anyone else want to chime in
im kind of liking the planetary but not so much so more than others so need good talking points for the 3 better ones
Trying an impartial analysis and trying HARD to avoid player/GM conflict of interest here.
PUMA SHIELD
We can probably get Liasion command out of this, and B-rated Drac OPFOR offers decent salvage potential, as does a 50% rating. No BLC sucks, and moreover, we're going to be stuck in the same place for a darn long time, and there's no factory on that world. The danger is that there's simply no attack during our time there, in which case we get no salvage at all.
RINGFIRE
I'm down for cadre missions (and in fact any missions which reward people for spending XP on things other the Gunnery Increase and Jumping Jack), but this is a pretty crappy world to try it out in. Rahne is a total shithole, frankly, and the weather conditions are going to make fights...unpleasant. That said, a Regular/C opponent makes this a pretty safe bet, and at least the salvage is negotiable on this mission, and if we use all our negotiation on other stuff, 75% transport is good coverage.
WATERFALL
Adjusted to 40% salvage, this becomes tenable. Again, Veteran/B opponents mean decent salvage that's more than just Panthers, and there's reasonable BLC. The big dangers on this one are the combination of getting outmassed (because planetary assaults give a bonus to the OPFOR for that), and the fact that its a WATER world, mostly. Expect intimate familiarity with Breach Checks. Who wants to run a Recon Raid mission while in Depth 2 water?
FIRMIR
The planet in question doesn't actually matter yet. The big draw on this is that, if we get attacked, any salvage we get comes off the FedCom RATs, which are *really* nice. However, it's only 30% salvage and it's non-negotiable, though the BLC is downright excellent. Unbiased commentary or not, my PC does have Stigma/anti-FRR, so I'd vote against this mission on general principles. Plus, the FRR are generally just dicks to mercs in general.
SAFECRACKER
This takes us away from the center of the IS, which was a unit goal at one point. Slightly decent salvage, and slightly decent BLC, the main draw here is the theoretical quality of salvage from the OPFOR (A-rated)...though it's Capellan gear, which is basically like C-rated FedCom gear. If it's the Death Commandos we're up against (and this IS the St Ives primary treasury, and these ARE Elite-rated opponents), then they pull units off of *any* RAT, so that's worth pointing out. Security duty is also somewhat easier to lose, because most missions will have you defending either fixed points or board edges, and the margin for error is low. If salvage was negotiated higher, this can be a very high reward mission, but elite pilots are going to be a serious problem.
As GM, I don't really get a vote so I'm not pushing any of them in particular, with the exception of my PC's Stigma-driven disdain for the filthy Wrasslehog plebes. Nobody likes Dracula capes anyway.