fosslis and archelogy quests.

[philthy mcnasty]

Right now, the only thing that planets are good for, is long term strip mining. granted, they make great noob outposts, but in the long term, they do not seem to serve a purpose.

I think a new block should be implemented. the fossil block. it should be rare, but also have a variable trade value, and more importantly, have a quest associated with it. More importantly, they should be destroyed by a salvage beam, and can only be salvaged by hand.

This would remove the incentive to strip mine a planet. Sure you can get 10k ore or minerals that you need, but what if there was a mystery fossil there? one that the trade guild is paying 60 million for per find?

As for quests, there should be a super rare fossil, one that when inspected reveals that the creature was engineered, and did not evolve on that planet. This would start a quest to find the system and race that created it, and give players a reason to go to deep space.

 

[Megacrafter127]

This would start a quest to find the system and race that created it, and give players a reason to go to deep space.

This would however suffer from the same problem as some quests in the Millenaire mod for minecraft: The player was unable to find the target location of the quest.
First: if the target location (e.g. a specific structure) is within the universe since it's generation, one must ensure that:

1. Such a structure is generated within the reach of the player(in case of rare or hard-to-find structures this might not be given, as "randoom" (quoted from NeonSturm )may cause such a structure to not be generated within a billion sectors from spawn
2. The player is given a hint in the general direction(e.g. the coordinates of a nearby [!] sector), so the player won't give up after literally looking at half of the sectors in every galaxy, and think problem 1 is preventing him from having at chance at completing the quest

If the target location (again in the case of a specific structure) is only generated when a player accepts the quest, another problam arises:
What if another player also accepts the quest, but stumbles upon your generated instance of the structure, and then completes his quest there, causing the structure to despawn or be otherwise invalidated?

 

[Criss]

I have a feeling that alien ruins and related things will be found on planets one day. I also bet that there will be quests associated with them as well as changes to encourage planet based exploration and bases.

 

[philthy mcnasty]

This would however suffer from the same problem as some quests in the Millenaire mod for minecraft: The player was unable to find the target location of the quest.
First: if the target location (e.g. a specific structure) is within the universe since it's generation, one must ensure that:

1. Such a structure is generated within the reach of the player(in case of rare or hard-to-find structures this might not be given, as "randoom" (quoted from NeonSturm )may cause such a structure to not be generated within a billion sectors from spawn
2. The player is given a hint in the general direction(e.g. the coordinates of a nearby [!] sector), so the player won't give up after literally looking at half of the sectors in every galaxy, and think problem 1 is preventing him from having at chance at completing the quest

If the target location (again in the case of a specific structure) is only generated when a player accepts the quest, another problam arises:
What if another player also accepts the quest, but stumbles upon your generated instance of the structure, and then completes his quest there, causing the structure to despawn or be otherwise invalidated?

I should have specified that this would be in the single player mode. I feel that multiplayer does not need these modes. There is a reason to play multiplayer in this game, starship battles and faction wars.


One soultion to the problem in number one was have an option that says "target unreachable", like in 2089. that would reset the target if the player has trouble finding it.

Or, to make things more interesting, have "false leads" where the player can hit the button, and it starts the quest over with a new area, making sure the old one is left out of generation. False leads happen a lot in real life, and this is a sand box game.

 

[jayman38]

When given such a quest, multiple copies of the same item should be generated in the general area. You only have to find one of the generated items to win the quest. Also, the quest should mention some very specific hint locations and spawn those. (Example: 3 small blue asteroids are in orbit over the planetary plate that you need to search, and it's in the middle of the plate, approximately 3 blocks from the surface.) In such a big universe, the hints need to be very specific. With multiple spawned copies, multiple player quests could simultaneously run without interference. (E.g. 3 players might be on a quest to find a specific quest item, and 6 of those items are in the archeology dig.)

Edit: If the target quest items are no longer available, show the quest-runner a big pop up message telling them the quest is over. If the quest item is destroyed by another player, give the quest-runner a "consolation prize", like maybe a few credits.

 

[philthy mcnasty]

When given such a quest, multiple copies of the same item should be generated in the general area. You only have to find one of the generated items to win the quest. Also, the quest should mention some very specific hint locations and spawn those. (Example: 3 small blue asteroids are in orbit over the planetary plate that you need to search, and it's in the middle of the plate, approximately 3 blocks from the surface.) In such a big universe, the hints need to be very specific. With multiple spawned copies, multiple player quests could simultaneously run without interference. (E.g. 3 players might be on a quest to find a specific quest item, and 6 of those items are in the archeology dig.)

One thing, is to borrow from startrek tng times arrow, and have "cellular fossils" that are only found on say planet 8,8,5. that would narrow things down, but not too much.

 

[NeonSturm]

Some quests may require players to COOP.
Others could be easier for single players.

EVE-Online did a good job, having random micro-singularities which are more or less single-player within a multi-player environment.

 

[Crimson-Artist]

i always felt that such quests should always generate a new entity for the quest to take place on rather then having the quest appear on a preexisting entity.

say you accept this "find a fossil" quest. the game will generate a new planet with the fossil on it in an unloaded/undiscovered sector. when you finish the quest the planet disappears after a set amount of time has passed.

 

[aceface]

EVE-Online did a good job, having random micro-singularities which are more or less single-player within a multi-player environment.

ooh that would be nice to have in starmade

 

[philthy mcnasty]

i always felt that such quests should always generate a new entity for the quest to take place on rather then having the quest appear on a preexisting entity.

say you accept this "find a fossil" quest. the game will generate a new planet with the fossil on it in an unloaded/undiscovered sector. when you finish the quest the planet disappears after a set amount of time has passed.

This could add a whole new level of story: Multiphasic dimensions!!!

A sector is lost due to strange alien technology from eons ago, but sometimes they phase back into reality. Scientists and governments pay handsomely for fossils and artifacts recovered from these events.

BUT there will be catches!!!
1, you have to beat the clock and leave in a certain amount of time, depending on stability
2 pirates are DRAWN to these vents, so expect a fight
3, sometimes the automated alien ships are still there, and they are nasty!!!