Another outlaw mission idea.

[Cardinal]

Decoy. 8)

The outlaw base has been providing refuge for an infamous but retired swashbuckling criminal, the Stainless Steel Gerbil, who is wanted on countless charges of dacoity and smuggling.

Unfortunately, his location has been traced to the outlaw base, and they need to shift him - quickly - as 3 heavily armed wolfen* bounty-hunters have been circling the outlaw base for sometime, waiting for a moment to strike, and possibly waiting for reinforcements.

Your mission is simple... Escort the Gerbil... no, just kidding. No more escort missions

Your mission is straightforward, but probably not easy. Provoke the wolfens by firing at them and then fly off with them chasing you. You can't kill the wolfens because, it turns out, one of the pilots is a neice of a Tempus Labs head honcho, and the Black Market really doesn't want to jeopardise relations any further. In the meantime, the outlaw base will shuttle the Gerbil out of the system, but will take some time, say 3 or 4 minutes. So your mission, lead the wolfens away, and try to survive. Once the Gerbil has left the system, the wolfens will realise they have been duped, and will break off.

I think a bit of humour can be added into this mission also, by adding messages and low-brow threats on your life during the persuit.

"You're going down, Gerbil!"
"You're going to wish your daddy pulled out early, Gerbil!"
"We'll use you for gerbiling, Gerbil!"
etc

I suggest as a reward for this mission, a small cash prize, but the wolfen that is piloted by the niece is so impressed with your piloting ability that she offers to become a winggirl for you. Er, give her duralloy armour or something that regenerates so she doesn't perish as swiftly as those dorks from the commonwealth fortress.

* or some of those wicked looking Black Market fighters with the mine launchers, hmm?

[Fossaman]

Kudos for the 'stainless steel gerbil' bit. It's always nice to see more classic space opera references.

I like this idea. It sounds much more entertaining than an escort mission.

[Cardinal]

Thanks Fossaman

I used to read the Stainless Steel Rat books when I was a teenager, they were quite entertaining. Might try and track them down again... after I finish Gormenghast.

I was going to call the Stainless Steel Gerbil the Stainless Steel Rat, but that would probably breach trademark or something.


I think this mission has the potential (and the requirement) for the player to use some clever evasive techniques. Wolfens in particular are probably faster than the players ship, so "fly the f*** away" won't be an option.

I was thinking though, a limited attack on the bounty hunters might be an option, knocking their shields down so they fly away until their shields come back.

The Black Market desperately needs more, and better missions

[Fossaman]

Hmm...I wouldn't be so certain of that one. If the player is using a wolfen, they'll be at least equal in speed. If they've got a propulsion upgrade (tritium upgrade + longzhu sphere, or Titan 440) they'll be faster.

Perhaps you need to keep within a certain distance of them to keep them from breaking off and going after a different target?

[Cardinal]

Yep, there are definitly options there, wouldn't want to make the mission too easy, there has to be some nifty fast ships available.

[F50]

There should be several missions of such type. For instance CW Fleet:

Prototype Ares ships or ships with prototype equipment are attacking target X. Your mission is scare hostiles away (shields down) and then lead then to place X for capture after they come back (and they can't be scared anymore).

[Cardinal]

Scare-but-don't-kill missions would be a lot of fun, but you have to have some reason not to destroy the enemies utterly.

Guarding pacifist settlements (maybe Domina temples?) where there is a hefty prize for defending the settlement comes to mind - and a hefty penalty for killing the antagonists.

Missions like that would be short, sweet and basic, but you'd have to take care not to repeat them so often they get tedious; al la escort missions.

[goat not sheep]

Yeah...something different like that would be good.