As I take it…your role in the game, as far as a story goes, is that of a mercenary. And while it does allow you to fight for whoever you want whenever you want, I, for one, would be a bit more interested in fighting for a certain faction I prefer.
What I’m thinking is a system that works kind of like this: You pledge yourself to a certain faction, for a set amount of time (say 1 week, 2 weeks, a month, more…maybe even a year), which means that you cannot join any other faction for that said amount of time (and maybe they even attack you on sight) and, in exchange, you gain a higher voucher gain rate for said faction. So, I pledge my loyalty to the Empire, and i return i get +20% more vouchers from completed contracts for my loyalty.
Longer pledges could, maybe, even grant rewards like small discounts on regular ships belonging to that faction or other bonuses.
Would this be that far-fetched?
This could be interesting! A week seems like too much time though. Also how would you do for your daily monocrystal missions?
This could be interesting! A week seems like too much time though. Also how would you do for your daily monocrystal missions?
I was actually thinking of even way longer periods than just a week ^^ I’d gladly play for the Empire for a whole year 
As for the monocrystal missions, I’d double or add a 50% bonus to the gain, in exchange for not being able to do them for all factions. It’s less than what you would get if you did them for all the factions, but still more than just doing that single errand.
I’m pretty sure this is how i wanted to play this game all along. Pledging my loyality to a faction and fighting for its cause, even for only a period of time. It would make things more fun even in open world.
The voucher bonus is smth i don’t completely understand. Do you mean to say that people can also not pledge loyality and just play the way we do now? And the bonus only applies to those who do pledge? This is the only way the bonus makes sense to me.
Huh. I like the idea. You could get multiple monocrystal missions from the same faction every day to make up for the fact that you can’t do the other faction missions. Add some more serious costs (I usually grind one faction vouchers for months at a time, only thing I have to pay is a marginal cost in monocrystals) like 5 mil. credits or something, and I think it’d be nice.
not sure how it would affect late game on which you change daily for monos
This would significantly increase the grind of those…please elaborate
Monocrystal grind could be fixed by giving pledged players three Monocrystal missions per day.
To be honest, vouchers would be the real issue. Monocrystals can be largely ignored.
I don’t see the reason for this… You want the best equipment in your ships, that means working for everyone.
I don’t see the reason for this… You want the best equipment in your ships, that means working for everyone.
But there will always be players, myself included, who want factions to matter. Right now you may as well replace the three superpowers with Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury for all the difference it makes, because they aren’t factions. They’re storefronts with different stock.
But there will always be players, myself included, who want factions to matter. Right now you may as well replace the three superpowers with Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury for all the difference it makes, because they aren’t factions. They’re storefronts with different stock.
At the moment, pretty much. If you read the story, the current powers in the sectors are the corporations. Political factions are just there in name, and as an administrative resource.
Anyway, nobody will force you to change factions. If you want to stay with empire all the day, just do it.
I don’t see the reason for this… You want the best equipment in your ships, that means working for everyone.
But sometimes you only need vouchers from a certain faction. I for example am really struggling to get Raid vouchers since I don’t play JLRFs and ships with multiphase shield adaptor etc. It would be interesting to be able to put more emphasis on Jericho for a certain period of time, in order to fill this gap.
And as far as the lore is concerned, do you not think a mercenary would have a certain preference of employer? The ones that pay the best, or that give the best equipment and ships…
Monocrystal grind could be fixed by giving pledged players three Monocrystal missions per day.
To be honest, vouchers would be the real issue. Monocrystals can be largely ignored.
I disagree with this. Monocrystals are important to many players for building secret project ships, Mk V weapons and modules and (sadly) craftable attack drones. But I think this would be a fair solution to this:
As for the monocrystal missions, I’d double or add a 50% bonus to the gain, in exchange for not being able to do them for all factions. It’s less than what you would get if you did them for all the factions, but still more than just doing that single errand.
Lore wise, the “mercenary” excuse is a weak one. We’re seeing plenty of mercenaries fighting in modern conflicts, but what we don’t see is them swapping sides every other battle. It doesn’t make sense for players to be able to betray their employer and then have their treason forgotten straight away.
Lore wise, the “mercenary” excuse is a weak one. We’re seeing plenty of mercenaries fighting in modern conflicts, but what we don’t see is them swapping sides every other battle. It doesn’t make sense for players to be able to betray their employer and then have their treason forgotten straight away.
Yes it is, but this is an arcade game after all. The lore is just enough to support the ongoing game battles. And in fact they do a good job with it.
It makes sense from an Invasion perspective, where the player is hopping between factions but always attacking pirates or aliens.
For pvp and sector conquest the above issue still applies.
Most of the flaws are easy to work around though. Players could be buying ships that were salvaged from battle, hence why an Imperial mercenary might have Jericho ships. There’s also a thriving black market. Faction bonuses would make more sense if they were regional, representing support offered by the people of Mendes, New Haven and Sentinel as opposed to the big players.
It makes sense from an Invasion perspective, where the player is hopping between factions but always attacking pirates or aliens.
For pvp and sector conquest the above issue still applies.
Most of the flaws are easy to work around though. Players could be buying ships that were salvaged from battle, hence why an Imperial mercenary might have Jericho ships. There’s also a thriving black market. Faction bonuses would make more sense if they were regional, representing support offered by the people of Mendes, New Haven and Sentinel as opposed to the big players.
In fact, if you read the history blogs, that is what happened. The central powers are busy with their own invasions, so the local administrations of Mendes Family, New Eden station and Sentinel station are on their own. That is the main reason they are giving the corporation powers to “own” sectors and build dreadnoughts. Because the main powers won’t come here to save them.
Basically, the main three factions don’t have any power. They have some contracts with the corporations (players and NPC alike), they provide with ships and modules and serve as a main researching factions in the war.
But their fleets are busy with all the backstage fight against he pirates, cartel, aliens and so, and with the patrolling duty and station defences. So it is up to the mercs to do the rest, with some profits!.