Epic ideas for epic missions, part 1

Apocrypha's addition of Epic mission arks using a new mission technology that provides more ways for us to interact with agents was great! For that it does merit the "epic" in its name. The possibilities with those new type of agents are endless and as of yet not fully realised. That is why I am starting a brainstorming list of my own with ideas for these kinds of missions:
These epic missions would be quite an interesting way to introduce new elements of the EVE storyline to players. Don’t get me wrong: Novels and Chronicles are all great and hugely appreciated (especially for the scholarly types like myself) but actually being involved yourself in one of the events would be even greater still!

Signature Characters

One vital element of the EVE storyline are EVE’s signature characters. So it was only fitting that my start into dreaming about possible epic arc missions began with these by posting an article about "Meeting Signature Characters in missions?" on the eve-o forum:

First of all I was quite happy to read the rediscovered scrolls dev blog and am really looking forward to see more epic mission arcs. In regard to players interacting stronger with the core storyline elements of the EVE universe I guess a highlight of some such arc might surely be the meeting of an EVE signature character (like as a mission "agent"). Examples might be:

For an Amarr character e.g. it surely would be epic to be able bring a report on sleeper activity to Jamyl Sarum herself.

For a Minmatar it might be as epic to step onto an Eldar Titan and get a nod from one of the legendary elders e.g. for helping in the survival of a forgotten Minmatar tribe.

A Caldari might be honored to get an interview with a megacorp CEO upon getting a report from Heth to deliver (with the choice of either helping the CEO or Heth).

A Gallente would surely be honored to get a letter from his President for a secretive meeting with and advisor who might propose a secretive mission.

And so on and so forth. Even if this interaction is more like PC-agent interaction (well cut-scene would also be HUGE but probably much more time-intensive to implement) I guess such an interaction with the EVE signature characters would help a lot immersing players in the interesting backstory of the universe they are playing in.

I do agree with Sep’Shoni (who replied to the post) that it would be overkill if used too often. It would just be a nice reward on its own to be able to meet an important character.

Storyline Events

The ideas for epic missions don’t end with signature characters though. Events in the storyline could also be integrated into these quite nicely to strengthen the bonds the players feel with the EVE universe and to make the story feel more lively.

This already has been realized as both the Empyrean Age novel and certain chronicles mesh quite well together with the events of the Blood Stained Stars epic arc which is great! Sadly we as of yet haven’t seen its continuation.

Further ideas would be:

Sleepers

All the vital questions about them and over ancient ones haven’t been answered yet. It would be really cool if we as players could discover a bit more info on that for ourselves (even before that said information gets released in a chronicle or novel)!
What about finding a mission item at a sleeper site that gives a clue as to what these mysterious beings are up to? It could even be the start of a mission (like the clues were a start to head to Sister Alitura)?

Jovians

Same as Sleepers I guess. We even had a bit involvement of these enigmatic evil beings already and they even got a cool mention during Torfi’s breathtaking Fanfest presentation.

Pirate Factions

We will also probably soon see these speed-boat missions for pirate factions which sound really cool. The possibilities for these are great as well - especially if it involves choices like to either try to enter a pirate fraction for real or just to try to infiltrate it. In that regard I btw liked the Caldari starter mission that does tempt you with flying with the Guristas.

So far a few first ideas. What would be your ideas for epic missions?

Recruitment: Black Thorne Corporation

Having found Ombey's U'K's recruitment post and Wotlankor's recruitment post at his blog I am hereby trying to do my own for the nice corp I am in. So here it goes:


Who we are
Ultimately BTC is a corp of no pressure. Pressure was the one thing Calsak (http://www.eve-search.com/search/Calsak) or founder hated about the 'old life'. BTC its members will never be forced to do anything they do not wish to do. Whether this is to move into low sec, PvP or mine for no return. BTC will always attempt to give members a choice.
Unlike some other corps BTC is not a dictatorship, opinions and polls are always at the front. We want the member's opinions and questions are always welcome. All we ask is they are polite and constructive, we will always listen to suggestions and reply with thoughts whether for or against it.
Jastra sums up nicely what we are: We are a mature empire based corp offering you a relaxed and friendly environment to do whatever you want to do (well as long as it is not against our policy of course).

Our Policy
Speaking of our policy the vital part of it is summed up quite nicely by this:
We are an anti-pirate, anti-griefer corporation. We operate a NRDS (Not Red Don’t Shoot) policy within the low sec systems in our home region.
We do not condone or support theft (ore or loot), can flipping or any form of scanning. Anyone found carrying out any of these activities or breaching the engagement policy will be removed from the corporation.
For a full version of our policy please consult the policy on our forum.

What are our aims and goals?
Black Thorne is primarily a Production and Trading corporation. We specialize in Mining, Production and the trading of Trade Goods and Player Produced goods. We already have an extensive library of blueprints and a healthy corp wallet while also boosting the income of its members. We currently build and sell Freighters, ORCAs and Capital ships to order and are in the process to expand that.
If asked for a motto for BTC (Ticker: BTCL) I would probably answer with something like "A corp should be there for the players and not for the corp", meaning that we aim to provide a friendly atmosphere for members to grow and have fun in and to help them in their (your!) endeavors.
This means in effect almost all income generated by the corp is filtered back to members using various schemes and to provide services (A concept I personally like very much).

The schemes and division are:
Mineral Purchase Scheme (we also do fleet mining ops)
Top Mission runner awards (with lots of mission nights in fleet)
Logistics (Freighters, Jump Freighters, Carriers)
Production Division (capital production, rig production and salvage, ..)
Jump Clone Service
Research POS
We by the way also do Fun Events and PvP roams and do operate a voice server 0:-)

How does that work?
Well take for example the mineral purchase scheme and the capital production division: The corp does purchase ore mined by members to build ships and the isk then is invested back buy minerals mined by the players (and so on and so forth).
Or take the salvage and rig production division: Members can sell salvage to the corp and from that salvage rigs of all sizes are built to order for members.

Like more info?
More information about us can be found at our recruitment thread or our webpage and forum. Or just visit BTC Public for a friendly chat.


Mallinthas our friendly - even though you wouldn't see that from his looks alone ;-) - CEO

Maelstrom unleashed

Sadly my time within a capsule was quite limited recently with lots of pressing businesses planet-side. Well I guess such endeavours do help one not to forget the lives of those having to live that life all the time with no chance to steer a starship by thoughts alone.
I did manage something though: I mined once in a while and used the ore reaped from the roids to build me the ASS Gilgalad a Maelstrom class Minmatar battleship (ASS stands for A Sebiestor Scholar’s btw). With the short time on hand it took me over three weeks to get the ore, but it felt doubly as nice to finally undock a ship I can proudly say I produced on my own.


Maiden Flight of the ASS Gilgalad

That was already a few weeks ago and I am happy to say that I already was able to help my agent a few times with that ship and my corp mates even more often with the missions their agents sent them to do. Finally I can play a more vital part in corp ops when we try to quell the advances of Serpentis pirates near our home!



My ship side by side a crop mate's Paladin with the fleet commander’s Domi taking the brunt of the attack.