Combat missions in general really need a boost, so yes.

I agree with the OP, and the advanced combat missions need to be revised, but not for the stated reason. Combat and transport missions are in the same boat here, where the time required to complete the mission (not the cost of the ammo) is out of balance after level 1.

The dev's are working on adding in a time bonus for missions, so completing them faster gives you more reward. Which is all well and good, except that in many cases the missions seem balanced around multiple players in a squad, and not for solo play. Which, if that carries forward, the combat missions will be even less effcient to run as a solo player, since small groups will be needed to get them done 'faster' for the bonus.

There needs to be seperate assignment lines for solo and group combat assignments. This is really the only assignments that can be improved by adding more players, that is 2 players can't run a transport mission faster than 1, same with mining and scanning missions.

Tl;dr - Encourage group play with assignments balanced around multiple players, but add higher level assignments that solo players can complete too, with appropriate rewards for both. Meaning if it's easier/faster, then the reward is less, but it's more than a lower level assignment in terms of NIC/hour.

Edit: FYI, the reason I mention transport is for the same reason, players will continue to run the 'laps' of level 1 instead of going to level 2 because the NIC/hour is better on the laps. Only indy looking to raise rep bother to go to 2, or beta players moving through to 5/6.

L2 courier missions are even worse!
You'll have 3 missions, total, per outpost, and they send you all over creation to finish them, for the same rewards and standing gains as doing the L1 mission loop... you can just go a little higher in standings.

For industrial types it's flat out counterproductive to do more than the L1 loop, which is far too easy (and lucrative).  The industrial's time is better spent mining and building and never leaving their home station... they just suffer because making standings is a pointless grind to nowhere.

I tryed some L2 with a buddy and it wasn't worth it.
- L1 are solo doable
- L1 have FAR less risk as they don't have EW (stupid ECM blues, stupid neut greens)
- you need 100 times the amu to kill the NPC then you get as reward
- the money you get must be used to buy amu
- reward is split by 2 when done with a buddy => you get less NIC peer person then L1 give you when you do them solo
- handling the L2 take much longer then rush L1s

There is just one reason to do L2: grind standing .

Get 3 guys the same L2 mission,
suppress the spawn with superior firepower
???
NIC

Unless you really want to farm rep with the island you are on, how about changing the island to a one with more of your natural prey? Less ammo for pew pew, more nic for stomp stomp bots.

Well here are my thought on combat missions and also the NPCs you face.

Fir of all L0 and L1 combat missions are easy and done quickly. Nothing wrong with them as i see it, in fact the most likely thing that will slow you down are slow spawn rates or too many people doing the mission.

Then there is the insane jump in difficulty from L1 to L2. You need about 5 times the usual damage, the enemy damage is untankable and the drops arent that much better. The higher mission reward is often nullified simply because you also have to travel further to get to the spawn site. The higher plasma-drops don't offset the higher ammo costs. And you loose standing.

So here are my suggestions:

- Reduce travel times.
- Reduce difficulty(damage and hitpoints, dont give them additional resists) of L2 and L3 Rats on Alpha islands. They will still use EW and stuff so they are still dangerous.
- Give out more ammo(like 300-500) as a mission reward and also of varying types, not always the same.
- Increase plasma-drops for beta NPCs

One last thing: All my observation are based on my relatively low extensions and only for light and assault bots.

(double post, d'oh)

All combat assignment should be worth 50% more and all assignment that do not give an ammo or bonus reward increased by 100%

Agreeing that missions do not give proper rewards for the amount of work necessary.

missioning in broken after lvl1.
lvl2's offer little or no reward and there's talk of a bonus reward if completed quicker which is failscale... most of the lvl2's require 5mins of travelling to the mission then another 5mins returning.... lvl3's are somewhat of a slight improvement but not near enough to force u to grind through the lvl2's.
grinding is far more of a profitable enterprise... please don't turn this into korean grind game
assign some dev time and revitalise missioning.. the bulk of the missioners are combat orientated but are driven from the game by subpar gaming experience in missioning.
I know the rewards can be increased with certain skills but most new combateers will pump the bulk of their EP into combat related skills but until its improved no one will pump the rewards skills cept the transporteers as its a mighty waste of EP.
The item market as a whole is grind based hence why they cost so much and sell for so little.. builders in small corps  cannot compete unless they exceed T1 this futher discourages player retention.
Fixes: some form of revamp for rewards is needed... travel time multiplyer maybe will help.. increase the basic reward for solo missioneers.. completion time bonus from the moment combat/recon/mining starts not from the moment u accept the mission. Also maybe for miners a bonus for exceeding the amount of mined ore needed. I also liked the idea previously suggested of the high ranked missions being team based.
Also a difficulty ranking system for missions could to be implemented for again further rewards.
Ewar missions are needed..
There are 3 general types of players in this game.... ewar/combat and miners... of the 3 only the transporteers of the missioneers progress past lvl1 missions and thats only because they are being forced to.
Summery: fix misisons and fast.. (though this comment is mainly about combat missions i've tried to keep it as general as i could...) if u don't u will continue to bleed players. If u do then u will a resirgence of msissioning and a far greater player retention.
In the end its about the NIC and missioning fails to deliver

imo there isn't really anything wrong with mission difficulty. I started running mish when I joined up to the game and had progressed to lvl 3 within a week. Within another week the lvl 3 mish had become a breeze.
'The people here complaining about lvl 2 being nigh-on impossible really should try again after accumulating EP for a few days.

I totally agree that the rewards are pathetic, and farming is gonna be a better option 99 times out of 100

What are reasonable skills for you?

I know enough players that can possibly one-shot castels with their mechs. Mech class is not a progression, its a different class. If you compare it with RPG, your asking for the rouge to progress into a paladin, or the mage into a warrior.