If you've ever played Borderlands 2, I'm talking about The Dust's Convoy.
Idea: A small (~15-25% chance) of a large, heavily armed and armored ship to spawn in supercruise whenever you enter a low security or anarchic system. It could spread messages through local chat like cruise ships do, and it would head from the local navigation beacon to the main station/planet.
The ship would be carrying a cargo somewhat proportionate to it's defensive capabilities. For example, the example ship loadout below could carry a full load of Silver. If the defensive capabilities of the ship and it's fleet go up, the reward would go up. A ship like the one below, but with a compliment of vultures, other anacondas, Fer-de-Lances, A squad of 6-8 Vipers, etc, would constitute a haul of 300 palladium, or even diamonds. Perhaps, these ships would need a wing in order to attack. These ships would have very competent pilots, usually Master+.
The most important part of this, which decides whether attacking these ships is even worthwhile, is the method of obtaining the cargo. By current mechanics, collecting those hundreds of tonnes of cargo takes longer than any fight would, unless you're equipped with lots of collectors. Usually, that's not the best way for a pirate to load his ship - he needs his internals. Cargo must be deposited into your ship very rapidly, or perhaps in the future, you could hire an NPC transport to swoop in and insta-collect all that cargo for you, in the way that NPCs do.
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Example Messages:
"Out of the way, don't touch my haul!"
"This is Transport 003-A, time [UTC+1286y], heading to [Destination], [Integer] tonnes of [Jarbled Text] onboard.
"Command, we are en route to the destination. Whoops, wrong channel."
One local message per spawn, approximately 10 seconds after the player warps into the system. Ensures spam protection and gives the player time to focus on everything going on in that particular system before the message goes out, so as to not miss it.
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Example Loadouts:
Anaconda-Class Freighter (Link)
2x Small Beam Laser (turret)
2x Medium Beam Laser (turret)
3x Large Multicannon (turret)
Huge Plasma Accelerator
A-spec internals/components
Military Grade Hull Composite
7e Cargo Rack
6a Shield Generator
6a Shield Cell Bank
6e Cargo Rack
3x 5e Cargo Rack
4e Cargo Rack
2x 4d Hull Reinforcement
2e Cargo Rack
4x 0a Shield Booster
0f Electronic Countermeasure
0l Chaff Launcher
0l Heat Sink Launcher
0l Point Defence
Idea: A small (~15-25% chance) of a large, heavily armed and armored ship to spawn in supercruise whenever you enter a low security or anarchic system. It could spread messages through local chat like cruise ships do, and it would head from the local navigation beacon to the main station/planet.
The ship would be carrying a cargo somewhat proportionate to it's defensive capabilities. For example, the example ship loadout below could carry a full load of Silver. If the defensive capabilities of the ship and it's fleet go up, the reward would go up. A ship like the one below, but with a compliment of vultures, other anacondas, Fer-de-Lances, A squad of 6-8 Vipers, etc, would constitute a haul of 300 palladium, or even diamonds. Perhaps, these ships would need a wing in order to attack. These ships would have very competent pilots, usually Master+.
The most important part of this, which decides whether attacking these ships is even worthwhile, is the method of obtaining the cargo. By current mechanics, collecting those hundreds of tonnes of cargo takes longer than any fight would, unless you're equipped with lots of collectors. Usually, that's not the best way for a pirate to load his ship - he needs his internals. Cargo must be deposited into your ship very rapidly, or perhaps in the future, you could hire an NPC transport to swoop in and insta-collect all that cargo for you, in the way that NPCs do.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Example Messages:
"Out of the way, don't touch my haul!"
"This is Transport 003-A, time [UTC+1286y], heading to [Destination], [Integer] tonnes of [Jarbled Text] onboard.
"Command, we are en route to the destination. Whoops, wrong channel."
One local message per spawn, approximately 10 seconds after the player warps into the system. Ensures spam protection and gives the player time to focus on everything going on in that particular system before the message goes out, so as to not miss it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Example Loadouts:
Anaconda-Class Freighter (Link)
2x Small Beam Laser (turret)
2x Medium Beam Laser (turret)
3x Large Multicannon (turret)
Huge Plasma Accelerator
A-spec internals/components
Military Grade Hull Composite
7e Cargo Rack
6a Shield Generator
6a Shield Cell Bank
6e Cargo Rack
3x 5e Cargo Rack
4e Cargo Rack
2x 4d Hull Reinforcement
2e Cargo Rack
4x 0a Shield Booster
0f Electronic Countermeasure
0l Chaff Launcher
0l Heat Sink Launcher
0l Point Defence
