PMD-Style Auto-Missions

PMD-Style Auto-Missions

The idea has been passed around for Pokémon to be sent out on automatic forum-based missions in the style of PMD to provide an easy and simple method for all players to earn low level income.

This thread is to discuss and develop this new system.

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The following information will be updated as development progresses.

Missions

Gameplay

Missions will be forum-based and involve sending an individual or small team of NFE (Not Fully Evolved) Pokémon out to accomplish objectives. They will take a period of real time to accomplish, depending on difficulty.
Missions will take 1 week per difficulty Level. A Level 1 mission will take 1 week to complete, a Level 10 mission will take 10 weeks to complete.
Success will be determined with private dice rolls by the mission creator.

Missions will come in two sections: Solo missions, and Team missions.
Solo missions can be run by a single player, but offer low rewards.
Team missions can only be run by a group of players sending one Pokémon each, and offer more enticing rewards.

Missions will have a series of phases that are individually checked for success, and take 1 week to accomplish. Missions will have 1 phase per difficulty Level.
Story phases will be directly related to the mission, and players will be able to deduce the types of Pokémon they should bring along. Mission Requirements will indicate the bare minimum needed to take the mission. Story phases will gain bonuses for success in previous phases.
Random phases will consist of wild Pokémon encounters and environmental hazards. These will be randomly rolled from a list of possible occurances related to the mission setting, e.g. Beedrill in a jungle. Mission Recommendations will, when visible, offer guidance on what should be brought to maximize mission success rate. Random phases do not gain bonuses for previous successes.

There will be no cost for running Level 1 and Level 2 missions, but from Level 3 onwards Missions will have a fee of $250 per Level.

Individual Pokémon must complete 3 missions of a Level to be able to be sent to the next Level of mission, e.g. A Swablu has completed 3 Level 1 missions and 2 Level 2 missions. For Swablu to be able to be sent on Level 3 missions, Swablu must complete 1 more Level 2 mission.

There may be bonuses for Pokémon based on the number of EMs known.
There will also be a limit on the number of missions that can be run in a time period.

Creation

Missions will be able to be created by players who have successfully applied to become Mission Creators, which will involve a small quiz, and staff in general. Created missions will require approval from Mission Managers to be posted and run. This will be done by PM, with the approved mission titles posted in a thread by the relevant Mission Manager.
The majority of missions will be generic, but special missions can be released by staff for events and holidays.

Mission Creators will be paid $250 per Level once their created mission has been completed once. Once a mission has been completed, it will last one more week on the forum before being closed. Players undergoing closed missions may continue them, but cannot retake them if failed.

There will be a limit on the number of missions a player may create within a time period, such as but not necessarily 3 per week.

Rewards

Solo missions will reward $500 per Level.
Team missions will reward each player $500 plus $500 per Level.

From Level 3 onwards, missions may reward items.
For Solo missions, these items will begin at a value of around $750-$1,500 and increase by $500-$1,000 per Level.
For Team missions, item rewards will begin at a value of around $2,000-$2,500 and increase by $500-$1,000 per Level.
An item reward list has yet to be determined.
See Tables and Loot for development status.

The highest level missions may award Mystery Pokémon Eggs.
Mystery Pokémon Eggs hatch into a random Pokémon of a certain type and rank dictated by the egg.
Level 9 Solo missions may reward a random-type Easiest Mystery Egg, and Level 10 Solo mission may reward a random-type Simple Mystery Egg.
Level 9 Team missions may reward a random-type Simple Mystery Egg, and a Level 10 Team mission may reward a random-type Medium Mystery Egg.
All players on a Team mission will receive one, or item rewards may be individually random.
Eggs will be hatched in a special Hatchery thread. A fee has yet to be decided.

Special event missions will likely give a relevant special reward.


Example Mission

Spoiler

Post #1 – Mission: Rescue Oddish! (Level 1)

Name: Rescue Oddish!
Type: Solo
Difficulty: Level 1

Description: I was taking my Oddish for a walk in Petalburg Woods when a Charizard flew overhead and scared her! She ran away deep into the woods and I'm too afraid to look for her on my own.
Can you please find my Oddish?

