I was free associating thinking up ideas for various and sundry things, and I thought up a few ideas for GH missions that I wanted to write down here. Odds of me actually trying to write them: Currently low. Haven't had much time, but if I write them here rather then in one of my random notepad notes, I might get back to them:
Punitive Strike:
L5Law and X faction are sending a joint strike force to attack an installation of X-enemy faction who has been found guilty of (random string) breach of peace accord/ecological violation/violation of armaments agreement. Since it's a strike force vs. a settled installation numbers are about even, but the PC starts in the same corner as whichever the quest giver was (either L5 or X). Asteroid mission, scattered weapons turrets that should count as needing to be destroyed, no actual building/installation that needs to be dealt with, it's just a smash and dash punitive mission.
Punishment Detail:
the PC is low in the esteem of the faction he/she receives this mission from (not even sure off the top of my head how many variables there are to track that...renown and faction rank are the only two I can think of, although I assume there's at least some sort of 'we like you/we don't like you' stat per faction?) and is sent to defend an asteroid 'solar wind tracking station'. The actual mission is variable: Either attacked by a low value pirate force, a low value faction enemy recon force, or (someone was really out to get the PC) a Joint Strike Force as above.
(One of the key things I was thinking about while thinking of these is that more often, the PC should be unsure of the exact parameters of the mission he's accepted till he hits the ground running. "Go guard this useless base could turn out to be 'wow, that was a boring weekend' or 'what the hell was that all about?')
Forced Recon:
Straight up milit/corp plot "go out, recon point X, report back" low probability of entering the map then getting a popup that says "yup...this is space. It's...empty. Spacious even." other possibilities range from enemy patrol opens fire, to neutral confrontation that can be forced via dialog to...the ark of the covenant. I dunno, just think it should have a good several options so you're never sure what the result will be.
Sting:
This will probably be the first I write, since it basically amounts to cut and pasting from two files. It intros as the standard piracy mission, but as soon as you disable the ship re-enforcements spawn ala the final battle with a forcechat that says "This is a bust, power down and eject now" or some such. PC has the choice of trying to escape and losing renown or pushing through for just salvage as the reward. Thief or hacker type npc should get a skill check at start to offer a "something seems fishy" dialog.
