Pirates? - Need boarding!

[Cetricon Dailleurs]

So, when we hear of Pirates, we think less of blowing ships up to pieces, but boarding them and robbing them. Because that is what pirates always did in the first place. It maximizes loot.
--
This suggestion therefore is about introducing a mechanism to stop target ships and board them.
And of course a mechanism to counter that.
Boarding requires infantry fight inside ships. We just need some interiors for each ship for tactical situations, maybe some hacking of doors, console access etc. Basically most things are already in game since Odyssee and could be transfered to boarding fight situations.
I imagine it would go like this:

• pirate finds a ship, intercepts it and uses a device for attaching his own ship to target ship so he can intrude. This could require a new kind of limpets and on target side a new kind of countermeasure to defeat those limpets. If they can't attach and connect the two ships, no boarding will be possible. Could be a minigame much like the existing chasing/evading and you would have to do this no matter if it is a NPC pirate or a player pirate.
• with successful boarding limpets applied, both ships come to a standstill, whileas you can't shoot ship weapons on each other, and player or NPC pirate enters ship over the hacked airlock. The defender could just give up and surrender, or fight back using his infantry weapon he has with his suit.
• the winner will have access to cargo and take what he wants. I was thinking the pirate could even take over the ship if it is better than his own, but that's perhaps too harsh. (if he could take over, the defender would find himself reanimated back in the former ship of the pirate later and have to continue voyage with that) When defender gets killed in the boarding fight, he will find himself at the closest starport, with or without his looted ship. If you as defender defeat the pirate, it will be his turn to find himself in closest ... no, not any station, but a penal institution, as he did a crime.
• system police force could (try to) apply that method to confiscate illegal freight too
• you get a warrant for boarding and stealing, and the punishment should be less, as long as the defendent isn't killed, than for outright killing a target by ship weapons.

--
For making it attractive for developer, this could be content of a DLC. The defense mechanism you equip your ship with, and the option to defend yourself in infantry fight, would be open to anyone. But for actively initiating boarding you would have to buy the DLC. NPC could do it on any player regardless. Much more promising than using a hatch breaker and hoping the right containers will drop out. Hatch breaking you'd still do if you fear being not strong enough for the infantry fight.

 

[Darrack]

Boarding requires infantry fight inside ships

Good luck in a sidewinder

Could be a minigame much like the existing chasing/evading

So two mini games per fight?

I was thinking the pirate could even take over the ship if it is better than his own

Not a chance

system police force could (try to) apply that method to confiscate illegal freight too

C&P is flawed atm

this could be content of a DLC

I'm guessing hardly anyone would buy that DLC and how would it work against ships that don't own it.

Id like to say its a nice idea but it isn't, it would just make Open play even more deserted.

O7

 

[PilotB]

We need ship interiors thread number 456734536. Spoiler we don't

 

[Rochester]

Not against it and honestly it’s one of the primary reasons that would support interiors, but during the launch of Odyssey, FD confirmed interiors simply had never been considered.

So never going to happen irrelevant of how ‘good or bad’ any idea is; unless the community sways them and it has a sure-fire fiscal benefit.

But remember EDO really hurt them, so its either going to have to be ‘really’ impressive (unlikely) or cheap and nasty (very likely).

Personally I no longer trust FD to do a good job in this area… EDO is an example of that.

True FD started out designing the game with interiors in mind… but that and all the other ‘stuff’ they promised is now in the ‘not likely bin’.

 

[aRJay]

So, when we hear of Pirates, we think less of blowing ships up to pieces, but boarding them and robbing them. Because that is what pirates always did in the first place. It maximizes loot.
--
This suggestion therefore is about introducing a mechanism to stop target ships and board them.
And of course a mechanism to counter that.
Boarding requires infantry fight inside ships. We just need some interiors for each ship for tactical situations, maybe some hacking of doors, console access etc. Basically most things are already in game since Odyssee and could be transfered to boarding fight situations.
I imagine it would go like this:

• pirate finds a ship, intercepts it and uses a device for attaching his own ship to target ship so he can intrude. This could require a new kind of limpets and on target side a new kind of countermeasure to defeat those limpets. If they can't attach and connect the two ships, no boarding will be possible. Could be a minigame much like the existing chasing/evading and you would have to do this no matter if it is a NPC pirate or a player pirate.
• with successful boarding limpets applied, both ships come to a standstill, whileas you can't shoot ship weapons on each other, and player or NPC pirate enters ship over the hacked airlock. The defender could just give up and surrender, or fight back using his infantry weapon he has with his suit.

No at this point the defender activates his locks to clamp the ships together and triggers his self destruct blowing up both ships and their cargoes.

