Send own ships to NPC missions

[Arsynth]

Not sure if any similar post exists, but I wonder if there are feature? For example, to not only get command to attack enemy or buy/sell wares but to assign NPC mission fully to pilot or captain for some reward or tax.
It may extend ability to monetize your war forces.

[radcapricorn]

...And while we're at it, add a "win the game for me" button. Press, turn on SETA, go away for a vacation. Profit.

[csaba]

The CWIR mod has a plunder order for capships in XR. That sends them out to kill and salvage building materials. So it can work.

Like giving the order to pirate set region or do police work. Similar how the sector and universal traders worked in previous games. Of course this would carry an increased risk of ship destruction. While traders are relatively safe with their generally peaceful endeavors (unless the trader decides to hog through a core sector with a cargohold full of space weed) and emergency jump outs, the AI might not be smart enough to handle combat tasks cost efficiently.

If we are thinking general player accepted missions, then no, unlikely.

[jocan2003]

Well i was able to accept combat mission and send my capship to kill it in XR without having to go there myself uf the enemy was still alive by he time my ship arrived. Most of the time npc patrol or station kept havong the killshot on the enemy thus preventing me to complete he mission.

[jamesdehunter]

While I don't think it would ever exist in the way OP mentions, I do love this idea.

In a strange way, it would make a lot of sense from a roleplaying perspective (which is something I always do in games).

Once I've got a few ships and pilots under my command, it would make sense to be able to dispatch one of them to perform a job on my behalf.

I'm sure the mod community will oblige in the future.

[CorruptUser]

If this is implemented, mission rewards would have to be drastically cut...

[ZaphodBeeblebrox]

If you were a building contractor and you had a contract to build a house, is it you that has to do all of the brick laying, carpentry, roofing, plumbing and electrics?

Or do you use your employees and other sub-contractors to do the actual work.

So in a game like X4 would the same not be true. You are a mogul with a universe spanning empire. So shouldn't you have the choice, to be there personally to deliver the coup-de-grace or
let the your minions do it for you?

I don't see why this should effect the payment. You got the job done, you just used a little more THINK about the best way to do it.

[BigBANGtheory]

If this is implemented, mission rewards would have to be drastically cut...

I doubt very much we will see missions outside the story and plot so that isn't likely to be an issue.

I find the idea quite funny to engage with the story later in the game and be asked to "fly to this zone and fight these pirates" and instead of flying your fighter there you turn up with a capital group RIP

...but in answer to the OP it would seem unlikely (outside of a future mod) that your ships will be able to roam the galaxy with a wage war command you will have to direct them I think as commander and chief. Defend an area or zone yes that hopefully with be automatic but actual aggression or expansion into other zones I think that will be down to you if that's what you want to achieve.

Regarding the future though or potential mods then wow skys the limit now, you could almost have a battle royale scenario play out with zones steadily falling under the control of a faction putting you under pressure to have enough force to defend by the time it reaches your zone & player HQ i.e. a wage war under the control of NPCs. Might not be for everyone's tastes but hey thats the beauty of mods at least its feasible now from a gameplay PoV.

[MegaJohnny]

No missions outside plot? I'd be a little let down - I'm sure they mentioned generic missions in X4 at one point.

Anyway, re: the OP - I'd be cool with having mission offers appear OOS, and obviously with completing the mission using your fleet rather than your personal ship. But I think automating it completely is too much.

[Alci]

I doubt very much we will see missions outside the story and plot so that isn't likely to be an issue.

It's pretty much certain (p>0.95) there will be plenty of repeatable generated situational missions you could do over and over for rewards or faction reputation or something else.

X4 doesn't have "story" (AKA campaign) this time. Just few prepared independent mission plots. But those will be probably the only one not repeatable. Normal missions like (kill, bring, escort, scan, ..) will be in the game as well.

And it's pretty normal you are tasked with "kill that" and you bring your fleet in. That's the idea of sandbox you know. What this topic is about and what was not possible is sending a fleet without you because your presence alone triggered the mission conditions. But what you bring to the fight is up to you. If you bring one S ship for carrier takedown that's up to you. If you bring capital fleet to a pirate hunt that's up to you as well.

