Random thoughts on leveraging the AE for tip-like missions.

[Darmian]

One of the takeaways from a recent(ish) Weekly Discussion was the possibility of leveraging the AE for further content, along the lines of tip missions. Seems reasonable.  There is good stuff in there, might just need a tweak or two to align it with everything else. Thoughts here are sprawling/rambling so feel free to take this apart to see what might or might not work.*

 

As with everything it is easier said than done. Tip missions are usually single missions while the majority of AE SFMAs are not. Those usually hit 5 missions. Usually. This brought up the concept of a "tip arc", and in this context "tip arc" is simply a catchall term for an AE length arc of missions.

 

That in turn led to a discussion about keeping them separate from regular tip missions., especially since the majority of AE arcs have a definite contact rather than a mysterious radio message, or a note slipped into your drink at a nightcub.

 

Populating the game with myriad new contacts, or writing code to repurpose/add to existing contacts is no doubt code heavy and time consuming. And isn't needed.

 

If we leverage the AE missions we can leverage the entire AE structure as well.  

 

Notional idea: We have three areas in the game world. Paragon Dance Party, Rikti Monkey Fight Club and Studio 55. Apart from the odd RP session in the second, of those the first two are mostly dead space. Studio 55 gets a small bit of traction as a hub from Praetoria to Pocket D (and Bobcat as a contact).

 

Stick at least one AE contact Avatar in each of those places that can generate any appearance etc whatever, just as they do in any AE.  

 

Now for the other bit! One of the "complaints" I get from some players is that however good an AE mission might be it's still not a "real" mission. The suspension of disbelief is not there because of the nature of the avatars and the green beam. SO...add part of the AE console to the base Mission Computer allowing you to select the arc you want to do, then off you pop to see your by now generated contact in the aforesaid place. You step into Paragon Dance Party and there they are, waiting for you.

 

All you need now is 5 doors.  That's it.  5 doors. So step out into the game world and head to a door!

 

If this were to utilize the quasi TF function of the AE then you could just invite further players after you accept the mission, rather than it being locked to the player/same alignment team in a base.

 

Will they give full XP/drops?  Dev's Choice missions already do that, so why not?  Will they cost 1 Reward Merit to play like other things in the Mission computer?  I don't know. Even if they did it's 5 times cheaper than what's in there already.

 

Ok. I could have expressed that a lot more concisely.  And some will see it as convoluted but it is an attempt to achieve the suspension of disbelief without literally recoding every AE and adding contacts and everything.

 

 

*Caveat. This next sentence may offend. If you only reply to this to start a gate keeping argument about how Paragon Dance Party/Rikti Monkey Fight Club/Studio 55/the entire game itself should be left as they are "because", then you need to go play on an i24 server somewhere because you're not contributing,

 

 

Edited April 21, 2021 by Darmian

[Darmian]

I suppose it's essentially a halfway house between AE arcs and in-world missions. 

[huang3721]

The way I see it: we add accessibility to AE Missions. We do this by allowing players to run them via Super Group. Since we can't put contacts inside a base, we have to put them somewhere else. So, we will have two routes:

1. Go to AE/Pocket D, pick a story, go to nearby holographic contact, then access data stream.
2. Go to SG base, select a story, go to the Dance Club, Fight Club, or Studio 55, talk to a contact, then access the mission door (preferably the closest from said club). 

The drawback is that players take a longer route to get into the mission from their base.
If many players consider that the new flexibility outweighs the delay, this might work. If it works, the clubs mentioned above will get new regular visitors. 

[Darmian]

Well, the delay is a shortcoming if the longer route is a genuine issue. Sure, it might be for some, but no more than travelling to any contact for the first time since you can't usually call a contact for your first meeting anyway.  The upside is it could get more content into the actual game world and take out the "unrealness" of doing it through an AE data stream.  

 

Yes, obviously we'd all want more fully realized material like we already have and like the material produced by @Piecemealand @holymittens previously.  But those obviously take a lot longer. So...

[Darmian]

So Avatar in one of the three named areas. Mission List from AE console ported to the Mission Computer in SG bases, and 5 doors assigned.

 

Yeah, it SOUNDS simple.

Edited February 16, 2021 by Darmian

[Darmian]

If you have a look, there's absolutely oodles of space in these three areas.

 

Studio 55. Two levels at least. 

 

Rikti Monkey Fight Club.  One level but two angles to show the area.

 

 

 

And Paragon Dance Party.  Which has the classic warehouse layout, so there's space on the way in to here too.

 

 

Edited February 16, 2021 by Darmian

[Ankylosaur]

What about using Kallisti?

1. Put the AE mission panel and contacts in the lobby of the big building in the middle.
2. Have the mission doors randomly generate in locations in the zone based on the map. (office, abandoned office, sewer, warehouse, abandoned warehouse, etc)
3. Unique map missions would use the transit or sub in zone (like some game missions do).

If you want a warehouse in specific place, e.g. kings row, it does not work, but otherwise? 

Edited March 3, 2021 by Ankylosaur

[Darmian]

Well, that could work too I suppose, but to some extent still lends itself to a little lack of immersion. But I was avoiding Kallisti Wharf because SOMETHING is being planned for there.  Plus KW makes Praetorians once again the last in the line when the door closes and they get nothing.