Requirements: Grass Type, HM Cut
Recommended: Rock Type, Electric Type, Water Type, Fire Type, HM Flash

Critical Stats:

• 1 Week
• 2 to 3 Pokémon
• 1 Phase (Story Phase)

Rewards: $500


Post #2 – Re: Mission: Rescue Oddish! (Level 1)

Sending Badger the Bidoof and Bub the Bulbasaur to rescue Oddish!
Experience: Bidoof - None.
Bulbasaur - Level 3 (2)
EMs: Bidoof - HM Cut.
Bulbasaur – HM Cut, HM Flash, TM Fury Cutter..


Post #3 – Re: Mission: Rescue Oddish! (Level 1)

(One week after Post #2)
Badger the Bidoof and Bub the Bulbasaur bravely delve into Petalburg Woods in search of the lost Oddish...

The forest is thick with foliage. Fortunately, Badger and Bub are able to Cut their way through and continue their search.

As they search deeper into the woods, a wild Charizard appears! It seems fighty! Without a type advantage over the Charizard, Badger and Bub are forced to flee from the more experienced Pokémon. (+0%)

Bub follows his instincts and intuits the way the Oddish fled. Having found the lost Oddish, Badger and Bub prepare to return home.

It has taken a long time to explore the woods, and night has settled in. It's very dark. Fortunately Bub is able to light their path out with Flash! (+10%)

blue_towel rolled 1 100-sided die: 51 (85% success rate)
Badger and Bub return home with the Pokémon in tow!

Mission success!
Player awarded $500!
Badger the Bidoof: 2 missions until Level 2!
Bub the Bulbasaur: Level 3.

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Things that need doing:
Feedback in general.
Loot table.
Details.
Polish.

 

So I was talking with Blue and this is what I've commented on thus far:

*No fee for regular missions. Experience based. More experience for more difficult missions.
*Fees ranging from 1k-2.5k depending on the difficulty of the special event mission. In the spirit of the holiday, Christmas events discounted and is the only exception.
* Egg drops should not be added at the start until we see activity from members. At that point, I believe egg drops should only be possible from difficult missions and excluded from easy and medium missions to avoid spamming simple missions for new Pokemon


Now that I've actually read everything I can add more.

*Like everything else there should be dedicated staff members that we can call Mission Leaders or Mission Masters (kinda of like D&D).
*Pay for each mission should vary based on difficulty. Example: $200 for Easy Missions and 2k for Impossible Missions (again that was an example)
* A limit on how many missions can be created by a Mission Leader is a good thing. 3 per week is about fair enough as it limits monetary gain and keeps a balance until pay is distributed by the Head of the Missions Leaders.
* Listing out what each level of difficulty gives out would be a great idea so that way each person taking on a mission knows what they COULD get from completing the mission. The more difficult the better the reward.
* For the more difficult missions, instead of just rolling a dice with the fail rate, if the mission isn't completed by the trainer taking part in the mission by the cut off date, then the mission should be an automatic fail. If it isn't completed due to Mission Leader, then it shouldn't be an automatic fail.

That's what I've got so far. So let the feedback begin!

 

All I can say is that this seems like a great idea! Just one question, what does EMs stand for?

 

EM stands for Extra move. i.e TM's and HM's.

So basically any attack that is bought and put on a Pokemon is an EM

 

Let me go ahead and post my examples:


Example Mission

Name: Jungle Fever
Difficulty: Level 1
Description: A child is sick with a rare disease that only the leaves of a Lum Berry can treat. The rescue team must brave the dangers of the deep jungle in order to locate and retrieve this fruit.

Requirements: Grass Type, Water Type, HM Cut
Recommendations: Fire Type, Ice Type, Fairy Type, Mon w/ 5 Learned Moves

Critical Stats
• 1 Week
• 2 to 5 Pokemon
• 2 Phases (A: Random, B: Story)

Random Phase (Phase A)
• Select a Random Level 1 Mission Phase

Story Phase (Jungle Fever – Phase B)
• The rescue team comes upon a cave hidden behind a waterfall. Though in the middle of a jungle, the crashing water rapidly cools the airs within and around the cave, sending temperatures plummeting. Teams with a Fire Pokemon are able to stay warm while any Ice Pokemon can ignore the cold.
• The cave entrance is blocked by thick tangles of vines covered wet stone, making progress difficult if not dangerous. Cutting the vines allows easy access to caves while grass and water types ensure the team remains out of danger from drowning in the water.
• Vibrant vines grow along the cave walls, mysteriously sustained in some fashion. As the team pushes forward, they reach the end of the cave, oddly lit in a glow of faintly pulsing mushrooms. In the center of the room is a single Lum Berry budding upon the vines.
• However, behind them appears a wild Pokemon, intent on taking the berry. He demands the team leave so that he can harvest the berry for himself. A Fairy Pokemon would be able to calm the wild Pokemon down while a Pokemon with 5 learned moves or more can intimidate him to behave. In both of those cases, the wild Pokemon receives the Lum Berry and the team receives the Lum Berry leaves. In all other cases, the wild Pokemon attacks, forcing the team to defend themselves in order to accomplish the mission.

