0001215: Minor/Quest Faction: Mercenaries - DEV Arcen

ID	Project	Category		Date Submitted	Last Update

0001215	AI War 1 / Classic	Suggestion - Game Mechanics		Nov 9, 2010 5:26 pm	Dec 21, 2010 10:00 am

Reporter	HitmanN	Assigned To	Chris_McElligottPark
Status	considering	Resolution	open
Product Version	4.030

Summary	0001215: Minor/Quest Faction: Mercenaries
Description	This idea is a combination of a faction, and an optional small sub-quest. *MERCENARIES* Mercenaries, a militaristic minor faction that occupies one planet in the galaxy (minimum of 40 planet map, perhaps). The mercenaries are, well, the very same mercenaries you can build from the mercenary dock. They're a group of human renegades that prefer waging war on their own, considering the player forces a group of amateurs. For a very hefty price they do allow you to normally hire them, but that's only so that they gain resources to fight their own war. *THEIR CONTROL* The planet they occupy would roughly be the strength of a Mk.3 or Mk.4 AI planet. Able to defend themselves, and perhaps do small raids to neighboring AI planets. Their stance towards the player is neutral by default. They do not attack the player, unless provoked by manually attacking them. The player can't take advantage of that planet at this point. It offers no supply, you can't build a command station on it, etc. *A QUEST* The mercenaries have run into a bit of a dilemma though, and offer you a chance to prove yourself. The AI has managed to snatch something belonging to mercenaries, and they desperately want it back. Be it prisoners, important data, whatever. The location of the structure containing this stuff is disclosed upon receiving the quest. In case it is a scouted or captured planet, the structure could simply appear there, "having been under a very powerful cloaking device the whole time, but the mercenaries know its location". For the sake of difficulty, there could even be 2-3 of these structures, so it'd be highly unlikely you would control all the planets holding these structures already. They would need to be captured. Maybe even spawning a ship you need to escort to the mercenaries' planet to complete the quest. *REWARDS* So, why go after this quest? There could be many kinds of advantages. Such as: -Being able to build elite mercenary ships from the mercenary dock, like Ace Fighters, or a Mercenary Starship. Costs would still be mercenary -like, but the ships could be strong against a larger variety of hull types. So you'd pay extra for versatility. -Alternatively you could just get a mercenary ship type unlocked for your own dock. Could be one of the elites, or just a random mercenary ship from the existing lineup. Kinda like getting to build a random Mk.4/5 ship from your normal dock for an equivalent normal cost. -Cost of mercenary ships could go down a tiny bit. -The mercenary planet provides support, so you can expand beyond/through their planet. -The mercenaries may occasionally support your attacks with their own special raid squad, maybe even with a mercenary starship as a special surprise. -The mercenaries' planet would at regular intervals spawn a free mercenary ship. (Slow enough rate to not be game-breaking though) *...OR NOT* Optionally, if their planet is located in a very nasty place, which completely blocks your advance, or if you generally just prefer so, you can opt to also wage war on this faction and claim the planet to yourself. Afterall, they called you amateurs. ;) There's a tiny morale choice to make here as well. Could also maybe increase AIP as a penalty, maybe +10 or +20. Why AIP? I dunno, maybe the AI sees the humans fighting amongst themselves going against its purpose of uniting humans, like was supposed as one of their possible goals in the original story snippet. If you succeed in the quest partially, by completing at least one of the objectives, the mercenaries grant you supply from their planet, but nothing more. They'll stay otherwise neutral, so you can still choose to destroy them in future, if you still want their planet for yourself. (could have plentiful amount of resources, for instance) You could also want to just ignore the faction, and use them as a defensive buffer, if their planet is in a favorable choke point. *MISC* The mercenaries could be inactive and not alert the AI, until player has visited their planet with more than a scout. It could also be the trigger to announce their stance, and offer the quest. Could also be the point where they start sending raid squads of their own against the AI. Maybe towards the planets where the targets of the quest are located. The locations could be several jumps away by default, so they probably would never even reach the planet they're aiming for. If they do, they'll just battle the AI's on that planet, without destroying the manually-targetable structures, "keeping the AI busy until they (you) can capture the planet" Optionally, the mercenaries could be renegade/malfunctioning/revolting AI's as well, not necessarily humans. I just figured this'd fit in expanding the background of the Mercenary Spacedock. :)
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Ozymandiaz Nov 24, 2010 1:38 pm reporter ~0004402	Its a cool idea. Might need some work on the "end fluff" but I like the idea overall :)

snelg Dec 21, 2010 10:00 am reporter ~0006597	I really like the idea of making the universe a more interesting place and this sounds like another move towards that.

Date Modified	Username	Field	Change
Nov 9, 2010 5:26 pm	HitmanN	New Issue
Nov 23, 2010 8:26 pm	Chris_McElligottPark	Assigned To	=> Chris_McElligottPark
Nov 23, 2010 8:26 pm	Chris_McElligottPark	Status	new => considering
Nov 24, 2010 1:38 pm	Ozymandiaz	Note Added: 0004402
Dec 21, 2010 10:00 am	snelg	Note Added: 0006597