4.10 Adv sat deployment mission 91/95 coverage

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Submarine
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4.10 Adv sat deployment mission 91/95 coverage

Post by Submarine » Mon, 25. Oct 21, 16:44

This consistently happens with Adv sat coverage mission for Teladi tradeguild "setup satellite network".

The adv sat drops (there are two adv alternating with three standard sat drops, both adv in exactly the same place) do not complete and state 91/95 coverage even if you place it precisely in the center of the area.

You then have to drop two or three std sats around the periphery to get to 95 which is not credible.

I doubt this is as intended because the normal satellite missions just require one sat drop.

If it was as intended then I would offer a piece of my mind on embuggerance missions which are one of my pet hates in game design (along with red queen balance).
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Alan Phipps
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Re: 4.10 Adv sat deployment mission 91/95 coverage

Post by Alan Phipps » Mon, 25. Oct 21, 17:31

There are some previous threads offering advice on deployment tactics. Example here.

There used to be an old issue reported where the shown coverage percentage would go *down* as you dropped further statellites, but I think that was fixed.
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Re: 4.10 Adv sat deployment mission 91/95 coverage

Post by Submarine » Mon, 25. Oct 21, 20:15

Thanks for the link.

So I am not the only one remarking on this as being troublesome.

It does not feel like a release grade mission.

For one having both the adv sat placement missions at the same location is an absolute nono. The mission code should perform a check for that at the outset and choose two different locations.

For two the mission briefing recommends an adv sat in a region the same size as the adv sat coverage and then screws you over by saying it is not enough. I find this naff as heck. If it recommends the adv then it should be enough. If the mission wants to challenge the player to cover a percentage of a volume then it should leave the decision up to the player and the placement region needs to be substantially larger than one adv sat, allow placing two or more adv sats without overlap, require a lower percentage to pass and reward sufficient to cover at least the cost of multi adv sats at max prices.

It is for these reasons I feel this comes across as a partially worked out mission design which needs to go back to the drawing board. :sceptic:
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Re: 4.10 Adv sat deployment mission 91/95 coverage

Post by Zloth2 » Tue, 26. Oct 21, 02:50

The idea that you can do the whole mission with one adv. satellite is not coming from the game, it's coming from your own assumptions of "how it should be." The linked toping isn't saying the missions are troublesome, they are just thinking about what the best solution to the problem should be.

For maximum profits, you shouldn't even use an advanced satellite. After all, it only suggests using one, it doesn't tell you that it's required. The biggest radius can be covered by 8 or 9 small satellites. Advanced satellites cost 10 times the price of small satellites, if not more, and one of them isn't going to be enough to do the whole mission. It will take longer, but you'll make more money using the little ones.

As to the missions showing up in the same spots, I agree there. I've got an area in Segaris that has a whole bunch of NPC satellites in it because of these missions. Some of them have evaporated, but not all. It may be that the game-generation code is leaving these areas blank specifically for these missions, though, so you don't end up having to place a satellite inside a station.
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Re: 4.10 Adv sat deployment mission 91/95 coverage

Post by Submarine » Tue, 26. Oct 21, 21:16

No it isnt coming from me, that is post hoc rationalisation, it is coming from the game. The mission briefing specifically recommends an adv sat and it shouldn't.

I mentioned the mission is interleaved with missions for small satellites where the recommendation is small satellites and following this by laying one small satellite completes the mission.

The next mission makes a recommendation to lay adv sat which doesnt complete the mission.

The point and criterion of the mission is coverage, not laying an adv sat as you point out, so the briefing should not tell players to lay an adv sat. Players should be instructed to reach a level of coverage because that is what decides the mission outcome.

As you say its cheaper not to use adv sat, it is also not required to complete the mission either but the briefing explicitly recommends adv sat inappropriately and in so doing exceeds its purpose of informing the player how to complete the mission.

The coverage mission briefing text is not appropriate to the mission design and is inconsistent with the precedent set by the small sat mission.

The mission is also flawed by the repeat location, so needs fixing anyway, the briefing is more of the same, not properly polished. It looks like the coverage mission design was changed halfway through implementation from an adv sat laying mission to a coverage mission but the briefing was not adjusted and should be.
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