Wikelo Mission Ideas

Wikelo is simply "bring me 10 giant rat tails" from 1999 online games and made worse with RNG mechanics. I don't like it at all.

Wikelo as an idea - alien merchant wanting to collect weird things - is pretty neat, but I feel that they need to make it less like a gacha loot box. RNG should never be used, frankly. When players have a goal, they should be capable of working toward that goal and know that they're going to obtain that goal. Anything else is wasting the player's time and efforts. RNG is a time sink for the sake of having a time sink.

The first banu is a really cool addition to the game. The emporium looks fantastic. The presentation is great. It's just a shame to me that the first alien to be added to Star Citizen turns out to be a loot box mechanic.

Honestly this should have been an opportunity used to create missions that players have been wanting, but CIG refuses to make anything that isn't combat related.

and saying "we had to do this because we had to reuse existing tech" is kind of... I mean it makes sense but it also doesn't settle super well with me. They can do better even when reusing existing missions.

And frankly, all activities should reward the same currency. Do not ever force players into what YOU feel is a fun game loop. That's up to the player to decide. It's the player's time. They choose how to spend it.

Examples:

* Wikelo needs basic materials to complete his various project. We don't need to see the crafting, just have it mentioned in text. And no, not the Hathor stuff. Just basic mining. Voila, mining missions. Include ground, vehicle, and ship mining variants. Mine (or otherwise obtain) the materials, bring it back. Simple.

* "Meet my friend so-and-so at such-and-such location to pick up ThisWhateverItem". Box delivery but with a quick and simple NPC added to make it more intersting.

* "Friend left bunch of ItemY at ThatLocationThere but ate too many torpedo burritos, now in comfy place called hospital. Need ItemY". Hauling mission. Go to location, pick up X number of ItemY, bring them back.

* "Friend said would give me RareItemThing if could fly faster. Said I would send you to pick it up. Fly faster, get RareItemThing! Earn favors!" Racing mission. Beat a certain time at a random track and an item spawns. This would probably bug out tbh and the item wouldn't spawn, but it'd be neat once it works.

* "Wikelo heard of ItemStash in TypeOfCave located OnPlanetOrMoon. Get ItemStash. Cave deep, cave dark. Take gun, flare, armor, just in case." Exploring a random cave, loot the item, bring it back. Good way to get players to see the various cave types located at various planets and moons with an in-character warning to the player that the cave could actually be dangerous (kopions or who knows what).

* "Wikelo has friend stuck in BoxOrCageOrBuildingOrToiletOrWhatever. Don't know how. Friend said would give Wikelo ItemX if Wikelo help. Go help friend, bring ItemX". Repair or damage mission. Either bring fuses to open a door, or RMC to repair a gas pipe that allows the door to open, or shoot the door opened yourself. Variants are possible and would make it more interesting. Whatever method the player chooses or is presented with, open the door, go in, NPC just says a simple line to say thanks. Or the NPC is not there and they've left a note with the password for the near by safe. Either way. It's like a box delivery but combined with repair job mechanics.

You could even make optional mission steps with opening the door. The basic: Just open it by any means at your disposal. Bonus extra UEC or bonus extra Favors or bonus WhateverElse obtained if accomplishing the goal by the mission type (mission type being using a fuse or repairing a pipe, for instance).

These all reuse existing game mechanics, none of them require combat, and all of them are far more interesting than "collect 10 rat tails".

I am intentionally leaving out any combat ideas because whomever's directing things at CIG seems myopically focused on making everything about PvP and combat. My hope here is to show that interesting, engaging and fun mechanics can be accomplished using existing game systems without ever including either PvP or combat. OBVIOUSLY nothing prevents encounters with other players. Obviously.

and this is leaving out several other ideas but this post is already long enough.