We need to talk about fines
- Thread starter Talament
- Start date
It's honestly fine, it's a game and these scenarios work in terms of game-logic, not with any degree of realism. The fines discourage individuals from absconding with their haulage cargo for black market / pirate missions as in beta 2, and, fundamentally, you know how much time you have before you accept the mission.
They DO get in the way when an honest trader ends up being treated the same as a mass murderer.
It'd be nice to at least know why we've been fined. I had a crash on the commodities screen, when I came back in game I was globablly wanted with a 150 cr fine from the Federation. Paid the fine and then not wanted. No idea what it was for! Would be nice to be able to click on the fine to find the cause somewhere (or can we ?)
Agreed. I hadn't played for a couple days. I log in and find that I'm wanted with a 14k fine? Also have read a few threads about other crazy fines. Definitely needs to be looked into.
Not quite so honest if you didn't keep your end of the contract.
But I agree - the system needs some tweaking - the following happened to me recently:
I took a ~200k gold delivery contract, the timetable was rather tight, but should have been doable. Had bad luck - had an attempt of an interdiction and one disconnect on the way and as I frantically boost my cobra through the doorslit the timer drops to zero, immediately follwed by a scan. So after landing, I had to pay ~350 k for failing the contract and tranpsporting illegal cargo. I paid both, sold the gold on the black market shrugged it off and decided to call it a night.
The next day I log in, I'm red to the station as a cherry on top.
Not a problem - I managed to boost out safely. I understand that I need to pay the contractually agreed fine, I get that I was transporting illegal goods, so I'm fined separately for that (although in an ideal world, I would just return the cargo instead of 'stealing' it). But being shot on sight after all fines were paid? Probably a wee bit of overkill.
I'm sure it will be tweaked though.
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This is always a problem with crime in games (Elite, GTA, Skyrim, Oblivion etc. etc.) isn't it though? You rapidly decend from honest, to a fine, to the world's most wanted, because minor punishments in real life (withdrawal of privileges, sanctions, community service or custodial sentences) don't really work in games - especially multiplayer. "What? You want me to sit out playing all next month as I'm 'in jail, in real time?'"
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I suppose withdrawal of privileges and becoming persona non-grata for time periods in certain systems could work, as could 'spot fines' by sys authority vessels, simple confiscation of goods, or a larger threshold for aggressive action (based on the security level/government type) of the planet.