Ditress Beacon for Trader ships and a couple of other suggestions

velociraptor_Sb · Mar 16, 2015

Hi everyone,

I had some ideas in mind that would greatly improve the balance between pirates and traders , and that would actually (probably ) bring some trader pilots back into the Open mode (since traders are mostly sitting ducks with little to no defensive capabilities)

1- Distress beacon for Trader ships : Sort of a subspace distress signal , that is activated from the right panel , and that can be viewed only by clean pilots in that system , it can be like the wing beacon but blinking red or something , this signal would also prompt the spawning of NPC Security services ships and /or bounty hunters in the vicinity of the pilot in distress and after a set timer (i dunno maybe 10 to 20 seconds ?) that also gives pirates some time to decide their next move , whereas the number of police ships spawned and their strength and skill should be proportional to the Security level in the system (low , medium or high) , and how many pirates actually interdicted the trader . if the pirate is destroyed and/or the trader successfully escaped , the trader should then be fined a "protection fee" that is proportional to the value of his ship and the cargo he was carrying and that traders can pay then at the local security office like they would for a fine . bounty hunters that have actually showed up to help the pilot should also share a bonus that is cut from the traders profits when he sells his cargo in addition to the usual bounty claim. (Also the distress beacon can only be activated if the trader is under attack , to avoid false alarms)

2- Wanted and Fugitive levels : as you guys may have noticed/experienced , there are a lot of psychopath pirates out there , that just take cargo and destroy traders ships (i lost expensive ships twice to them) even if traders didnot fight back. In my oppinion pirates that actually destroy clean ships should have hefty bounties on their heads , be interdicted more aggressively by wings of Security services and should gain a Fugitive level that can t be wiped clean by paying it off as it is for the wanted level , but which can only be reset if the pirate's ship is destroyed . it would be then , more profitable for pirates to actually steal the cargo and leave the traders ship intact , and would give traders less worries about losing a lot .

What do you guys think ?

BigMik · Mar 16, 2015

I like these ideas, they make sense. Particularly like the ideas around bounty hunter bonuses for responding to distress calls.

I would however point out that piracy would need a boost as this would be a potential nerf for pirates in cases where they have to attack to get the trader to drop. It would need careful balancing for the response time for Npcs. I'd give you some rep but I'm on mobile and can't work out how to do it!

Dwarden · Mar 16, 2015

could be useful ...

Lokus Midgard · Mar 17, 2015

Another idea I've been mulling, myself. SOS distress transmissions need implementing.

Seedling · Mar 17, 2015

I think you got something, but it's too focussed on safety.
1.
* The distress signal would be a utility mounted module with limited uses (essentially they are locator probes) and would be picked up by ANYONE in the system, be they wanted, neutral, friendly or AI. You won't know if reponse will come or be in time, or that it's even more trouble. It might be a rival pirate gang taking out the pirates attacking you, and then go for you as well. Or PCs or bounty hunters looking for some bounties to pick up

* Hostiles attacking you can target the probe and destroy it, but that would give you the window to escape, or they could ignore it and deal with you before backup arrives.
* The location would appear in the navigation list as a destination, and players in the system would get an audible notice "Emergency Distress Beacon detected!"

2.
* I think it's more interesting to allow players to put a bounty on NPCs and PCs that attacked you. So if Squal Leonhart (npc) decides to kill your defenseless Hauler, you can issue a bounty for the first player who killed him within 20ly of the system you lost your ship.
* Perhaps even player-controlled missions, where you get a reward for each ship killed that belongs to clan (or doesn't belong to a clan, like territorial trespassers.)

Lokus Midgard · Mar 17, 2015

If it's something launchable, instead of an actual SOS transmission, then it should probably be relabelled from 'beacon' to 'buoy'.

Submarines have those in real-life, launched to float to the surface if in difficulty. Naval terminology is probably what will be the norm in future space travel.

velociraptor_Sb · Mar 17, 2015

Seedling said:
I think you got something, but it's too focussed on safety.
1.
* The distress signal would be a utility mounted module with limited uses (essentially they are locator probes) and would be picked up by ANYONE in the system, be they wanted, neutral, friendly or AI. You won't know if reponse will come or be in time, or that it's even more trouble. It might be a rival pirate gang taking out the pirates attacking you, and then go for you as well. Or PCs or bounty hunters looking for some bounties to pick up
* Hostiles attacking you can target the probe and destroy it, but that would give you the window to escape, or they could ignore it and deal with you before backup arrives.
* The location would appear in the navigation list as a destination, and players in the system would get an audible notice "Emergency Distress Beacon detected!"

2.
* I think it's more interesting to allow players to put a bounty on NPCs and PCs that attacked you. So if Squal Leonhart (npc) decides to kill your defenseless Hauler, you can issue a bounty for the first player who killed him within 20ly of the system you lost your ship.
* Perhaps even player-controlled missions, where you get a reward for each ship killed that belongs to clan (or doesn't belong to a clan, like territorial trespassers.)

concerning point 1 : its true i might have been too focused on safety , the Distress call should be received by everyone in the system , and might even attract more pirates instead of security services, although i still think it must be a function like self-destruct , not a destructible module , as being a destructible module would make it useless in 90 percent of the times as player pirates mass-lock their victims most of the time and would probably have it destroyed in less than 20 seconds which is less time than any pilot even in close proximity can respond to (time to get to the distress beacon + reaction and decision time of the pilot) , i kinda think of it like the locator beacon on the Ejection seats of fighter jet pilots in Real-life , something you can t destroy only if u destroy the seat and consequently the pilot which is much like destroying the ship anyway . And ofc i still think the beacon should attract Security ships especially in Systems with supposedly "High" or / "medium" security.I mean why do you even have a security level in a system if the NPC security ships won t come to help ?.

as for point 2 , i like where you are trying to go there , especially the player-controlled mission , although on the other hand i still think of it as a bit odd that pirates can just pay off their wanted level and be shiny clean again (but its a matter of debate anyway)

velociraptor_Sb · Mar 17, 2015

Lokus Midgard said:
If it's something launchable, instead of an actual SOS transmission, then it should probably be relabelled from 'beacon' to 'buoy'.

Submarines have those in real-life, launched to float to the surface if in difficulty. Naval terminology is probably what will be the norm in future space travel.

That is a good analogy indeed , although i might think of it more like the repetitive message in morse code that disabled warships send on multiple radio frequencies when in need of dire assistance.