• the winner will have access to cargo and take what he wants. I was thinking the pirate could even take over the ship if it is better than his own, but that's perhaps too harsh. (if he could take over, the defender would find himself reanimated back in the former ship of the pirate later and have to continue voyage with that) When defender gets killed in the boarding fight, he will find himself at the closest starport, with or without his looted ship. If you as defender defeat the pirate, it will be his turn to find himself in closest ... no, not any station, but a penal institution, as he did a crime.
• system police force could (try to) apply that method to confiscate illegal freight too
• you get a warrant for boarding and stealing, and the punishment should be less, as long as the defendent isn't killed, than for outright killing a target by ship weapons.

--
For making it attractive for developer, this could be content of a DLC. The defense mechanism you equip your ship with, and the option to defend yourself in infantry fight, would be open to anyone. But for actively initiating boarding you would have to buy the DLC. NPC could do it on any player regardless. Much more promising than using a hatch breaker and hoping the right containers will drop out. Hatch breaking you'd still do if you fear being not strong enough for the infantry fight.

Corridor shooters especially ones in my ship are why I am not in favour of interiors.

 

[ethelred]

Id like to say its a nice idea but it isn't, it would just make Open play even more deserted.

O7

Open's not deserted.

Apart from that, spot on.

 

[varonica]

Self destruct for the win. Make it as expensive for them as it is for you!

 

[Kira Goto]

… and why would just attaching a limpet cause a ship to stop operating its thrusters? Nevermind the fact that it would then also make the target a complete sitting duck to have its thrusters destroyed, or other things.

Frankly, aside from the “cool factor” (that might actually become very tiring quickly), I don’t know why we would need in-ship piracy. Or why any pirate actually after the cargo would bother wasting their time with a boarding action, when they could just fit a small hatch breaker controller and go from there. It’s not like it’s old naval times where physical boarding would be required to get to the hold and pillage it.

 

[Cetricon Dailleurs]

Not against it and honestly it’s one of the primary reasons that would support interiors, but during the launch of Odyssey, FD confirmed interiors simply had never been considered.

Yes, with this interiors would have a big reason to appear.
From there they can add more functionality to interiors.

• interacting with your passengers when you have cabins
• applying small upgrades here and there where service hatches would be implemented, nothing revolutionary, just good for immersion, available from tech dealers.
• interacting with your crew or human co-player with you on the ship
• one of them could climb out of the seat and go to do emergency repairs in interiors in mid-fight while you stay at the main controls
• photos

 

[Cetricon Dailleurs]

… and why would just attaching a limpet cause a ship to stop operating its thrusters? Nevermind the fact that it would then also make the target a complete sitting duck to have its thrusters destroyed, or other things.

Frankly, aside from the “cool factor” (that might actually become very tiring quickly), I don’t know why we would need in-ship piracy. Or why any pirate actually after the cargo would bother wasting their time with a boarding action, when they could just fit a small hatch breaker controller and go from there. It’s not like it’s old naval times where physical boarding would be required to get to the hold and pillage it.

I don't know, not my job to explain things. Many sci-fi effects are in game which are mutually inexplainable from a technological view of 2025 either. Shock for the propulsion system, whatever. I was careful enough to present at the same time a countermechanism, so if you are well equipped and fast to react, you could prevent it. The quality of the grapple device (from E to A) and sizes of ships involved could also play a role for success chance (larger ship dominates easier smaller ship).
Out-ship piracy as is, firing limpets, has a random chance of what you suck out of the cargo hatch. A full boarding meanwhile as described gives you full overview what is loaded and you can pick the cherries. I think that is reason enough besides the adventure itself involving small weapons combat in the target ship.
--
another raison d'etre for in-ship piracy which came to my mind later would be to steal tech out of the ship after taking over. So you find an engineered type B power plant, or a Guardian weapon? Too juicy to leave behind. Extract it and steal it, the victim then is left behind with a basic substitute instead - quality E (empty is impossible as it needs to function for going home).

 

[Cetricon Dailleurs]

Good luck in a sidewinder

So two mini games per fight?

Not a chance

C&P is flawed atm

I'm guessing hardly anyone would buy that DLC and how would it work against ships that don't own it.

Id like to say its a nice idea but it isn't, it would just make Open play even more deserted.

O7

Why not two mini games per fight? It's not like every fight will involve then a boarding. Just the ones where the conditions are met - attacker has the wish to board and the proper 'device' and defender has no 'counter-device', or failed to use it well. Also, the interception must have succeeded first. Which you can already prevent.
I described how it would work with ships of owners who do not have the DLC. The countermeasure device obviously would have to be part of a free update along with the DLC. So you would get it for free, also for defending against NPC pirates using it, together with the interiors of all ships. The device for initiating boarding would meantime be the core content of that DLC.
I just mentioned DLC because it is the way to earn income for a decade old (good) game, besides micro transactions (Arx). If Frontier feels confident to bring that in a free update, be my guest.

 

[CMDR_UKmouse]

No, just no. As others have said above, most players who get "grabbed" would just self destruct.

another raison d'etre for in-ship piracy which came to my mind later would be to steal tech out of the ship after taking over. So you find an engineered type B power plant, or a Guardian weapon? Too juicy to leave behind. Extract it and steal it, the victim then is left behind with a basic substitute instead - quality E (empty is impossible as it needs to function for going home).