 

Having thrashed some of this through with @Take Oneon Discord he proposed that the "avatars" wouldn't be the regular green code from the AE but would be generic NPCs until the mission activated, much like sometimes an NPC is simply gone if you do a certain arc, or Matt Habashy's wife joins him in Atlas Park after you finish that early mission.

 

 

[Darmian]

But other than placement, @Ankylosaur, is the concept workable for you?

[Ankylosaur]

Quote

But other than placement, @Ankylosaur, is the concept workable for you?

 

I like several ideas in here, but in the end, unless I am missing something, I am not sure the solution solves enough. I the think idea, as I understand it, is to put AE in a new room and instead of a glowie column, use the same 5 doors in the game world. Am I missing something?

 

I DO like the idea of

1. Repurposing AE arcs to be more of an in game experience.
2. Repurposing the empty spaces you identified. 
3. Using in-game doors.

Giving us a way to take the AE experience into the game world is the crux of the proposal and I am all for that. If you do that, then putting a green glowie contact in those repurposed spaces makes sense.

 

I suggest we make those rooms the source of these special "in game" AE arcs too, putting an AE computer and contact in there, and give us the ability in the AE Editor to:

1. Use Existing in Game Contacts - If the author chooses a default in-game contact as the arc contact - then after a player starts the mission with the AE computer, the in-game contact is who you talk to, not the glowie guy. This makes it feel like the story really is more integrated into the game.  (I could see lore purity concerns here, but just make it clear it's a player arc which amounts to fan fiction).
2. Assign a Mission a Zone and give it Door type - authors make the selection in the editor and the game randomly selects a door that meets the criteria. (I am presuming similar code is there for radio/police scanner missions already). If the game can't identify a door that matches in that zone (e.g. no abandoned warehouse in imperial city or something) it chooses whatever door it does have and we live with it. In addition to choosing a zone and door, we have a transit door option (i.e. tram, helicopter, ferry, sub - again adding to that menu I presume is leveraging existing tech). 
3. Hunt missions - a new mission type that allows us to assign a mission zone and mob type and number of kills (e.g. Crey's Folly, defeat 30 Crey) <--I'd call this a nice to have not a need to have, but it would bring more life to the zones. Includes a menu of valid choices for the zone. It's built on existing mechanics and would be pretty limited use, but that means an easy UI to create too. 
4. Delivery missions - another new mission type - pick an in game contact to deliver to and get some bubble text and a clue. Again, nice to have, not need to have as it's very limited use, but it gets people interacting with the world. (You can kind of accomplish this in the editor already with a location map and ally, but the options are limited).

I am less excited about 

• Putting an AE computer in an SG base. 
  • IMHO That will just make the world seem emptier as people will hide in their rooms. Seeing heroes or villains or your Praetorians running around the city brings life to the place. But, if it gets people using it more because its special and something they can run from their own base - I am all for it.
  • It also creates a barrier for people to try this - they need to set up a computer in their base. it's not hard and it's free, and most probably have it, but for those that don't bother with bases there should be a way to do this. 

[Darmian]

34 minutes ago, Ankylosaur said:

Putting an AE computer in an SG base. 

• IMHO That will just make the world seem emptier as people will hide in their rooms. Seeing heroes or villains or your Praetorians running around the city brings life to the place. But, if it gets people using it more because its special and something they can run from their own base - I am all for it.
• It also creates a barrier for people to try this - they need to set up a computer in their base. it's not hard and it's free, and most probably have it, but for those that don't bother with bases there should be a way to do this. 

 

Well, we already have the Mission Computer in the base loaded with tip missions, it would just be adding part of the AE UI to it. TakeOne suggested repurposing part of the many many information booths around Paragon/telepone booths in the Rogue Isles and perhaps something pasted on the many Morris Columns in Praetoria/a Clockwork, for those that don't have an SG or a base computer.

[Darmian]

On 2/13/2021 at 10:17 PM, Darmian said:

SO...add part of the AE console to the base Mission Computer allowing you to select the arc you want to do, then off you pop to see your by now generated contact in the aforesaid place. You step into Paragon Dance Party and there they are, waiting for you.

Turns out it is not possible to add part of the AE Console to the Base Mission computer, add to that the peculiarity of a base being an instanced location.  So ignore my notions about that in the above posts.

 

Hmm, so just have an actual AE console in the corner of one of the three mentioned zones?

 

Console in corner?  Pick a mission. Then to a secluded booth to meet the now transformed contact?  All spitballing here.

Edited December 8, 2021 by Darmian

[Kyksie]

According to the Live devs, you can't just push a button and transform an AE mission into an ingame mission. The file formats are different. I suppose it might theoretically be possible to write a script that would translate them, but I wouldn't bet on it.

[Darmian]

44 minutes ago, Kyksie said:

According to the Live devs, you can't just push a button and transform an AE mission into an ingame mission. The file formats are different. I suppose it might theoretically be possible to write a script that would translate them, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Well, they did say that.  

 

And perhaps they were right.  But the current Devs have proved them wrong on a lot things, so I'll take the bet.  It'll be evens though!

Edited December 9, 2021 by Darmian