Success Rate
• All Requirements Met? (+ 50%)
• Fire/Ice Type (+ 10%)
• Fairy/Mon w/ 5 Learned Moves (+ 10%)
• Phase 1 Successful? (+ 30%)




Random Mission Phases

Name: Bee Careful! (Beedrill Swarm)
Difficulty: Level 1
Description: The team stumbles upon a Beedrill hive, upsetting the Beedrill, Kakuna, and Weedle who live there. The hive buzzes in fury and attacks the team!

Relevant Stats: Fire/Flying/Psychic/Rock Type, HM Fly, Bug Type, Weedle

The Beedrill hive, was previous hidden from view, and sits below a small incline. The team literally fell into this rather dangerous situation.
• If one of the members of the team is a Weedle, that team member immediately explains the situation and resolves it peacefully without any violence.
• If one of the members of the team is a Bug type, the member of the team will attempt to engage the hive Pokemon with diplomacy, but if that fails, the team will be forced to flee or fight.
• A Pokemon with HM Fly can evacuate the entire team from the situation with minimal injury.
• In forced to fight, teams with a Fire, Flying, Psychic, or Rocky type will have an advantage in the encounter. The entire hive cannot be fought off, but the team can conduct a fighting withdrawal in order to escape the swarm.

Success Rate
• Weedle Present? (+ 70%)
• Bug Type (Non-Weedle) (+ 50%)
• HM Fly (+ 30%)
• Fire/Flying/Psychic/Rock Type (+10% for each mon with one of the types)

 

Sounds great with HKim's clarifications!

 

I want to post a rescue mission example but I need to ask something first.

Are these missions going to be only Pokemon related or can there, for example,be another trainer and their Pokemon trapped in a cave and needs to be recused?

 

Only the Pokémon will go on the missions. You're the trainer!
But a trainer character and their Pokémon is no problem.

 

(sorry if this is a dumb question xD) The 'mons we send into these missions are NFE forms of the ones we currently own, right? Like, they'll be in their basic stages for the duration of the mission?

Also, can 'mons that are currently on a mission participate in other things (like battles and Park)?

 

It is my understanding from talking with Harry that the Pokemon that are sent on missions are purely Basics and not the basic forms of 'Mon that have already evolved.

For example: You buy a Pokemon from the mart that needs to evolve. You can keep it as a perma Basic and use it only for PMD Missions.

EDIT: I shall be posting more of the basic rules a little later on that can be added and then built upon further

EDIT 2: Everything is being complied and put into an organized format,. While that is going on we are also moving into the trial phase. We're looking for some trial missions using the following temporary outline

Elements of missions:

Name:
Type: Solo or Team
Difficulty: Levels 1-10. 1 is easiest, 10 is hardest.
Description:

Requirements: Needed to run. 1 + 1-per-level
Recommended: Provide bonuses to success rate. 3+2 per level. Hidden from Level 5 onwards.

Critical Stats: Needs a better name.
Duration (in weeks): 1-10 (matches level)
Number of Pokémon: Typically 2-5.
Number of phases 1-10 (matches level) (Type of phases)

Random Phases: Multiple possibilities of random events, like a wild Pokémon attack or an environmental hazard.

Success Rate derived from mons sent meeting requirements and recommendations. Types, utility moves present, total number of EMs.

Story Phases: The story of the mission.

Success Rate derived from mons sent meeting requirements and recommendations, as well as success in previous phases. Types, utility moves
present, total number of EMs.

Base Success Rate = 80% - 5% per level. 75% at 1, 30% at 10

You can also use Blue's or Harry's example as a template of what we are looking for.

Please PM me the missions for approval before we take them to trial.

If you have any questions please feel free to ask myself or Blue.


We are also looking for those with basics to help out when missions are posted so keep an eye out! =D

 

First post has been updated, and there's a Google Docs spreadsheet for Tables and Loot to help clarify some things and assist development!

 

When can we try one of these? And who is running the missions? Will there be job openings for that?

