[EL] Distress Call - Accepted Time Limit

[XenonSurf]

Hi,
Ok, it's in the Instructions that there is a limited time for distress call, but I'm confused anyway:

Does the count-down clock mean you have to succeed the mission within this time, or just - like it says - to accept it within this time?
If it's the second case, what's your time limit for the mission, if any?

I did the following in a Food shortage mission:

I accepted it when the count-down was about 350.
I went to Navigation > Quadrant > Territory to look where I could buy food for a low price.
When I jumped 3-4 sectors away towards a jump gate I got a Mission Failed message.

What's up?

I found the Mercenary distress calls ok, IMO no need to change them, but here this 'Time Limit' kinda puzzles me...

Thanks to clarify the above for me,
XenonS

[Edited on 4-6-2016 by XenonSurf]

[XenonSurf]

I did another Food shortage mission, and this time it really gets absurd:

I read the mission, 51000 cr payment for a delivery at my current location. I go to the Selling Items, and what do I see?
3 slots with food available to sell, LOL...

I buy them, accept the mission, take off and land again. A profit in only 10 seconds!
Hum, I don't believe this was meant to play out that way...

XenonS


[Edited on 4-6-2016 by XenonSurf]

[GWhipple]

Missions will fail if you leave the sector.
The time limit is ONLY for accepting the mission. When you have accepted the mission there is really no hurry, but you are not allowed to leave the sector.

[XenonSurf]

Missions will fail if you leave the sector.
The time limit is ONLY for accepting the mission. When you have accepted the mission there is really no hurry, but you are not allowed to leave the sector.

Hi GWhipple,
I surely give you credit for it working that way, but I must say: It doesn't make sense at all

You then need to have the items in your inventory right beforehand, which is a pure matter of luck, as you can't go very far to get them without failing (except for oxygen or water which is too easy).
Also giving a time limit to accept a mission, instead of succeeding it, doesn't make any sense: If the mission cannot be done anymore, then it should simply dissapear, no need for any count-down.

It's actually so absurd that I believe it was designed to be the opposite, but is now in the game as a bug. It would make sense if the count-down reflects your delivery, and you being free to get the item even on the other side of the galaxy if you could...

The EM distress calls were much more challenging where you had to run against the clock...

XenonS


[Edited on 4-6-2016 by XenonSurf]

[GWhipple]

Missions will fail if you leave the sector.
The time limit is ONLY for accepting the mission. When you have accepted the mission there is really no hurry, but you are not allowed to leave the sector.

You need to have the items in your inventory right away, which is a pure matter of luck, as you can't go very far to get them without failing (except for oxygen or water which is too easy).

XenonS

Yes, the game doesn't check for certain stuff it seems so sometimes it can be pretty comical. I never travel around with food "just in case" so I never do those missions. But I tend to do the out of fuel and oxygen ones since they are kinda free. Especially the fuel since they can be done in like 10 seconds, just one little jump.

And the planets with oxygen, cities asking for oxygen. Open the windows guys! ^^

[XenonSurf]

Or maybe the design intention is to play it that way:

- You spot the distress call in the contracts
- You don't accept it immediately, but you leave and get the needed item within the time frame
- You then return, accept the mission and get paid

This would make sense (but I doubt the mission will still be there.)

XenonS

[Edited on 4-6-2016 by XenonSurf]

[Vice]

The time limit is specifically limited to acceptance time. One of the requests from the previous game was to either allow for much more time to complete or remove the delivery time entirely (some apparently didn't appreciate racing the clock). That element may change in the future though so that there is also a time limit to complete, depending on interest/feedback.

They are in-sector objectives now. Requests from EM asked for ways to keep distress calls more local to the player, rather than scattered all over the quadrant so that the vast majority could never be practically responded to. So they are now related to local needs/requests.

Yes, distress calls require planning in advance. As with real-world distress situations, having supplies on hand is an important part of the equation to deliver them in time and where needed. Part of the reason hangar storage was increased 250% was to give more room for keeping things like medical supplies, food, water, etc, on hand in case they are needed at some point via a distress call. So not everything in the game is accept first, then go acquire what you need to complete an objective. With several objectives, the planning must come first, then the acceptance and objective completion.

