Last visit was: It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 9:15 am


All times are UTC-05:00




Post new topic Reply to topic  [6 posts ] 
    Author Message
     Post subject:Mission timeouts / penalties
    PostPosted:Mon Oct 13, 2008 10:30 am 
     

    Joined:Sun Oct 05, 2008 9:05 pm
    Posts:48
    I believe this idea has been bandied around a couple of times before, but I can't find any posts with a consistent framework of mission timeouts. If I've missed it, please feel free to close/merge this topic.

    Presently in Onlink it appears that one can talk to a mission contact, ask for some/all of the money up front, and leave the mission in the mission queue pretty much forever. Sure, you need to do the mission to actually gain levels as an agent, but there's no strong motivation to do it for money, or do it in a timely fashion.

    As a client of Uplink corporation, I expect to see results, especially if I'm paying money up front. As such, I'd love to see missions come with a timeout. The timeout doesn't need to be crushing, but it does need to be there.

    I would suggest as a first cut:
    • 7 days, if no money is paid up-front.
    • 4 days, if half the money is paid up-front.
    • 2 days, if all the money is paid up-front.
    This provides plenty of time to actually do the mission, but means the player can't just go on collecting missions they never attempt. It also gives the player some more choices when negotiating missions. Presently the optimal technique appears to be always asking for money up-front.

    If a mission expires, or is abandoned, then the client expects their money back. Uplink corporation wants to keep on the good side of their customers, so payments from other missions first pays off your mission debt before it goes into your pocket.

    Penalties for missions that expire where no money was paid up-front can just be a hit to one's agent rating, as it is now.

    Variant 1: Asking for more money results in an even shorter timeout. "Sure, we'll pay you $x due to your excellent record, but we expect the job completed within $y days."

    Variant 2: If you don't pay your mission debt, your former customer makes you a target. You can expect hostile agents to give you a criminal record, put embarrassing diseases against your name in the medical database, and list your personal number in the phone-book as a discreet escort with "porridge fetishes a speciality".

    Variant 3: When a mission is expires or abandoned, the client expects their money back with interest. This encourages agents to ask for less money "up front" if they're not sure of their capabilities.

    Variant 4: Missions cancelled by hitting the "abandon" button carry a lesser penalty than those which have expired due to a timeout. The penalty is proportional to the amount of time elapsed since the mission was accepted. Telling a client you can't do the work an hour after you've accepted it is inconvenient, but understandable. Telling a client you can't do their work after four days is much more serious. Not even attempting to tell a client their work won't get done is even worse.

    In this variant, I would suggest having the penalty be proportional to the percentage of time elapsed towards mission expiry. Asking for money up-front and waiting one day before cancelling carries the same penalty as asking for no money up-front and waiting 3.5 days. I'd also have a minimum penalty if missions are abandoned, to prevent players from accepting missions, checking to see if they involve a desired target, and immediately dropping them otherwise.

    Feedback, comments and ideas all welcome.

    Paul

    _________________
    Image


    Top
    Offline  
     Post subject:Re: Mission timeouts / penalties
    PostPosted:Mon Oct 13, 2008 11:18 am 
    Literally Nine
    User avatar
     

    Joined:Tue Mar 01, 2005 9:00 am
    Posts:1263
    You seem to have a lot of my ideas. This has been done as well:

    Regular: 96 hours
    Half up front: 48 hours
    All up front: 24 hours

    I should do the money back with interest thing though. And a robustness so that you can't just blow your gateway. I can't imagine Uplink being thrilled that you're trying to cheat them too.

    I think I'll also do something with the "more money" thing. Maybe 33% reduction in time after the payment schedule is set.

    Could make the player a target of "our esteemed colleague wishes to make a donation"...


    Top
    Offline  
     Post subject:Re: Mission timeouts / penalties
    PostPosted:Tue Oct 14, 2008 4:49 pm 
    User avatar
     

    Joined:Sat Jun 03, 2006 3:51 am
    Posts:1186
    Website:http://griffinhart.livejournal.com/
    Yahoo Messenger:Squall591
    AOL:FinalWarrior591
    Location:Look at my horse, my horse is amazing!
    Quote:
    I think I'll also do something with the "more money" thing. Maybe 33% reduction in time after the payment schedule is set.
    Why not 10%, considering that's how much more they're paying?

    -- Griffinhart

    _________________
    "My word is my honor. My honor is my life."
    -- Demonchild, Angelkin, the Blackest Seraph, the Final Warrior

    Image


    Top
    Offline  
     Post subject:Re: Mission timeouts / penalties
    PostPosted:Tue Oct 14, 2008 7:54 pm 
    Literally Nine
    User avatar
     

    Joined:Tue Mar 01, 2005 9:00 am
    Posts:1263
    What is with you people and fair trade?










    :p


    Top
    Offline  
     Post subject:Re: Mission timeouts / penalties
    PostPosted:Tue Oct 14, 2008 8:28 pm 
     

    Joined:Sun Oct 05, 2008 9:05 pm
    Posts:48
    Quote:
    I think I'll also do something with the "more money" thing. Maybe 33% reduction in time after the payment schedule is set.
    A variant on this would be to remove the ability to ask for more money at all. Instead, a certain number of jobs would be "urgent" jobs with shorter time-frames and correspondingly higher pay. To keep game balance the number of urgent jobs to non-urgent jobs can be in proportion to the number of times an "ask for more money" would have been successful for our agent.

    The end result should be (almost) the same, but the player doesn't have to go and "ask for more money" for every single job, which currently appears to be part of an optimal strategy. Since asking for money rapidly becomes a dull gameplay element, I think removing it would improve the overall fun per unit time of the game.

    I think a 33% reduction in time for a 10% improvement in pay is quite fair.

    Cheerio,

    Paul

    _________________
    Image


    Top
    Offline  
     Post subject:Re: Mission timeouts / penalties
    PostPosted:Tue Oct 14, 2008 8:37 pm 
    Organ Donor
    User avatar
     

    Joined:Mon Aug 13, 2007 1:47 pm
    Posts:529
    Location:Jawjuh
    Quote:
    What is with you people and fair trade?
    Well, time is money. For you math-types, that means time = money. So... :?


    Also, I think that if you're not good enough to actually deserve the extra pay, asking for it should anger the company somehow. Either they retract the mission, or give you a shorter timeline, or have a much lower tolerance for failure, or something. Or maybe even word could get out among companies and hackers that this agent is a moneygrubbing bastard. Which could lead to Happy Fun Stuff. :D

    Either way, would make asking for more money a more strategic decision.

    _________________
    Creative people must be stopped! (Latest Entry 7/31/11: "Fishsticks (18+))

    Pleasantville by Night, a humorous horror web RPG


    Top
    Offline  
    Display posts from previous: Sort by 
    Post new topic Reply to topic

      All times are UTC-05:00


      Who is online

      Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 16 guests


      You cannot post new topics in this forum
      You cannot reply to topics in this forum
      You cannot edit your posts in this forum
      You cannot delete your posts in this forum
      You cannot post attachments in this forum

      Search for:
      Jump to:  
      cron
      Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group
      Theme created by Miah with assistance from hyprnova