 

I'm waiting on more Missions to be submitted and approved. We might be running trial missions as they come in. However, I do have a few already and will go back and organize them to a certain lay out and we should be able to run trials next week. I'll post trial missions in their own separate thread. They will not last their actual duration. I will post a duration that will all people to play the missions then a duration of perhaps a week to test the success rates.

Please note: No rewards will be given out during the trial period.

As for a job of running approved missions. Yes, there will be a job for posting the mission runs. That goes along with the job for making the missions and submitting them for approval.

Remember, we're still looking for more submissions of different difficulties so anyone who can help would be awesome.

Now for me to contribute a little. Everything is awesome and done very well. However Blue, we talked about Solo and Teams being on different difficulty levels. Are we doing that or keeping them the same?

One thing that wasn't listed out was a preset list of missions. The idea of a preset list is to have a list available for players to look at and see what they will be doing and what the requirements are. By doing it this way, we can keep a list of missions of different difficulties available and allow Missions Creators to create missions as they come off or expire. Or set them all up with the same expiration date and allows creators to have everything approved at once of all sort of difficulties and starts the process over again.

I personally think a set of lists for missions to be edited into the first post of the main thread would be easier to handle and maintain, as well as more organized, than allowing mission creators to post their missions as they get approved. Plus the players would have to post in that thread anyways with their fees and what mission they are taking anyways so it would also make it easier on us when approving their mission runs.

EDIT: There is no job title for posting/running missions. It has been decided that anyone can submit missions. It will either be approved or denied but that doesn't mean you can't keep trying and submit missions to us.

I am working on a new outline for missions and how they need to be presented. Please double space the phases when submitting any trial runs. I am also going to make a list of random events that will point out what will occur during the random phases. However, please keep sending in random phases with your trial submissions to give more ideas for more random events.

 

Okay, so Darkness and I discussed the random phases, which will be in a predetermined list somewhere (I'm assuming probably in a sticky) and they will each be assigned a number or something so that a Mission Manager can roll a dice wherever random phases are stumbled upon in a mission, and then insert the random phase that corresponds to the number rolled on the dice into the thread.

These random phases will be categorized as things such as Swarm/attack, Environmental Hazard, and Natural Disaster. I was thinking of adding in an 'Other' category for any miscellaneous random phases that people might come up with. Darkness brought up the idea of a 'Legendary' category, that would actually help the mission slightly by granting a bonus percent (something like 5%) to the mission's success rate.

Then in the process of writing up missions, I was thinking that people could insert these categories into the phase listings. So for example, a level 10 mission has 10 phases, with one of those being a story phase (which probably comes at the end, after all random phases). That leaves 9 random phases. Instead of just stating that there will be 9, the creator of the mission could list out the category/order they want the random phases to be rolled from, ex:
-Random Phase 1: Swarm/attack
-Random Phase 2: Environmental Hazard
-Random Phase 3: Other
-Random Phase 4: All
-etc.

If a phase is 'swarm/attack' the phase needs to be chosen/rolled from that category only. If a phase is 'all', that means the phase is rolled from all categories, leaving a chance for a legendary phase to pop up and possibly help the person doing the mission. Otherwise, a legendary category phase can't be encountered. (In the sticky of random phases, each phase would have its own numbering system within a category, and then a total number, similar to the way a region pokedex would work vs. a national dex. That way Mission Managers can roll within a category or include all categories in their rolls.)

This is obviously just an idea though, not anything set in stone. What do you guys think?

 

The following is the official outline that those creating missions need to go by and how it needs to look. Please don't clump everything together because it makes it hard to read with all the info that is needed. If there are any questions please don't hesitate to ask =)



Elements of missions:

Name: Every mission needs a name
Type: Solo or Team
Difficulty: Levels 1-10. 1 is easiest, 10 is hardest.
Description: List out the basics of the mission

Requirements: Needed to run. 1 + 1-per-level
Recommended: Provide bonuses to success rate. 3+2 per level. Hidden from Level 5 onwards.

Critical Stats: lists the following:
Duration (in weeks): 1-10 (matches level)
Number of Pokémon: 2-5.
Number of phases 1-10 (matches level)

Random Phases: Rolled from list provided. Level 10 will encompass all possibilities in any order. No repeats until all have been used. Legendary may only be used once. MUST BE RELEVANT TO MISSION

Success Rate: Mirror the Base Success Rate of mission.
Bonus: Bonus will be given with recommendations are met (+5% for each met)


Story Phases: The story of the mission.