[BigBANGtheory]

oh generic missions yeah I guess that would be covered, those aren't likely to yield massive rewards though and you would still have to go acquire those missions yourself. An interesting outcome might be a parallel to the Universe Trader where an NPC captain takes on defence missions on your behalf for profit. Again that sounds like mod territory to me but it could be of interest to some players.

[jocan2003]

We might get a window with most of the mission in a window that you can pick and choose like in xr, or a mod will certainly come to life about mission, who knows, maybe new type of mission will be modable. IE assign ship to a group and then assign ship for mission and the a mod take care of spawning objective like in star trek online or something similar.

Seem to me modding option will be expanded in X4 than any other x games.

[ZombiePotatoSalad]

This already exists in a way. Trade ships trade, warships patrol your sectors. It was even way back in X3AP, possibly older (X3AP was the oldest one I played). Basically, the menial, easily automatable tasks were done by your mook ships. However, missions are often more in-depth, and are directed at the player for their ability to think and react in a way that AI cannot.

Citing the above example of "do you build a house by yourself," I say this: do you send your henchmen to handle negotiations and business deals? No. As the boss, CEO, Supreme Overlord of Space, or whatever you title yourself, that stuff falls on you. Some things still require input from the player, either because it may be too difficult/time consuming to code, or it would take away the "play" of "gameplay."


Do you trust the AI to accurately place a station? Do you trust them to recover a lost ship, and pilot it safely back without going through Xenon Sector: Extreme Superdeath Murderspace? Do you trust the AI to run the higher functions pf the empire you spent so much time crafting?


If it isn't in the game at launch, don't sweat it. Someone will make a mod for it.

[Falcrack]

Regarding missions, I would like a few things.

-Available missions are tied directly into what is going on in the dynamic universe, not simply some random disconnected task that spawns in enemies when you accept it.
-You do not have to be in a sector where the mission originates in order to accept a mission, as long as you have some assets there (satellite, other ships) which allow communication with the mission giver
-You may absolutely send your own NPC piloted ships to perform missions
-Local NPCs may be able to accept and complete missions generated by NPCs, with a timer available between when the mission is generated and when an NPC accepts a mission, so that missions are not immediately scooped up by insta-reflexes NPCs.

[reanor]

If this is implemented, mission rewards would have to be drastically cut...

Why is that? You don't automatically win the mission, you use the assets you acquired b playing the game for many hours. Nobody (except hackers, which is not fun on the first playthrough anyway) get cap ships from the first hours/days of the gameplay. You actually have to make a considerable effort to make enough money to build a cap ship. And after you do, why would someone penalize you, if you can send you asset to take care of an NPC ship? This is done in mission unrelated gameplay all the time.

[Crimsonraziel]

If this is implemented, mission rewards would have to be drastically cut...

Why is that? You don't automatically win the mission, you use the assets you acquired b playing the game for many hours. Nobody (except hackers, which is not fun on the first playthrough anyway) get cap ships from the first hours/days of the gameplay. You actually have to make a considerable effort to make enough money to build a cap ship. And after you do, why would someone penalize you, if you can send you asset to take care of an NPC ship? This is done in mission unrelated gameplay all the time.

Call me nobody. I got my first capital ship in X Rebirth within an hour or two and half a dozen more within the first 10 hours.

[ZombiePotatoSalad]

If this is implemented, mission rewards would have to be drastically cut...

Why is that? You don't automatically win the mission, you use the assets you acquired b playing the game for many hours. Nobody (except hackers, which is not fun on the first playthrough anyway) get cap ships from the first hours/days of the gameplay. You actually have to make a considerable effort to make enough money to build a cap ship. And after you do, why would someone penalize you, if you can send you asset to take care of an NPC ship? This is done in mission unrelated gameplay all the time.

Call me nobody. I got my first capital ship in X Rebirth within an hour or two and half a dozen more within the first 10 hours.

You literally get cap ships handed to you throughout the X Rebirth campaign. No, I'm mistaken. I just hacked the game by following the storyline.

[atavistuk]

Eh. Sovereign Syndicate Rahanas aren't hard to cap. You really don't even need to follow the main campaign to get a capital early.