Sounds like a great idea, and would really help sate those who would fall under that category, as well as give those who push themselves for straight merits a bit of a stockpile in case their rig fails, or they have to take a break for a vacation!
Tricky. The idea in itself is great, one I'd thought of too, but as you noted, has potential for abuse. One thing I'd like to add is maybe tack on a few days after joining a Power where you
cannot make use of this. Maybe each Power keeps track of its defectors, and for a day or two even after it stops hunting you, you will still be 'marked' as a consequence.
Especially while their agents hunt you, to allow players to mete out stellar justice to traitors!
Also, perhaps the higher your rank within the faction, the longer the time until the toggle actually takes effect? It'd be harder to "hide" if you're a high-profile Federal commander, and the top spies in the Empire are watching you closely! (Not a huge additional cooldown, maybe an extra day or two at Rank 5. Yes, you worked hard to reach Rank 5, but now all eyes are on you, commander, and you've got to be craft while you slowly lose all your tails, and there are quite a few now that you're so famous!)
Absolutely would be appreciated by everyone, I think! However, just to avoid a case of a massive exodus of double agent defections, please, if this is enabled, have a 1-3 day lockout so groups can't simply defect temporarily and unleash a massive misinformation campaign to derail a faction. I know it'd be difficult to do, but it shouldn't be hard to install and a commander freshly joining a faction should be following the existing membership to 'learn the ropes' of how the faction operates, rather than trying to command them!
Awesome idea! Maybe make two 'degrees' of Freedom Fighter? The first degree is as stated- you're not going to be hunted whilst deep within Federation territory for rebelling n the middle of it... because you're a quiet supporter. You run weapons, food, supplies, maybe help out with a mission or two for prep work. Hunt the odd SDF/Faction ship but for all they know you're just some crazy who shoots authorities. Maybe even at this level, if you partake in too many SDF/Faction kills, they might elevate you and say, the systems directly connected to the one are in, killing so many, learn about you at the end of the day. After another day, every system connected to every system where your chosen minor faction exists knows about you. Beyond that,
maybe one more jump, but probably only systems within 5-10Ly to keep it from blowing too far out of proportion. And that's only if you keep it up. If you only trigger the threshold once, it will only escalate to the second stage. Or maybe just the first, as they
suspect you may be working for X minor faction, but they can't know for sure. A second trigger will have them almost positive, so they deliver a PSA to all nearby systems associated with that faction. Maybe even keep track of the number of FF's, and if enough trigger this second one, security is increased in those systems in addition. Crossing the line for a third time will trigger the additional, range-based warning, leaving you surrounded by up to 3 jumps in all directions in hostile territory.
Adding onto that, if the random NPC interdictions are adjusted to be far, far less, at this third level you
will be chased at set times and
will almost assuredly be interdicted by whatever ship/wing the game spawns (relative to your threat level) if you aren't paying attention. This spawn and interdict would persist for an additional jump or two out of the Hostile range around your minor faction systems, but beyond that, it will spawn the hunter ship but it will have a vastly reduced chance to know who you are, and will otherwise behave as a normal NPC. If you happen to cross its path (difficult for you to tell since you have no idea which one it is, unless it's marked with some obvious minor faction such as "Federal Dissident Hunter" or something) it has a 50-50 chance of identifying you and moving to intercept. Outside of the owning major faction's space, you are free from this, unless being chased already (they would chase you at max, four jumps, say) or if you are well and truly away from your system of operation, at the edge of your faction space. (Dying from random interdictions without being scanned will not remove the trigger alert for the hunter, only your 'unrelated' bounty. Dying outside of owning major faction's space even with a scan will not remove the trigger alert, as other factions
want you to continue to be dissentful in their rival's spheres of influence. The only way to remove the hunter trigger is to fall to the hunter, or get scanned with a KWS in your owning major faction's space and destroyed. Or, perform the suggested 'redemption' mission!)
