Little Mission Suggestion

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[Toyguy]

I think it would be helpful and help to avoid a lot of mission problem reports if every time a new waypoint/task was assigned, it were displayed in the left corner in its expanded state.

Last night, for example, I was playing the mission where you go out in the Cutter to inspect fishing vessels.  At one point, you are told to return to Sydney, so I did.  I got to the exit waypoint and nothing happened.  I saved and reloaded the game, with no better luck.  I sailed away and then back to the waypoint - no change.

After about 15 minutes of this, I was about to quit when I remembered to expand the task reminder in the upper left corner.  Well, what do you know?!  I was supposed to wait for some other vessel to follow me back.  Had the full task description been displayed when it was first presented, I would have known that right away.

Certainly not a critical issue, but I think it would be a nice gameplay enhancement with the side benefit of reducing mission posts on the forums.

[Captain Spencer]

Hi Toyguy,

That's a good idea, a little like how SS08 did it's waypoints, whereby it would give you the full description, then hide after a few seconds allowing you to return to it some seconds later again. Although in SS08 the description did disappear after about 30 seconds which was annoying

[Capetan Thanasis]

Hi
I agree, it will be helpful to have the possibitity to see the waypoint description every time we need it, as in SS 2008. Sometimes I don't have the time to read the discription befote it disappears.

[Kevinmcg_ships]

Oh that happened to me as well.

I went at full steam towards Sydney after inspecting all 5 fishing vessels, not realising I was supposed to go at slower speed (around 12 knots) in order for one of the fishing vessel to follow, and keep close to me.

I think waypoint tasks/description in missions do need to be improved. Sometimes the instructions are kind of vague and need further clarifying.

[Ballast]

Hi Kevin,

Same goes for "adjust to required speed" message in a pilot waypoint or taxi waypoint, but there is no required speed given..  

I discussed that with one of the mission's creators during our last meeting at VSTEP HQ.

Regards,

Ballast

[mvsmith]

The content of the objective messages is mostly the responsibility of the mission creator.
The experienced creators will give all the information required by the player.

In addition, some information is generated by the editor, such as the countdown timer and advisories to maintain speed, stay in the area, etc.

Having the objective text divided into a one-line statement and a fuller explanation that can be shown or hidden by the player makes possible a lengthy explanation that could obscure the entire left edge of the screen. Having the latter displayed by default could cause difficulty for the player at a crucial time.

Remembering to click the little down arrow is part of the competency expected of the player—like remembering to turn the wheel to avoid hitting something.

The full capabilities of the new mission system should not be judged by the missions supplied with the game. Those were written while the system was evolving.

I think that those who are truly interested in creating good missions will be pleased with the capabilities of the editor.
However, mission creation involves a lot more work than in SS 2008, and requires more ingenuity to achieve the desired result. Perhaps this will discourage those who would produce mediocre missions.