Over the past few weeks, I've been really enjoying playing my Junker character(s). However while bringing in contraband perfectly legal cargo to various locals, I've come to the realization that other than pirating and smuggling, there really isn't much more Junkers can actually do. Sure they can smelt Scrap Metal into Basic Alloy but...with Basic Alloy basically being sold everywhere (even if sold for higher prices in certain places), they really don't have much else to do.
Now, I've come up with ideas for the Junkers before and have been basically gently shot down for those ideas without anyone else responding to what they think of them. This has lead me to pretty much keeping my ideas to myself...but that really doesn't do anyone any favors. I was looking through various things concerning Discovery where Junkers are concerned and I came up with a workable idea surrounding them and how they operate, please tell me what you think.
The Problem
As stated above, the problem is Junkers don't have any thing to do outside of:
Smuggling
Pirating
Smelting Scrap Metal or farming for Military Salvage
Sitting around RPing or Forumlancing
Junkers are tinkerers, crafters, McGuivers, and (insane) geniuses with tech and making things work because they have no other option. So...why not emphasize that in a new gameplay loop?
Using existing systems for new gameplay loops
So the idea I have involves, you guessed it: Scrap Mining. Currently Scrap Mining only serves one purpose. A purpose that most players ignore in lieu of simply going to an NPC base to grab Basic Alloy because rarely are there Junker stations around that actually smelt Scrap Metal. Why smelt Scrap when you can do other modules and make more money? My idea revolves around chance drops of certain items.
Calcium Corroded Quantum Stabilizer - A Quantum Stabilizer which has a strange crystalline growth encasing it. It looks vaguely like a brittle silvery substance resembling calcium. Perhaps with some scrubbing, these will be as good as new.
Damaged Ion Node - An Ion Node leaking a purplish fluid. It smells like sweet decay. Some thing tells you that you shouldn't get any of it on you. Maybe a Junker will know what to do with it.
Unbalanced Gyroscope - A once precision instrument now completely imbalanced. Hooking the device up just makes it scream various errors, hurting your ears. Maybe a calibration will make it worth using somewhere.
Half-charged Battery - A battery that has clearly seen better days. Passive scans reveal some cells are still fully viable. Get a few more and you might have a working battery.
Fusion Crystal - A crystal from the inside of a starship reactor. It has crystalized but the power is still there in it's cells. Enough of these and you can jumpstart a dead starship back to working order.
All items have a chance to drop from mining Scrap Metal. Four of the five items can actually be constructed using Scrap Metal in high enough numbers. The Fusion Crystal is the only item that has to be actually mined and it's drop chance is lower than that of the other items. These five items can create a "Shifting Dynamic Component" which can be used as a wildcard for any recipe in the game. Maybe simply a shipyard component or a dynamic item for any crafted component. This can even be tied into my earlier Boneyards idea for extra incentive to mine for Scrap.
It's always a fun exercise to come up with ideas for various factions that don't really have any purpose outside of basic Freelancer activities. Basic activities being those outside of the added features from FLHook. Anyway, I just wanted to post this fun idea for others to see and hear what they think.
You fear oblivion. Yet you forget. The universe remembers every atom of your being. Even dust hums your name in the dark. Roleplay is dead. Long live Powertraders and PvP I guess.
