# AIR Career Programm: Soldier of Fortune and Game Design **URL:** \ **Category:** Missions\ **Tags:** pve\ **Created:** [January 11, 2026, 8:49pm UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/air-career-programm-soldier-of-fortune-and-game-design/504737 "2026-01-11T20:49:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mechnom](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/mechnom/32/487592_2.png) [@Mechnom](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Mechnom)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 8:49pm UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/air-career-programm-soldier-of-fortune-and-game-design/504737/1 "2026-01-11T20:49:35Z")
I am just playing through the AIR Career Programm - for the SP, not the content. But I was just shocked at how bad you can ■■■■ this up. I am speciffiaclly speaking about the mission: Soldier of Fortune: The Stand (5 / 10) The mission states: - you will die - fly cheap Fair enough. I expeced to die. But I hoped there was some fun to it. But no, chapeau! You outdid yourseld in shity mission design. This was the absolute 100 / 100 in useless missions. Just imagine, you would have waves of increasing difficulty. Players could brag that they made it to 4 / 20 or something. But no. You send players into a room, where the first (tigger) friggate is just laughable - it’s one hit. The triggered spawn then insta webs you to 20m/s and sensor dumps you into oblivion. So you can’t even target back. I tried to warp in / out and get an angle - untill I realized: It is supposed to be like this… Shitty. If they ever make a steam awards category for abysmal mission design - I will recomend you! ---
**Author:** ![Eileithya\_Carmenta](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/eileithya_carmenta/32/487561_2.png) [@Eileithya\_Carmenta](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Eileithya_Carmenta)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 9:09pm UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/air-career-programm-soldier-of-fortune-and-game-design/504737/2 "2026-01-11T21:09:23Z")
I did that one yesterday. I tried so hard to figure out what I was supposed to do until it dawned on me: I was simply supposed to have my ship blown up, no more no less. I think that mission tries to tell us something: there is no combat in EVE except in the huge battles. All the other encounters are quick butcheries. No wonder the help section emphasizes “fly cheap”. ---
**Author:** ![Geo\_Eclipse\_Oksaras](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/geo_eclipse_oksaras/32/500781_2.png) [@Geo\_Eclipse\_Oksaras](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Geo_Eclipse_Oksaras)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 10:39pm UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/air-career-programm-soldier-of-fortune-and-game-design/504737/3 "2026-01-11T22:39:32Z")
Well a smart thing to learn is to also insure the ship to get the insurance payout ---
**Author:** ![Andlaust](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/andlaust/32/422007_2.png) [@Andlaust](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Andlaust)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 2:12am UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/air-career-programm-soldier-of-fortune-and-game-design/504737/4 "2026-01-12T02:12:42Z")
Yes, the point of that mission is to show you your ships will explode, and there’s sometimes nothing you can do about it. When a newbie’s venture is captured by a T3C in a wormhole, the battle is much the same. Seems to drive that point home rather well, based on your complaint. ---
**Author:** ![Nikarus2370](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/nikarus2370/32/488866_2.png) [@Nikarus2370](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Nikarus2370)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2026, 12:35am UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/air-career-programm-soldier-of-fortune-and-game-design/504737/5 "2026-01-26T00:35:19Z")
Player engagement though a scenario being interesting, and educational value aren’t opposed… typically they’re actually aligned. A bit of effort to make the NPE missions more engaging would likely improve their educational value. For the combat missions this could be a Kobayashi Maru situation where the player (who is in a combat fit ship) does have some agency to attempt to fight back (compared to your venture/t3c scenario), but the odds keep stacking up the longer they survive. (Could also be a good way to introduce bubbles as the objective could be clearing a bubble or 2 to “rescue” a ship before the waves start) Also… I’ve long found it odd that the “you get blown up” was limited to a single 1 of the career paths… you’re just as likely (if not more) to lose a ship mining, or doing exploration so it’s a wonder why there’s not an equivalent in those 2 mission chains. The industrialist one could have you doing a delivery and get gatecamped by npcs, or get jumped while undocking from a station. If the goal really is to teach people that “getting blown up isn’t the end of the world” of course. ---
**Author:** ![Mechnom](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/mechnom/32/487592_2.png) [@Mechnom](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Mechnom)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 3:59pm UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/air-career-programm-soldier-of-fortune-and-game-design/504737/6 "2026-01-31T15:59:35Z")
The assumption of my post was that people could read and think. Guess that did not work with you… So - simple question: Was my post about “not loosing the ship”? I will highlight a phrase of my post, in case your attention span is just not long enough for something with more then 200 characters: > Fair enough. I expected to die. But I hoped there was some fun to it. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/original/3X/4/1/41ec4921cbaca7a6f9ea556e7cc20018461eae5e.png) [@system](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2026, 3:59pm UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/air-career-programm-soldier-of-fortune-and-game-design/504737/7 "2026-05-01T15:59:58Z")
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