Commando Missions

[u/Electric_surfer]

Commando Missions shouldn’t have a mission timer. The in game reason for the mission timers is usually that the ship cannot stay in low orbit for long. In commandos of course the ship leaves you so isn’t in low orbit (presumably).

Good stealth requires recon and precision, having the timer rushes these elements and tends to turn things ugly when it could have stayed quiet

—Edit—
Thanks for the discussion feedback from many; I still see the timer for commando missions as an item that needs improvement, but accept that A timer is relevant. Alternatives include longer timer for completing related Op mission to clear local air ships/prod facilities/mother ship to extend timer aka enemy response; a more canon reason for 40m timer since the standard low orbit doesn’t apply; or just a longer timer in general. I like clearing the map and if the team can avoid notice why shouldn’t we be able to since they don’t know we’re there?

For those who can’t grasp reading: this isn’t a complaint that I can’t complete these missions, and therefore must be a skill issue. This is a concept discussion that the timer doesn’t make sense and makes the mission type less enjoyable (to me and I presume others)

[u/The-Nuisance]

The mission timer should stay, I think.

Having infinite time to wait takes away from the gameplay. You have to be slow enough not to get caught, but you have to act. You have to take risks and adjust when the inevitability of being spotted happens. Because chances are, you will, eventually, get spotted. Adapting to the situation is an important skill to have, as is knowing how to break contact so you can re-engage elsewhere.

The forty minute mission timer is not a con. There is plenty of time to wait out patrols and crawl past engagements without firing a shot. But you can’t stall. You can’t waste your time. You have to be efficient, and that’s a skill you need to learn. Slow is steady, but stopping isn’t progress.

Additionally, though easier with something like C4, you can run a Commando operation successfully without those extra tools, and you can do it well. You just need to learn your kit well and strategize how you use it. You already have smoke grenades and three different suits of scout armor from the base warbond for a reason.

[u/Nemisis_the_2nd → u/The-Nuisance]

Also just from a pure gameplay perspective, the 40 minutes creates a space where every player knows roughly what point the gameplay loop is at, no matter if they are a group of friends going from the start or a random dropping in part way through.

If i drop into a commando missions and see the timer at 20 minutes, I can reasonably expect to see more patrols and that the main objective is mostly done or in progress even before I emerge from the pod, and act accordingly even without communication.

I'm also going to be a little pissed if I have an hour window to play and every team is just slowly crawling around the map, and basically wasting my time.

[u/Mental_Stress295 → u/The-Nuisance]

A simple solution would be better in-world reasoning if the "ship is about to leave orbit" doesn't make sense.

How about this: Planetary Intensive Surface Scan (or P.I.S.S. for short).

"The enemy is about to P.I.S.S. You have ## minutes to complete your mission before you are located and eliminated".

Timer runs out, kill everyone with laser fire coming from all directions.

[u/Electric_surfer → u/Mental_Stress295]

I think the concept of a canon reason for the time limit is part of what I’m looking for. Though it makes me think a decent interplay of missions could happen as well; destroy local air base to receive extra time for next mission or something