EL Suggestion For Combat Rewards

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Delta99
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EL Suggestion For Combat Rewards

Post by Delta99 »

I would be great if there was a reward (monetary) of some kind when taking out enemy ships either in contested space or friendly space. Heck, perhaps just anywhere. Or at the very least an open ended mission of some sorts that you can pickup that rewards kills in any part of the system.

I really enjoy that part of the game where I just wander around, find enemies on the border of territories and start battling away. But the only problem is I am not rewarded for this whatsoever other than perhaps helping to gain territory. BUT, I'm wasting a lot of fuel, missiles and such and not gaining any money whatsoever.

You could implement something like Elite Dangerous where any enemy has some sort of bounty award attached to their name. If you kill them or help in killing them you receive all or part of the bounty. Or actually you have to get back to a station and claim the bounty. If you don't get back to the station before getting killed you do NOT receive the bounty.

This would be a great addition In my opinion.
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Vice
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Re: EL Suggestion For Combat Rewards

Post by Vice »

It'd be good to evaluate such an interest in more detail. In war, pilots generally aren't paid for each enemy plane they shoot down, but I can understand the interest in wanting to be paid for your efforts and there are mechanisms in the game to achieve that objective and are designed within its intended combat conditions and options. For example, that's what the contract system is designed to facilitate in the larger 'mercenary' framework that the game uses. If you want to be paid for your kills, you can take a contract from the job board to be paid upon success (and pay scales with the number of hostiles involved). This also incentivizes building to make those options become available in new regions as well as the contracts themselves to be paid for such operations.

There are bounty contracts in the game already. And again, those also use the mercenary contract structure the game utilizes.

Another option you can use is to retrieve what the destroyed ships leave behind in terms of lost cargo. That can often help recover fuel and weapon costs for an engagement, even outside of the contract system.

So perhaps you could describe your interest in how you'd want to see such options operate outside of the existing framework and options? And then how that might positively or negatively impact those existing options? One concern that could surface would be disincentivizing contracts by implementing an alternative money route outside of the intended mercenary framework.
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Delta99
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Re: EL Suggestion For Combat Rewards

Post by Delta99 »

Hey Vice,

Thanks for the quick response.

Yes, I realize there are contract options for combat but they are very few and difficult to find at least in the very beginning. Or at least that is what I found the last few times I played. Take this all with a grain of salt because I haven't played much at all and just getting back to firing it up these days. I am also talking about the very early start game. I also remember there being a "war" area that one can go to and get contracts there. However both these scenarios are isolated and very different than the combat that you find in general space. The current ones (from what I remember) are very solo type and I've also found them to be extremely difficult at times. This is going back many months now so my memory is a little fuzzy. After a few attempts I gave up on them.

Whereas the combat that takes place in general space is much more shall I say interesting. Friendlies pop in and out. The combat is not as intense OR I have an option to attempt to get away. Its just much more with the flow of the game if you know what I mean. It just happens and you can participate or not. Sometimes you do get caught in it and it is tough to get out of but that is the interesting part of it as well.

Sorry if I am not explaining this properly. I'm rushing through this to get a response back to you and also like I said I haven't spent enough time in the game to explore other options. This is my opinion mostly based on the very early game and for those of us that primarily want to focus on combat first and foremost.

I forgot and didn't even notice that enemies might be dropping cargo. Will look for that from now on.

As for exactly how this should work I don't think I'm in a good enough position to recommend as I'm not entirely sure how everything ties together with the existing mercenary framework. I just think something along these lines should be in the game in some manner.

