Would you mind if bounty hunting involved more than farming NPCs at a RES?

[IndigoWyrd]

I am not going to play jedi tricks on your mind, so to be honest from the start: Yes, this is another honk thread in disguise. But it's also about the general design and future of the game.

When the game was released almost 4 years ago it was clear to everyone that it consists of many placeholders and lots of mechanics have been (and continue to be) very shallow. 'A mile wide and an inch deep' gets thrown around a lot and it almost perfectly describes the current exploration gameplay. But over the years it seems like some people accepted these shallow mechanics and found ways to get the most enjoyment out of it. One could say that people are having fun with something that shouldn't have existed to begin with.

So with the current discussion about the instant system map reveal I wonder which other areas of the game can't be improved without ing off a certain part of the player base that already accepted the repetitive and uninspired parts of the game.

When looking at bounty hunting in RES I just want it gone. That's not bounty hunting but simply waiting for NPC spawns and farming. Apart from the combat itself, I almost feel reminded of some dull hack & slay. I'd like to see some real bounty hunting mechanics instead, like following wakes, getting tip offs from NPCs, interrogating their complices, etc. I hope you get the idea. And I don't just want this stuff for bounty hunting, I want that level of involvement for all areas of the game.

But with the recent discussions about exploration I feel like the community isn't interested in that type of gameplay and that it's me who has been playing the wrong game all along.

You need to take on some hunt/assassinate missions. They have those mechanics already. Some even require you to head down to a planet and scan a data point to gather information. Real Boba Fett stuff. As for playing vigilante in RES, that’s fine just the way it is.

 

[M00ka]

In my view most bounty hunting should be contract/mission based. You should get these missions from the Security contact from station services.
There should be 10-20 available at any one time. You should only be able to take a maximum of 5 missions at a time (to stop mission spamming) from each jusisdiction.

There should be better mechanics with these, some will be follow the bread crumbs, some will be other scenarios.

Res sites should completely change. There should be a reason why there is a res site there instead of some random place and there should be a reason why there are pirates there too.

What I would do is have large landable mining platforms in the actual rings. Here you can sell your mined commodities. There should be at random times the odd pirate attack on these mining platforms (have players pirates use the mega-ship/installation mechanics on them to get nice loot), there could be pirate missions from the nearest pirate faction.

There should be a systems wide comms to all commanders in the vacinity that there is a pirate attack (have the res site marked as compromised to differenctiate it) and they need help. Anyone jumping in to the res site will get a mission invite to kill as many pirates as possible, you get a certain amount per kill, then you can dock at the mining platform to hand in bounties and mission. But these attacks should be rare.

I like your idea of the mining platform, it could even come with it's own security force and would give a reason for the RES to exist in the first place, something that lacking at the moment. Same goes for CZ, there should be some structure, some reason for them to exist. Funny enough, the only other combat site kind of does have a reason to exist, the humble Nav Beacon, but that is the weakest and most boring of them all.

Unfortunately although everyone who has responded to this thread is in support of the need to fix the system, can you imagine the tonnage of salt that would flow if the NPC farming was removed, it would be epic in volume!

 

[babelfisch]

I like your idea of the mining platform, it could even come with it's own security force and would give a reason for the RES to exist in the first place, something that lacking at the moment. Same goes for CZ, there should be some structure, some reason for them to exist. Funny enough, the only other combat site kind of does have a reason to exist, the humble Nav Beacon, but that is the weakest and most boring of them all.

Unfortunately although everyone who has responded to this thread is in support of the need to fix the system, can you imagine the tonnage of salt that would flow if the NPC farming was removed, it would be epic in volume!

Exactly.

You need to take on some hunt/assassinate missions. They have those mechanics already. Some even require you to head down to a planet and scan a data point to gather information. Real Boba Fett stuff. As for playing vigilante in RES, that’s fine just the way it is.

No, RES is not fine as it is. Take a look at Max' suggestion above. It's way better.

 

[Mohrgan]

I would welcome more interesting BH missions. I can't see who wouldn't. But, just a quick thought on RES is in order. RES is short for Resource Extraction Site. A place where miners have found to be profitable. This attracts more miners, even Commanders, to those sites, which in turn attracts pirates. BH's go there because pirates go there. The circle continues. I find the whole scenario just plausible enough.

Now, if were FD to introduce other mechanics to go along side the RES I would be all for it. Dismissing the idea of adding to what we have because a personal dislike is kind of childish. There would be zero salt, an entirely good outcome, if content were added without removing any.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

No, RES is not fine as it is. Take a look at Max' suggestion above. It's way better.

Eh. RES sites, TtBoMK, have higher yields than just dropping into a ring at any old place. This isn’t to say I wouldn’t mind a mega ship hovering just above the plane of a ring offering up missions, buying my ores and enabling me to be too lazy to fly back to a station, because it would be nice. It would make Mining feel more like a corporate or professional operation. And if I can smuggle in some booze, drugs, or slaves of ill repute for extra credits, then yeah, I’m all for that. But leave the lowlife NPC’s for when I want to show the system authorities how to do their jobs.