The second level of Freedom Fighter would be akin to an outright declaration of rebellion. Lore-wise, a commander delivers a high-profile and scathing diatribe against the local system, and pledges to support X minor faction in throwing off the yoke of control. All relevant forces within a 3-jump range will be
instantly marked as Hostile to you, but if attacked you have a chance for support from partisans. While within your minor faction's space (not just the zone around a planet or station they own, but the whole system where they exist, even if they only control one station) your "Report Crimes Against Me" beacon will act slightly differently. It might draw in hostile SDF, or it might draw in allied SDF from your minor faction. It will also have a small chance to draw in allied partisans. Disabling it will remove the ability for the SDF to locate you (both Hostile and Allied), and drastically reduce allied partisan chance of finding you, but not entirely (they might be roving around and saw you get interdicted, and moved to join) but the new chance will be 5-15%, and there will be a longer delay before they arrive. (or maybe to balance it out, since you're not broadcasting and they had to have been 'close' enough to see you get nabbed, if you roll a success for partisan reinforcement, they come in almost immediately after you drop out!)
With two forms of Freedom Fighters, you can cater to those who want to be rebels, but still take part in activities outside their dastardly rebellion- though if they've been
too naughty, they'll have some work to do to get out of their Hostile zone, and if they linger in the major faction's area, they'll get hunted here and there. You can be a low-key rebel but if you're acting too high-profile, there will be consequences. But you're not forced to do that, and you can quietly take out an SDF ship here and there if you pace yourself. (Maybe have the kill counter needed to trigger decay like merits, but weighted? Like, if you kill two SDF every day, sure you're doing it quietly but maybe after a week they'll start to wisen up to you, and it'll decay less. Or, for something probably simpler to code, after a week as a low-key Freedom Fighter, the decay rate decays less regardless of your actions, as they start to wisen up to you anyway. It can get tense as a low-key rebel, but it will never be quite as difficult and restrictive as a high-profile rebel. This way more casual players have a range of options even within their low-key rebellion, so they can forge their own narrative. Maybe they just want to quietly run supplies for the underdog, but after a while, have a change of heart and start sniping SDF, and get really into it. They don't have time to be a full-time rebel, nor do they want to be so restricted, but they can certainly start killing left and right and have a bit of fun with the new Hostile zones.)
Oh, and I think I forgot to mention but for the second level of Freedom Fighter, after the instant 3-jump Hostile range, after a week of remaining as a high-profile rebel, it should keep track of where you like to get a lot of kills on SDF/major faction ships and mark everything within one jump of those new areas as Hostile. You could forge a narrative whereby you declare your hatred of the Empire, pledge to some two-bit corporate guy in a system, and then go on a killing rampage across Imperial space, with a huge swath of it now marked as Hostile. The heat's getting too much for you, so you depart Imperial space and go chill with Archon Delaine. Perhaps there can be a tie-in with the poor ol' Archon whereby any spawned Hunters interdicting you will behave as if you were in your own stomping grounds- Kumo Crew or other assorted pirates have a small chance of assisting a 'rabble-rouser' so they can keep living and keep killing. (Of course, you can't kill them for credits, you're one of them now! Instead, you get a token bounty from SDF/major faction ships. There's no way to increase it like you can while bounty hunting, but on the flip side, you don't need to mount a Kill Warrant Scanner. And it's far less work finding SDF than finding a good bounty- they're all worth the same amount! (or about the same, maybe a minor change depending on spawned skill level. Players aligned with your hated major faction will instead always be marked as a valid bounty target (so you still don't need a KWS) and will grant all their bounty upon kill. But only if you are within your supported minor faction's zone of influence (systems) otherwise you will only get the local bounty, plus a token sum for killing a hated major faction supporter.)
More Powerful Ethos versus Government Effect
No opinion here as I'm still working on figuring out how this all works, but sounds like a good idea nonetheless!
Zac Antonaci;2588182[/B said:
]Missions, Variety and Rewards
No! Never! Variety is bad! This'll be the end of Elite: Dangerous!
jk jk, more variety is always a good thing, more to do, more to see 