If/when I get more time to explore and get back to playing maybe I'll have some better ideas for you.
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Re: EL Suggestion For Combat Rewards

Post by Marvin »

Open space doesn't, at first, belong to anyone or any faction. Ergo, there is no government or agency interested in paying you a bounty. The only way I could see you receiving a bounty would be if you pursued a criminal or member of the opposing faction beyond the border of a single gated sector. Which would be a difficult task once your target hyper-jumps away. To continue your pursuit, you'd probably need an intelligence report or something similar to track him down. Which, to me, sounds like a good idea for a quest (a la Wanted - Dead or Alive). Otherwise, when in open space, build a station. Combat contracts will then come to you ... especially if you've built your station in a hostile sector.
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Re: EL Suggestion For Combat Rewards

Post by Vice »

One gameplay challenge to consider when hunting down hostile ships for their cargo is to be careful when attacking with weapons. You'll want to fire enough to destroy the hostile ship, but not continually fire so as to destroy the cargo that's left behind. It can be a fairly delicate balance to inflict enough damage to destroy the ship without leaving behind remaining gunshots that would then also destroy the cargo dropped from the ship.
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Re: EL Suggestion For Combat Rewards

Post by Delta99 »

Good point on open space not belonging to any faction. However, an enemy is an enemy I suppose. You can still get a bounty for killing them if you make it back to a friendly station to collect.

Building a station is certainly not "start game" and that is more what I'm talking about. I want to get in game and start some interesting battles. But that doesn't seem the case until I go through a lot of non-combat missions.
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Re: EL Suggestion For Combat Rewards

Post by Delta99 »

Vice wrote:One gameplay challenge to consider when hunting down hostile ships for their cargo is to be careful when attacking with weapons. You'll want to fire enough to destroy the hostile ship, but not continually fire so as to destroy the cargo that's left behind. It can be a fairly delicate balance to inflict enough damage to destroy the ship without leaving behind remaining gunshots that would then also destroy the cargo dropped from the ship.
Ah, good to know
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Re: EL Suggestion For Combat Rewards

Post by Marvin »

Delta99 wrote:Building a station is certainly not "start game" and that is more what I'm talking about. I want to get in game and start some interesting battles. But that doesn't seem the case until I go through a lot of non-combat missions.
You can get a number of combat contracts in a war zone. No matter your faction. And getting to a war zone is as easy as getting anywhere else. The differences being:
  • You can dock at any station (unlike the situation in enemy-held territory).
  • You'll be offered combat contracts (the Vonari always maintain the percentage).
  • You don't pay docking fees (unless maybe you're an Indy ... but what's the fun in that?).
  • You gain military rank (opening up a new line of military ships for purchase).
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Re: EL Suggestion For Combat Rewards

Post by Delta99 »

I believe I tried this long time ago and it was very difficult when starting out. Next to impossible if I remember correctly. The battles were not nearly as interesting as what you get in open space. I gave up with them.

Maybe it was just the luck of the draw and these change all the time but I wasn't interested in returning when I was able to find much more interesting battles in open space.

I'll try it again next time I am on in case things have changed from last year.
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Re: EL Suggestion For Combat Rewards

Post by Vice »

Some war zones are easier than others as well. The 'starter' war zones generally provide more reinforcements and/or limit the number of hostiles you will encounter. However, if combat is ever a struggle at first, it can be best to stick with what you're doing and engage (ALC/FDN) hostiles you find out in open space. Then work up to the harder combat scenarios in the more difficult regions of space, both in terms of your ship's upgrades/capabilities and your own improving skillset/abilities.
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Re: EL Suggestion For Combat Rewards

Post by Delta99 »

Ok guys, I'll get in and try some more things out. I thought there was just one war zone or do I have to find them? I can't remember. Once again, I haven't played much in the past year and only recently dove in for a few minutes to check things out.

I'll hopefully have more time to mess around in more detail and see how things develop.
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Re: EL Suggestion For Combat Rewards

Post by Marvin »

There is a war zone near Pearl which is fairly easy (or so I'm told). Federation pilots (of which IM is part) prefer the war zone above Sierra. Few if any contracts in those war zones require you to take down a Vonari capital ship. This is different from how it worked in Mercenary, where Talison Conflict was the easiest. Talison Conflict still exists (the Vonari are a persistent bunch) but it isn't so easy anymore. One of the reasons IM likes Sierra is the planet inside the war zone, where we can test our mettle fighting the Vonari and gravity at the same time.
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Re: EL Suggestion For Combat Rewards

Post by Walker »

.... fighting the Vonari and gravity at the same time.

That sounds rather nasty when I fly a brick!
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Re: EL Suggestion For Combat Rewards

Post by Marvin »

So do I. My crew complains of the same thing. :P
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