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

I am not going to play jedi tricks on your mind, so to be honest from the start: Yes, this is another honk thread in disguise. But it's also about the general design and future of the game.

When the game was released almost 4 years ago it was clear to everyone that it consists of many placeholders and lots of mechanics have been (and continue to be) very shallow. 'A mile wide and an inch deep' gets thrown around a lot and it almost perfectly describes the current exploration gameplay. But over the years it seems like some people accepted these shallow mechanics and found ways to get the most enjoyment out of it. One could say that people are having fun with something that shouldn't have existed to begin with.

So with the current discussion about the instant system map reveal I wonder which other areas of the game can't be improved without ing off a certain part of the player base that already accepted the repetitive and uninspired parts of the game.

When looking at bounty hunting in RES I just want it gone. That's not bounty hunting but simply waiting for NPC spawns and farming. Apart from the combat itself, I almost feel reminded of some dull hack & slay. I'd like to see some real bounty hunting mechanics instead, like following wakes, getting tip offs from NPCs, interrogating their complices, etc. I hope you get the idea. And I don't just want this stuff for bounty hunting, I want that level of involvement for all areas of the game.

But with the recent discussions about exploration I feel like the community isn't interested in that type of gameplay and that it's me who has been playing the wrong game all along.

i would love to see an end to the RES farming for the pirate missions... at the same time tho i would suggest the numbers needed in the kill X number of pirate missions needs to be radically cut. maybe on day the assassinate [specific target] could be expanded on to be more to it as well, and include a pay bump to cover increased time carrying out.

A res site should be a place for miners to get a bit of a bonus amount of loot with a risk of pirate attack for a SLF or new players to cut their teeth and what not imo.

 

[d8veh]

RES/Nav beacon bounty farming is a great way for newbs to learn the basics of combat. It needs to stay. Like most things in the game, you don't have to do it if you don't like it, so this thread is basically, "I want everybody else to play like me". You can do exactly what OP suggested already. There are loads of commanders with big bounties on them. All you have to do is go to a CG and start a battle with them. They usually put up a good fight and you can get bounties of a million credits. Leave the easy stuff for those that need it to be easy.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

I think if there would be pirate attacks on structures, etc. And yes, dynamic broadcasting such cases over system to attract players would be cool as well.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

I like your idea of the mining platform, it could even come with it's own security force and would give a reason for the RES to exist in the first place, something that lacking at the moment. Same goes for CZ, there should be some structure, some reason for them to exist. Funny enough, the only other combat site kind of does have a reason to exist, the humble Nav Beacon, but that is the weakest and most boring of them all.

Thanks and agreed regarding CZ. I want to see us fighting over something and maybe have scanning missions that need to be done too.

Unfortunately although everyone who has responded to this thread is in support of the need to fix the system, can you imagine the tonnage of salt that would flow if the NPC farming was removed, it would be epic in volume!

I don't care about the salt. They will have to adapt for the betterment of the game just like the new exploration mechanics will need some adjustment as it will create reasons for things to be there instead of it just being completely mindless and shallow like it is now.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

i would love to see an end to the RES farming for the pirate missions... at the same time tho i would suggest the numbers needed in the kill X number of pirate missions needs to be radically cut. maybe on day the assassinate [specific target] could be expanded on to be more to it as well, and include a pay bump to cover increased time carrying out.

A res site should be a place for miners to get a bit of a bonus amount of loot with a risk of pirate attack for a SLF or new players to cut their teeth and what not imo.

I would get rid of the pirate massacre missions entirely. They make little to no sense. Just have lucrative bounty hunting missions from the security contact.

If they are to be kept, then they should be directing you to the local anarchy/pirate system.

 

[M00ka]

Eh. RES sites, TtBoMK, have higher yields than just dropping into a ring at any old place. This isn’t to say I wouldn’t mind a mega ship hovering just above the plane of a ring offering up missions, buying my ores and enabling me to be too lazy to fly back to a station, because it would be nice. It would make Mining feel more like a corporate or professional operation. And if I can smuggle in some booze, drugs, or slaves of ill repute for extra credits, then yeah, I’m all for that. But leave the lowlife NPC’s for when I want to show the system authorities how to do their jobs.

RES/Nav beacon bounty farming is a great way for newbs to learn the basics of combat. It needs to stay. Like most things in the game, you don't have to do it if you don't like it, so this thread is basically, "I want everybody else to play like me". You can do exactly what OP suggested already. There are loads of commanders with big bounties on them. All you have to do is go to a CG and start a battle with them. They usually put up a good fight and you can get bounties of a million credits. Leave the easy stuff for those that need it to be easy.

You are both right, RES areas should be the prime mining locations but they are not portrayed that way in the game. For every ship you see mining there would be a dozen pirates and two or so wings of security - and whatever Commanders are in for the farming activities. As Max said, it would make sense to have some type of mining station, whether it be a small scale of an outpost or some mega ship to give the place a reason to exist. If the reason for the location of the RES is that is the high concentration area it would stand to reason for major mining activities there, not a handful of lone prospectors taking bits and pieces.