Success Rate: Mirror the Base Success Rate of mission.
Bonus: Bonus will be given for completing previous phases (+5 for each story phase COMPLETED)

Base Success Rate = Set in table provided.
Bonus/Penalties: Bonus is provided for (+5% each)
Requirements
Completing story phases
Completing random phases
Meeting Legendary (+/-)


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Penalties (-5% each):
Failing a phase
Missing recommendations
Meeting Evil Legendary

NOTE: Missing recommendations give a penalty to the current Random phase that it's missing.

Possibilities for Random Phase:
Swarm/Attack
Environmental
Natural
Creator's Choice*
Legendary**
Mental Wear/Fighting within Team***

*Creators Choice – Mission Creator may make any Random Phase they desire, allowing one of the other phases to repeat. Repeat doesn't count in Level 9 or 10 missions. No Legendary Phase is allowed with Creator's Choice.
**Legendary – Players have a chance to meet a Legendary. Legendaries can either give an extra +5% or -5% on top of other bonus' by the last phase. Roll 100 sided die. 1-50 Good Legendary; 51-100 Bad Legendary. (Numbers subject to change)
***Mental Wear/Fighting within Team – When rolled in Solo, Pokemon can have a mental breakdown from stress of the mission. Roll 100 sided die 1-50 Pokemon breaks down (-5%); 51-100 Pokemon fights through it. When rolled in Team, Pokemon can fight with each other and break down cooperation. 1-50 the team losses trust and cannot cooperate any long. 51-100 issue is resolved (Numbers subject to change)

Random Phases must be rolled, witnessed and copied/pasted in the PM with the submission of the mission. If the Mission creator doesn't have AIM they can use a random dice roller and submit a screen shot with it.

The basis for the phase should follow a pattern as such:
1. story
2. random story
3. story random story
4.random story random story
5. story random story random story
6. random story random story random story
7. story random story random story random story
8. random story random story random story random story
9. story random story random story random story random story
10. random story random story random story random story random story

Doesn't need to be in that exact order but it is the reference that needs to be used and what each mission needs to have.

Please follow this guide line. This is not the final one as of yet.

 

About the egg rewards,

There are only 4 types in Easiest: Water (Karp), Poison (Weedle), Grass(Sewaddle), Bug(Caterpie, Wurmple, Burmy, Kricketot, Scatterbug, Sewaddle, Weedle)
So if you get an Easiest egg by doing a high level mission, you can only get Pokemon that are easily obtained by writing, art and/or the park much quicker.
I propose you should bump up all these eggs by one level (Simple, Medium, Hard and Complex) so its a bit more worthwhile.

 

As much as I see the logic in your proposal I can also answer why we can't bump up the level of the eggs.

Going by the game, and basics of life at conception, Complex eggs provide a lot of Stage 2 Pokemon which would go against of "Pokemon Genetics". While there are some Basics listed on complex, it would give others a form of edge against others. As it is, it's easy to obtain Pokemon on level 10 missions. Missions make it easier to obtain Pokemon than the other methods and unwanted Pokemon can be used for basics, traded off, sold, gifted, or just used for PMD. Missions cannot replace the primary way of obtaining Pokemon

With that said, I am not opposed to the idea of the chance of obtaining a higher level of eggs during special events or under special circumstances. However, that is something for us to discuss at a further date.

 

I am also against bumping it up to simple/medium/hard/complex because I feel that this would be way too easy of a method to get those higher ranked mons, especially considering how luck-based a decent part of these missions are. ^_^ Mayyybe simple/medium/medium/hard, but tbh it's okay as it is with easiest/simple/simple/medium.

 

I'm okay with Simple/Medium/Medium/Hard or even Simple/Simple/Medium/Medium. I just feel that Easiest isn't really much of a reward.

 

I'm against having anything above Medium-ranked available so easily. except the Berry Store, because lol Like people have said before me, this is fairly luck-based, and it seems like once people get to the required rank for eggs, they can churn out Pokemon like hotcakes. Facetiously, but yeah.

However, to address your point-- I'm not terribly familiar with how the system works, but I'd see the Easiest not as a reward in itself--it's sort of a stepping-stone rank to higher-valued Pokemon, I guess? Think of it like getting getting a gym badge: you only really ever use the TM, but you need the badge to complete your set and eventually challenge E4.