Highly exploitable game mechanic. If I was in a pre engineered ship I paid for with ARX and you stole it or one of the included modules, do I just deploy a new one at a shipyard? Someone in a squadron could buy a ship and then "give" other members of the squadron the same ship, over and over. If ARX ships are to be excluded from this gameplay, how would you know until you have disabled it.

If you want to steal ships / modules, I'm afraid you are playing the wrong game.

Sorry, but this is a huge no from me.

 

[Rebel Yell]

Frankly, aside from the “cool factor” (that might actually become very tiring quickly), I don’t know why we would need in-ship piracy. Or why any pirate actually after the cargo would bother wasting their time with a boarding action, when they could just fit a small hatch breaker controller and go from there. It’s not like it’s old naval times where physical boarding would be required to get to the hold and pillage it.

Agreed 1000%... we do interdict and rob hundreds of haulers every year and we do that mostly for player-to-player interaction (cargo used to be relevant until mining was nerfed and carriers were introduced), so boarding a ship would cost us more time and "for loot optimisation" wouldn't work as a real incentive...

 

[aRJay]

Yes, with this interiors would have a big reason to appear.
From there they can add more functionality to interiors.

• interacting with your passengers when you have cabins

The interactions we can already have with passengers are a major part of why I and probably others don’t carry them, so this is definitely a point against interiors.

• applying small upgrades here and there where service hatches would be implemented, nothing revolutionary, just good for immersion, available from tech dealers.
• interacting with your crew or human co-player with you on the ship
• one of them could climb out of the seat and go to do emergency repairs in interiors in mid-fight while you stay at the main controls

• photos

About the best reason to have them.

 

[CMDR Lefty Jackson]

Hmmm, then ropes from yard arms and walking the plank needs implementation too!

 

[Shurimal]

I'm convinced that boarding in E: D will never be a thing.

One, lore perspective: no magitech inertial dampeners. Ships can pull 40 G-s with a single boost. Pilot only survives because advanced medicine, body augmentations, high-tech flight suit and flight seat (let's ignore passengers for a moment and assume they're cocooned in some high-tech crash pods or something). Boarding would be completely suicidal, all the pilot needs to do is boost once and scrape the chunky salsa off the bulkheads later.

Two, gameplay considerations: to board you need to have a way to disable ship drives permanently in order to not make it completely suicidal. That opens up a lot of avenues for abuse and griefing. Not only disabling an opponents ship mid combat, but preventing escape during ganks or disabling someones ship as they are just entering the mailslot leaving them unable to dock and eventually being blown up by the station.

 

[Helmut Grokenberger]

The interactions

You know, interact. Nudge nudge wink wink say no more.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrDFGa0juCM

 

[Old_Man_Steve]

I was thinking the same idea, but not for our ships. Instead FDEV could use your idea for boarding actions against stations, megaships, those star-crossing arkships, FCs and future thargoid titans. This would also give defense actions for pilots enjoying a beer who then get to join or fight against. FDEV can even combine this with passenger missions. Drop off 50 "tourists" at this penal colony. Hmmm, doesn't seem sketchy at all. Eh, maybe it's conjugal visit day? Who am I to judge? And then the passengers start attacking the base. Hmmm, maybe I shouldn't have stopped to buy 2T of personal weapons? So you get the option to join in the attack or fly away.

FDEV could add some lore humor to the process when incorporating the legendary arkships. You land at the arkship under attack but the residents all sound like Rick & Morty characters. Alright, time to purge with extreme prejudice. FDEV, where's the flamethrower?!

 

[thistle]

The interactions we can already have with passengers are a major part of why I and probably others don’t carry them, so this is definitely a point against interiors.

Although being able to watch them in first person being ejected into space would be almost worth it.

 

[Cetricon Dailleurs]

No, just no. As others have said above, most players who get "grabbed" would just self destruct.

Highly exploitable game mechanic. If I was in a pre engineered ship I paid for with ARX and you stole it or one of the included modules, do I just deploy a new one at a shipyard? Someone in a squadron could buy a ship and then "give" other members of the squadron the same ship, over and over. If ARX ships are to be excluded from this gameplay, how would you know until you have disabled it.

If you want to steal ships / modules, I'm afraid you are playing the wrong game.

Sorry, but this is a huge no from me.

No worries, I am used to conservative commenters downvoting anything I have to propose. And there is that imminent fear of "exploits" everywhere ruining the slightest attempt at innovation imaginable.

"Self destruct" - what if the the self destruct device is also located somewhere in interiors you have to fight over if you want to use it? I am not sure if you understand the potential of added dramatics with all this.

And, to be clear, I describe my idea here without being a pirate myself. I don't want to steal ships. I am more the explorer and trading type.