' defence maps

It was a real pain in the TRIBBLE

I noticed that that only happened if the NPC ship flying around was equal to or higher than your level. Once you were a higher level, they stopped following you and forcing you into those maps.

Somewhere around season 3, they disabled the "Defend the XXXXX Sectord Block" missions. Those missions were the only way you could earn the accolade and titles "XXXXX Defender". They really need to bring those missions back. And allow every completiton of a Borg Sector Invasion to also count towards those accolades.

odstparker

That's a great idea. Random encounters with strange ships, species, and anomalies are a must in any Star Trek universe, and this game could really use them.

The only issue I can think of off the top of my head is the fact that groups may be putting a team together and someone gets a random mission and gets stuck while the group waits for them.

I suppose there could be a cost for an emergency warp out of the system, a few EC (like transwarp) or dilithium.

dknight0001

Isn't that what happens in the Exploration Clusters? Those are the Frontiers your not going to find new species in well traveled and charted sectors like Sirrius or Regulus.

sampa4

colonelmarik wrote: »

I've been suggesting this since the game launched, and it's a centerpiece in my revamp ideas for the game (something I've been working on for a LONG time).

Basically, it amounts to expanding the SIZE of sector space and getting rid of the borders. Then you have random encounters appear at random locations all over the place. There would be a higher concentration of these on the edges of explored space and inside exploration clusters (like the Hromi Cluseter).

I envision these being randomly generated missions that you COULD take part in, and some that you would have no choice in (such as being caught in a storm... your task in such a mission would be to survive and escape). They would also be OPEN missions, meaning any number of players could enter and take part. Further, it might happen that a player is unable to complete it and could then call for assistance (a distress signal).

The missions would be scripted in some cases, but would often be entirely randomly generated, with random terrain, random objectives and most significantly, random complications.

A complication is not part of the actual mission, it's something that complicates it. For example, your mission might be to map a system (visit a series of waypoints and conduct scans). Without complications, that is what you would do. Complications might include enemy ships, environmental hazards and so forth. Perhaps there's an ion storm coming into the area and you only have a limited time to complete the mission. The possibilities are endless.


It's a bit more elaborate than this, but it gives you a taste of what I'd suggest. Of course, I'm not going to bother suggesting it, because there's no way they would want to do the amount of work it would entail.

enoemg wrote: »

That's a great idea. Random encounters with strange ships, species, and anomalies are a must in any Star Trek universe, and this game could really use them.

The only issue I can think of off the top of my head is the fact that groups may be putting a team together and someone gets a random mission and gets stuck while the group waits for them.

I suppose there could be a cost for an emergency warp out of the system, a few EC (like transwarp) or dilithium.

dknight0001 wrote: »

Isn't that what happens in the Exploration Clusters? Those are the Frontiers your not going to find new species in well traveled and charted sectors like Sirrius or Regulus.

I must disagree strongly with this idea. Many of the reasons for this are already out there, but also, a larger problem is that it could (keyword: could) increase game load times to a much longer state than they are already! Besides, I was reading some of the notes on what is coming in the next season, and they are already adding a new space adventure zone. At this time, due to lack of details, I do not know what this will imply. However, I will guess that it will include these "random encounters" that you are wanting. Something that I WILL support, if they do add this game mechanic, is that they do not have these encounters in, what people have already called, well traveled sector space, but instead add these random encounters in the Exploration space (with the forced warp into the battle zone). I think that that will add a bit more enjoyment to, what I consider to be, the boring exploration missions! In short, good idea, but not exactly the best placement for the idea! Just my opinion on this!