So if you're in an area where you'll want to be a responder to emergency distress calls, it's an important step to prepare for those events by bringing emergency supplies to that location so you'll be ready to make such deliveries when needed.

[Marvin]

I always thought of the time limit as a way for the player to gauge how long before some AI accepted the contract. As for a "race to get it done" ... well, that seemed even more artificial since it's very unlikely a society would die off in two or three minutes while waiting for food or medical supplies. Offhand, the only emergency contract which really is time-critical is the asteroid contract ... and that contract already has a built-in time limit.

[Vice]

That too. Also, the contract is only offered for a limited time to the player before it will be offered to some other NPC pilot.

[XenonSurf]

Hello Vice, Marvin,

your answers make it now much easier for me to understand these distress missions. In fact I didn't think about the Hangar on stations where I could deposit material
And after reading your points I must admit, the logic behind is sound. But this "time to accept" is confusing because once you accept the mission it will play no role anymore (AFAIK...)

Thanks,
XenonS

[Marvin]

But this "time to accept" is confusing because once you accept the mission it will play no role anymore (AFAIK...)

As mentioned above, most of distress calls wouldn't require quick action on the part of the person who accepts the contract. Granted, if you accepted the contract today and then left your computer running EL for a few days before you got around to filling the contract ... well, that would be unrealistic. But, on average, most players don't do that. It is kind of ironic, though, that at least some complaints about how it was done in EM (where the time limit applied to how long you had to complete the contract) were because the contracts often required the player to cover many star systems (and then a few extra sectors), whereas it all takes place in the same sector now.

[XenonSurf]

Hi Marvin,
believe me or not: in EM, I took such a distress mission with 300 seconds left where I had to go in a distant system and I was late for only 1 or 2 seconds, because I got in a planetary tempest before landing in time!
That was reason enough for EM to be my favorite space sim and keep it playing
I'm pretty sure I was posting about it years ago.

But of course I'm not saying that Legacy should be like EM, far from that. I like the many additions in EL, the game is way deeper now. I'm eager to see - and feel - the changes in combat AI, but for know I'm on money building and exploration.

Greets,
XenonS

[Marvin]

Yes, you got a feeling of real accomplishment when you managed to, first, work out a route and then follow the route so as to arrive within seconds of the clock running out. But you still had to wonder why it was that an entire colony would die if they didn't get a supply of food within the allotted time.

[DaveK]

And the planets with oxygen, cities asking for oxygen. Open the windows guys! ^^

Because of the four or so centuries of civil war between the major factions and the destruction of the atmospheric terraformers early in the first few hot phases, you'll have noticed that the planets aren't generously endowed with farms, forests, log cabins and terran animals. That's because they have either low oxygen or toxic stuff (or both) in their atmosphere. You mining beams extracts and purifies the oxygen (and the water as appropriate)

You may also have noticed that no-one wanders around outside unless in a TW or a ship. The city oxygen scrubbers don't have a lot of spare capacity and if there is a rupture in a module wall, or some scrubbers 'go down' the city needs a temporary top up of nice clean, pure oxygen ...

Keep the windows closed guys

[Marvin]

A very good explanation, if ever I've heard one (especially from Dave).

[XenonSurf]

All this brings me to another important question:

Does a failed misssion has any bad consequences? (Except combat missions obviously).
If no consequences, then I could always accept distress missions and hope for some selling items in the neighboring cities or stations. But I don't know how far the 'operation radius' is, it should still be ok from planet to orbiting station. So, if no such selling items, or you don't have it in your Hangar (!) then you lose nothing accepting the mission anyway.

XenonS

[Sinbad]

If you have any crew members, then failing a contract reduces their loyalty, increasing the chances that they will jump ship next time you dock.

[XenonSurf]

Oh...That's actually very bad

I just realize that my Scientific Officer has quickly disappeared, although I raised his wager at the start. Ok, he had a loyalty of 42 I think, will chose a higher one next time.

Thanks,
XenonS

[Marvin]

A failed contract will usually result in the loss of one or two percent loyalty for each crew member. Also keep in mind that, as a crewman's specs increase, his base pay increases. So, if you've failed a contract, either check the pay scale and at least triple it ... or have somebody else dock and accept a couple more contracts for you to complete.

[XenonSurf]

These are actually important points for the gameplay, thanks Marvin to share these

XenonS