Originally by: Deviana Sevidon

---

One possibility would be to link space missions with ambulation and also include charisma checks in the NPC dialogue.

Example:
Agent gives out a mission via Neocom. You are given like any mission the location of a deadspace area. There you do not find the target person, but only some ships of the same corporation. Inside one of the wrecks there is a damaged ship-log. From this you have two options:

1. Return to the agent and get a reward. Although you have not killed the target person, the agent is convinced you did the best you could and rewards you.that

2. Use the ship log to find out where the group of ships you have just killed have been before, searching for clue where the real target might be. In order to do this you will have to contact a hacker to retrieve the data from the damaged log. So you attempt find a hacker that might restore the data of the ship-log, in a seedy bar on a station.

From this the whole thing becomes something like an escalating path. One possibilty would be the hacker does not trust you and wants something in return (another small mission) or charisma and standings checks are made and the hacker is willing to talk to you. Some other random factors come in, like the hacker telling you that the ship log is beyond repair, effectivly ending this path, or he might give you another clue, that leads to the station where the target person has been before. If you follow the path you have to visit another station, another person, or another deadspace location, etc.

It would be important to have randomness in this story, so it does always be same. Also some factor like positive and negative standings should come into play. If you have positive standings to serpentis and hunting a bloodraider criminal, the serpentis-cartel, you might meet a serpentis agent somewhere in the station, that gives you additional information. Or a federation trader contacts you if you have positive sec-rating and high standing to gallente, to tell you, he saw your target in the next system somewhere. Or your Sec-Rating is below -5 and when you meet a pirate in a lowsec station bar and spend him a drink, he might drop a hint about the targets location.

In the end you might, or you might not locate the target, if you are successfull, you can report back to your agent, who comments your ressourcefullness and gives an additional reward.

These rewards should of course being worse the time and the risk taken to complete the mission. So if it was exceptionally difficult to complete, the agent might reward you with some faction module, or special tags, that can be traded in, in the LP shop.

---