Can we have some more involed mini-scenarios?

[Raptor34]

Timelines-style, or basically mini scenarios out of the open universe has several distinct advantages. Not having background simulation lag so it plays smoother. Tighter scripting so things do happen. Not relying on background economy so you actually can have good fights, not like build a fleet and go bully a lone K. And of course not affecting your main save in ways that might be undesirable.

However, the way it's done in Timelines has several distinct disadvantages. The big one imo is everything is fixed, though I'm specifically thinking of always using the exact same ship with the exact same loadout. Depending on the scenario, like say the combat ones, everything is fixed there, or at least I presume if you get say 2 M corvettes as enemies, you'll always get those 2 same ones spawned in the same points with the same loadouts. And of course they are all short. Which is desirable for it's purposes, though I haven't tried the secret missions yet, but they are bite-sized, but not filling so to speak. And of course I don't think you can save mid mission, that stupid trading in a combat zone would be much easier if I could quick save.

So what I'm proposing is the creation of several bigger scenarios where the player is given much more freedom, and of course allowing for mid-mission saves too.

Let's start with a simple one. A single sector RTS scenario. Each side starts with the necessary basic factories so probably hull parts, claytronics and energy cells. Along with a partially filled shipyard/wharf, then they need to produce the ships necessary to fight over the map, securing resources and all that. Basically standard RTS stuff, but in X4. You could even have bigger sectors with allies too. And of course you can choose if you want to play a single faction, all factions or a mix, by basically choosing what blueprints are available. And your enemies you can choose for them too, though I don't know whether having multiple mixed blueprints is compatible with the AI or whether having them be single faction is better. Each faction can have their own HQ too, teleportation is available and you can turn on or off or limit it. Basically maybe you want only teleport in same sector, or maybe you want only HQ teleporting to telefrag but the player must slow boat to their destination, but make it customizable.

Next move on to multi-sector RTS. You can even have each faction start with their own sector too. Obviously your home sector would have all resources but it's poor, and the central sector is rich to incentivize fighting over it. As a bonus you can even have something like the Avarice Tide in certain sectors too. Though for this I think you'll either need to make the shield generator Protectyon free or add some source at your HQ or something. Such hazardous sectors would incentivize different playstyles and fleet loadouts too. Like if there is a sector which kills shields only, like Tharka's Cascade, you want a fleet with high hull or regenerating shields. Avarice Tide style sectors you want a fixed timer you can easily refer to and you want to time your pushes depending on your fleet composition.

And then more complex scenarios, the first of which along with Timelines is what made think of this. I call it Behind Enemy Lines.
This was from recently building my HQ with a faction starter set based on salvaging, unfortunately in the base game there isn't really much reason to do it. However, in this scenario, you'll start with a bunch of salvagers deep behind Xenon lines. 3 sectors is my thought. You'll have 5 sectors in a straight line, one end is you, the other end is friendly space and the middle 3 are Xenon. Your objective is to get a bunch of refugees, which would be represented by a bunch of L freighters and XL builders towards friendly space. Your starting forces would be a salvaging station, all integrated with SPPs and a HQ with ship production capabilities, a handful of fighters along with one destroyer, and a bunch of salvagers and transporters to ferry resources around, along with one actual XL builder to build stuff, the mission XL builders cannot actually build things. Your starting sector has all natural resources but they are poor, the Xenon sectors otoh get's richer and richer as you approach safe space. The start would also have a bunch of wrecks in front of the gate, both yours and the Xenon representing the previous battle. Xenon attacks would increase in strength based on both time and also with how many Xenon sectors you have advanced to.
So you would start by salvaging what's available from the gates so you can build a defense force to defend against the increasingly stronger Xenon attacks, though there is a limit to how strong they would be until you actually advance. These attacks would also be your main source of income as they would be turned into salvage. Obviously this means that the stronger attacks you can repel, the more your income would be, until you take over the richer Xenon sectors and can start mass mining operations. Khaak could be selected to be turned on or off depending on your tastes.
Bonus, the enemy don't have to be Xenon, you can select any faction or combination thereof to be your enemies. Though of course while their strength would also be dependent on their economy, some would be stronger than others. There would be some scripted spawns, but the majority of the enemies should be based on their economy like in the open universe. This opens them up to raids to disrupt their economy. But of course, there would always be a small number or larger depending on tastes spawned in so things don't get boring. Khaak can be a special enemy too, where all their assets are spawned in and would be considered as hard mode.
Second bonus, your starter sector has a Khaak hive defended by multiple Ravagers. This area also happens to include Nividium, this would be a secret ending where if you managed to harvest enough Nividium, you can just sneak a scout through the enemy, drop a beacon and teleport your HQ and your mission objectives right past enemy lines. But well, you need to mine under the Khaak beam weapons...

Another one I just thought of, Corporation Competition.
Again another handful of sectors, and you have several AI corporations competing with you, your objective would be to be the first to reach a certain asset value. You can do it in any way of course, noting that destroying ships of another corporation would reduce their asset value. And with the diplomacy update, maybe you can also choose to ally with another corporation, the victory for the team would then be 1.5x of an individual. So like you need to hit 1 billion solo, 1.5 billion for a 2 man team and so on.
And of course value would be simply average price for the resources, taking into account everything you're owning. But maybe not what's in cargo/storage?

Competitive Mining.
You start with a station with solid storage, your victory objective is to be the first to a certain amount of ore/silicon stored in the station itself. The station itself would be heavily defended with multiple defense modules so actually attacking it would be difficult if not suicide, why? Because you can also choose to sell those minerals too, these would not count for how much you've mined unlike Timelines, but unlike Timelines you can use the credits earned to buy S/M ships and L miners from the neutral shipyard/wharf. You can then use these to both mine faster and also to launch attacks on your opponent's miners. And if you're really good, maybe you can even manage to snipe your opponent's mining station's solid storage too, which since your objective is a certain amount stored, this could very well be fatal.
Bonus, there are neutral light carriers with destroyer escort flying around. Violence is prohibited, and violence observed by these patrols would be retaliated against, never mind who fired the first shot, anyone shooting would be killed. Of course this would take advantage of fire authorizations and turret commands, and perhaps the AI would need to be smart enough to know when to hold fire. Even if it's something as simple as if only one measly S ship show up, do not fire back at it for 1-2 minutes or something. Since even just knocking them out of TD would be sabotage, but not actually violence.

Sector defense
Simple, enemy spawn in on the other side of the gate, and they fly through, you need to defend against it. Your sector would have customized richness and of course salvaging enemy wrecks. Primary objective would be defending the faction HQ. And maybe secondary objectives of shipyards/wharfs and economic buildings. If those survive the faction sends ships to help you. Standard economy stuff I guess, just concentrated in one sector.
Build up your fleet and defenses, see how many waves you can survive.
Enemy factions would again be chosen, any one or combos thereof.
Bonus, adding Khaak would have them jump right in. Though you can change settings if you want Khaak to come in through the gate.
Second bonus, all enemies can jump in.

Sector attack
The most boring one but just for completions sake. You start in a resource rich sector with built up infrastructure. Build a fleet at your leisure and attack. Let you customize your starting fleet too if you want.
Bonus, have an allied NPC too that you can order to start the attack or pull back. Basically like the RTS one, but more instant action skipping the build up.