Whilst the general template of missions are mostly based around killing ships in space or killing people on the ground, there are a few missions I've found where a degree of choice (which person to side with) has presented itself.
I like this, adds a little thought and variety to a mission beyond choosing what reward you want at the end. Sort of like the limited choice of action in the ME series.
Imagine this scenario for a scripted mission:
You warp into space, run into big ship acting mean (they all seem to be these days). You get hailed, but then get presented 3 choices by your BO's.
1) Charge weapons and engage in ship to ship combat (the defacto result currently)
2) Take a chance to beam aboard the opposing ship and engage in 'ground' combat to try and take over the ship.
3) Return the hail, act peacefully, maybe bribe with energy/commodities? (perhaps appeals to the startrek fan who isn't all about the combat)
This next step is a meeting with a larger group, perhaps the fleet of the aforementioned big ship. Here what happens is dependant upon what steps you took before.
1) Since you blew up the last ship, chances are you're going to be in a bigger fight now.
2.1) Since you took the last ship, you now get an element of surprise if you want to attack them (you also get to do it in a foreign ship, something new there)
2.2) Since you took the last ship, you now get to beam about the flagship and try and capture their leader (more ground combat, tougher and bigger)
3) Since you paid off the last ship, you get led to the fleet and get given tasks to do to prove your worth etc...
Rewards can be based on the course taken, how happy Starfleet is with the way things turned out, depending on if they sent you on a mission of cooperation or one of war. Ultimately the end result is more or less the same, skill points, BO points and an item, which saves the developers writing an ever increasing number of missions based on past actions.
The above is just a basic example, but I wonder if this is possible within the game and would people enjoy such a possibility?
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