Pilot Archive

This is just a loose suggestion. I'm just throwing it out for thoughts and feedback.

Prologue:

Some players may have been to the site of the crashed imperial ships just north of the Imperial base on Talus. I remember seeing these ships long before JtL was released and always thought it was great to see these ships in the game (even if they were crashed ships and useless). During beta, and in a another post after launch, I made the suggestion that it might be nice to have planetary missions (available from mission terminals) where a player would arrive at the waypoint and see a crashed JtL ship and then have a mission objective to complete that has to do with the ship (e.g., kill or aid survivors,retrieve data from the ship, destroy the ship, etc.). I'll go into more details about suggested mission at the end of this post. One mission idea that I think would go over well is not one that involves taking it from a mission terminal, but rather, a random spawn; such as:

The KSE Firespray rare spawn mission:

A player is on a planet and away from a major city. The player stumbles upon a crashed KSE Firespray. Among the debris is a downed pilot. The player will then have to either:

A. Escort the pilot back to an NPC (that will spawn once a player takes on this mission).

B. Apply medical attention to the pilot (if the player possesses this skill).

C. Defend the pilot as a wave or two of combatants begin to attack the area (once the player takes the mission).

D. Kill the pilot and a small group of NPC targets aligned with the pilot.

If the player completes the mission, then either a segment of the KSE Firespray (n of 8) is given as a reward or just the entire schematic. If the mission spawn is extremely rare, then offer the entire schematic. If it will spawn more often, then just a segment. A player can't "make" the spawn occur. It will be completely random. If the spawn involves combat and the player is not prepared, then the player may lose out. Once the spawn occurs, a timer may get started that will cause the spawn to disappear if the player doesn't initiate the required tasks quickly. This would prevent a player from stumbling on the spawn and having time to call friends out to help. Either that, or just allow the spawn to stay until the mission is completed or that grid on the landscape remains vacant for a period of time (i.e., the player leaves and no one else shows up).

Epilogue:

Even if this opportunity for planetary players to get either a complete or partial segment of the KSE Firespray schematic doesn't get implemented, I still think it would be nice to start fusing elements of JtL into the ground game. Since the ship models exist, it might be nice to start seeing them in the ground game as either POI-type elements (where crashed ships are randomly placed on planets) or as parts of real missions or (dare I say) monthly events. Other ways that JtL ships can be added to the ground game are:

A. Missions from terminals.

These could be neutral (standard mission terminals) where a Hutt or Black Sun ship is involved. A player would arrive at the mission waypoint and see a crashed freelancer ship (e.g., Hutt Kimogila,Black Sun Ixiyen, etc.) have a variety of mission objectives ranging from destroy, defend, or aid/escort. Missions could also be GCW related (faction mission terminals), where an imperial player could have to come to the aid of a downed imperial craft or attack rebels around a rebel craft, or vice versa for rebel players.

B. Missions from NPC or monthly events.

These could be on a much grander scale. They could involve something out in the open such as a landing field with numerous ships in the area and either solid structures (e.g., bunkers, hangers, towers, etc.) or makeshift tents (if the strip is not intended as permanent). They could involved (instanced) dungeon environments where the mission involves a ship production facility, starship component technological facility, sheltered base, or what ever. Again, the starships from JtL (imperial, rebel, and/or neutral) would be part of the props that make up the mission.

C. Missions from Pilot trainers or Space Stations.

This is actually more likely since JtL players are guaranteed to have all of the artwork (if the ships aren't in the game for players without JtL). This mission would involve talking to either a faction specific pilot trainer (or a new NPC aligned with a specific pilot tree) or communicating with a space station that will result in the player being sent on a planetary mission. The player will be expected to fall back on their planetary fighting skills and abilities to complete the mission from that point. There wouldn't be a timer or anything restrictive. Once the player takes the mission, the player then needs to either complete the mission solo (an instanced dungeon that wouldn't allow a player to enter with a group) or form a group of players that will be allowed to enter the instanced dungeon, but only as long as they also possess JtL (similar to how group members are allowed to enter MP/POB ships) and possibly of the same pilot affiliation.

I could go into incredible detail for suggestions and mission ideas, but I think I've listed enough to at least open the discussion, if others feel it's worth doing so. While planet missions are "okay". I really think many player are getting tired of seeing banners or "cubes" as the main mission target. I think seeing ships as the main mission object would be a welcome addition.

Thoughts?

ggggggggggggggggg e- Mar Koola -e ggggggggggggggggg
"....you re-incarnated the Meanie!" - Kacy
Twisted Bastahds Guild