If we must have a farming area for NPCs, let that be the Nav Beacon, at least there is a reason for ships of all varieties to drop in there to scan for system info.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

You are both right, RES areas should be the prime mining locations but they are not portrayed that way in the game. For every ship you see mining there would be a dozen pirates and two or so wings of security - and whatever Commanders are in for the farming activities. As Max said, it would make sense to have some type of mining station, whether it be a small scale of an outpost or some mega ship to give the place a reason to exist. If the reason for the location of the RES is that is the high concentration area it would stand to reason for major mining activities there, not a handful of lone prospectors taking bits and pieces.

If we must have a farming area for NPCs, let that be the Nav Beacon, at least there is a reason for ships of all varieties to drop in there to scan for system info.

Yep, there are other places for people to learn combat techniques. Combat zones, Nav beacons and missions are already there for that. I want some meat on the bones of this game and to keep it dumbed down so people can get easy credits is not the way forward in my view.

 

[Julio Montega]

First:
You need a bounty hunting guild/ a contact provider.

Second gameplay PvE and PvP:
Look at Star Wars galaxies, you invested time and money to learn the trade
and had to master the tools to locate the target, however, those contracts did pay reasonably
for the risk and also allowed you to dupe players with the use of braincells.

Third:
I miss player bounty hunters, they add so much spice to the world.

Fourth:
I wish gameplay would be tailored to be special for small craft, too.
There should be benefits to make an Eagle or a Viper a reasonable choice given the circumstance,
yielding diversity in the world and less tendency towards uninspired "min/max recipe" builds.

Yep, there are other places for people to learn combat techniques. Combat zones, Nav beacons and missions are already there for that. I want some meat on the bones of this game and to keep it dumbed down so people can get easy credits is not the way forward in my view.

Absolutely, and to emphasize this
i for one do not cry because of the pp at 0% "bug",
it enriched my game.

 

[Jukelo]

I'd love for there to be semi persistent NPCs you'd need to actually trail. Cross-referencing station traffic manifests, shaking up the local authorities or a former associate of theirs for information...

Of course I'd be glad to see RES farming gone altogether regardless of whether Frontier ever adds detective work to BHing.

 

[Julio Montega]

I'd love for there to be semi persistent NPCs you'd need to actually trail. Cross-referencing station traffic manifests, shaking up the local authorities or a former associate of theirs for information...

Of course I'd be glad to see RES farming gone altogether regardless of whether Frontier ever adds detective work to BHing.

Cr/Hr party will naysay, because effort.
I vote for way better payment and the ability to work in favor
of tech brokers and engineers, to replace material grind time sinks
with fun and immersive gameplay.

 

[M00ka]

First:
You need a bounty hunting guild/ a contact provider.

Second gameplay PvE and PvP:
Look at Star Wars galaxies, you invested time and money to learn the trade
and had to master the tools to locate the target, however, those contracts did pay reasonably
for the risk and also allowed you to dupe players with the use of braincells.

Third:
I miss player bounty hunters, they add so much spice to the world.

Fourth:
I wish gameplay would be tailored to be special for small craft, too.
There should be benefits to make an Eagle or a Viper a reasonable choice given the circumstance,
yielding diversity in the world and less tendency towards uninspired "min/max recipe" builds.



Absolutely, and to emphasize this
i for one do not cry because of the pp at 0% "bug",
it enriched my game.

Regarding your 4th point - fully agree. If the game can detect your combat level to know what level of NPCs to send your way, surely it should also be able to factor in the size of your ship. I have long thought that you should get more points towards your Combat rank if you are willing to take a smaller/weaker ship into battle than one of the big three. We all know that it is nearly possible to go AFK in a turreted Cutter or Corvette and still not only survive but farm NPCs until their ammo runs out. Yet they will get the same points as someone who takes out an Eagle or Cobra and rely on their piloting skill as much as their weapons loadout.

 

[nanite2000]

Good post OP.

I think the simple addition of a tracer (maybe a tracer limpet) could really add some texture to bounty hunting, so you can track your target across the galaxy.

Also, as a thought, tracer limpets could provide a unique ID that can be shared with the community. Anyone who knows the unique ID could track the target on their galaxy map.

 

[Viajero]

Isn’t that precisely a bit what assassination (not massacre) missions (chained or otherwise) do?

 

[babelfisch]

I would get rid of the pirate massacre missions entirely. They make little to no sense. Just have lucrative bounty hunting missions from the security contact.

If they are to be kept, then they should be directing you to the local anarchy/pirate system.

Yes, they don't make any sense. I'd much rather pledge to a faction and hunt criminals for them. Maybe give me some bonus payment / materials for every 15 criminals that I kill. Maybe also add a ranking system.

 

[M00ka]

Isn’t that precisely a bit what assassination (not massacre) missions (chained or otherwise) do?

Yes and no (I know, such an ambiguous answer lol). Whilst the result may be the same, I, and I suspect others, have been talking about targets of opportunity, not set missions with timers and the such. For example, it could be as simple as an updated wanted list on GalNet that informs all Commanders in the system if a certain wanted criminal has been seen. It is up to the Commander then on whether they pursue the criminal or not.

Hope that kind of makes sense lol