Railjack in normal missions as a different extraction

[Kaotyke]

Ok, we all know how we can select a mission after finishing a RJ Skimish, but here's how I think it can be added to normal missions as well. This will need more animations and design changes from the dev team.

It will work similar to individual extraction in Endless missions.

You will have 2 extraction points: one with the normal extraction by Landing Craft and another by Railjack.

When the team enters the Railjack, the mission end screen happens, but they cant exit the ship anymore after the MISSION END screen appears, and can select a normal mission from the ship or a RJ mission, it will have the loading animation of the ship going into the Void, but when it enters the normal mission, instead of 1/2/3/4 Landing crafts flying to the ship/base/asteroid you see the Railjack. Mission starts.

Those who extract normally will be send to their Orbiters as normal as soon as everyone are in the extraction points (The Railjack itsel or the Landing Craft pickup area we all know).

What this will do: the part of the team who wishes to keep playing togheter will not disband and can select a new mission right off the bat while those who wish to go can do so freely.

Q: What if the host extracts normally and I am in the RJ?

A: Well, there is no escaping a Host Migration, but the team should remain togheter in the ship like we do when the Host d/c in the RJ Skimishes.

Q: Which RJ will be it?

A: The current Host's.

Q: Are the extraction areas in different locations?

A: This will be with the Design Team, which means more work for them, they will have to do or modify areas that have 2 different extraction points that are near each other, but not too far: same Tileset, but not overlapping.

Q: What if I'm rushing to extraction, wanting to get in RJ but the timer ends?

A: Sadly, you will have the normal LC extraction, I cant think of a way to make so the game can know you want to leave by battleship.

[RikuGx]

love the idea but i doubt itll happen

[(PSN)Hikuro-93]

Now that's a nice idea. I usually hate it when I finish a mission and have to constantly deal with so many loading screens and UI's just to play. Which usually turns me down, and makes me turn the game off after I get bored.

I guess that PS5 will partially fix this for me, with faster (or pretty much non existent), loading screens, but I'd love for a way to keep playing uninterrupted. It's why I love sorties so much, it feels like a fluid series of events instead of several isolated events.

[Steel_Rook]

I believe DE's original intent for the Railjack was precisely this - to go from mission to mission without returning to the Orbiter. Then again, it also seems like DE's original intent was for the Railjack to have full Orbiter functionality so that players wouldn't WANT to go back anyway. That really ought to happen at some point.

As to your actual suggestion - I agree, though to a limited extent. I don't think that swapping between a Railjack mission and a standard ground mission is in the cards. DE's implementation of Railjack is very heavily tied to Clan Dojos, in that Railjack missions take over the Dojo instance, unload the actual Dojo rooms and load the Railjack map in their place. You don't have any loading screens in Railjack because you never switch instances - that's where a loading screen is needed to cover up instance creation. You do get a lot of spot-loading when new assets are created between missions, though, which is why the game hitches like it does in the Void Tunnel. Same as when you go from Cetus to the Plains.

As such, I would recommend a slight limitation to your proposal. Rather than going from a Railjack mission to a standard Star Chart mission, I propose giving people two options - stay with the Railjack or leave. Those who stay will obviously remain for the next mission. Those who leave will return to their Orbiters with a "Mission Complete" pop-up. As for practical implementation, I propose handling this through a mission vote via the Navigation Console. First things first - any mission selected through the console HAS to come up for a vote. Once all players have voted, the mission starts. Those who voted "no" are sent back to their Orbiter, those who voted "yes" go on to the next mission.

I'm not sure what to do on Host Migration, largely because DE's idea of "sustainable rewards" meant we burn upgrade resources to stock up the Railjack. Do you let a team keep using the absent host's Railjack. If so, who pays for supplies after the mission? If it's the Host, then that's a nasty way to saddle hosts with other people's supply bills. If not the host, then nobody pays meaning this can be used as a way to void resource costs. What happens if the host crashes to desktop, but then returns? Do they pay resources again? Now... The simplest solution here would be for DE to admit their mistake and scrap the use of upgrade resources during combat. Replace them all with a single crafting resource which only exists within combat missions, replenished at the start of each mission. That takes care of all the logistics and allows a team to keep using the host's Railjack upon host migration without worrying about it.

[Kaotyke]

10 hours ago, Steel_Rook said:

I don't think that swapping between a Railjack mission and a standard ground mission is in the cards. DE's implementation of Railjack is very heavily tied to Clan Dojos, in that Railjack missions take over the Dojo instance, unload the actual Dojo rooms and load the Railjack map in their place. You don't have any loading screens in Railjack because you never switch instances - that's where a loading screen is needed to cover up instance creation. You do get a lot of spot-loading when new assets are created between missions, though, which is why the game hitches like it does in the Void Tunnel. Same as when you go from Cetus to the Plains.

What? No. Dojos are like HUB cities and Relays, they are SERVER side! Which is why you dont see the pets and the animation of other players is limited to jogging no matter what they do!

I also have hitches in normal Loading Screens and there are time I have smooth transactions going from Dojo to RJ.

I can also go to Normal Missions on the Observatory Navigation and enter RJ missions from the Orbiter by Boarding the Railjack.