Basic idea for ship boarding

Well hello there,

Warning wall of text!

My minds rattling around after seeing the recent newsletter, again wonderful work FD, hopefully one day we will see walking around ships, and potentially ship boarding!

That got me thinking and here’s my 2p worth, I know nobodies listening but I really enjoy these forums and I wondered what people’s thoughts were around this neck of the woods.

I suppose I'm just missing the design discussion forums. Anyhoo heres how I'd like to imagine it...

1. To board a ship, the drives must be first disabled.
2. Once drives are offline the shields must be taken down.
3. Boarding can only be undertaken with the use of a magnetic ring lock module (MRLM)
4. The MRLM is a purchased item that occupies a large module slot and is rather expensive
5. The MRLM works by locking both cargo hatches together
6. The MRLM can only be enabled when in close proximity, and directly over the other ship and its cargo hold, during its activation the MRLM interferes with all other systems on both ships, leaving them both vulnerable
7. To overrun a ship, you must either kill or arrest the pilot
a. Killing another pilot: use of lethal weapons, or exposure to void, pilot death results in loss of all Cmdr. credits and progress (unless Cmdr. has purchased life insurance). Cmdr. killing is a crime without appropriate bounty hunting licence / contract, killing a Cmdr. With a bounty in person nets you more credits than by destroying the ship, likewise non-lethal arrest will net you twice as much bounty, but you must ship said Cmdr. back to the point of the bounty warrant.
b. Arresting a pilot can only be undertaken by placing pilot under house arrest: knock a pilot uncurious via any method (non-lethal weapons), then transfer to other ship and stowed in ship’s cargo (either in a brig or cargo pod).

8. . Once overrun you can transfer any cargo or ship modules to your own ship
9. . If boarding is undertaken by a multi crew, a crew can pilot the other ship and sell it at a station, however the ship will register as stolen and will result in fine / death penalty if scanned
10. . Methods of house arrest:
a. Cryogenic cargo pods: these must first be purchased and will keep Cmdrs. in a safe cryogenic state, whilst in this state a frozen Cmdr. will be presented with a stasis screen (e.g. they see the inside of pod and their life stats (see Dark star film)), although frozen their consciousness will not be, and they will still be able to directly communicate with the pilot of the boarding ship. This will allow for negotiations.
b. If a Cmdr. logs out in this state (as potentially you could keep someone frozen indefinitely) your status will change to dead (frozen meat by-product), enabling Cmdr. to continue play (see life insurance).

c. Brigs: All of the above applies however brigs take up more room and are far cheaper than pods, Cmdrs. can still talk to each other, except brigs can be hacked allowing for prisoner to escape.

d. Any prisoner can be freed by another Cmdr. or if a brig a Cmdr. can free themselves via a hacking sub-game. If freed, you do have the potential to overthrow the other ship from within.

11. Life insurance: This can only be bought at certain hi-tech stations, and you must have a certain amount of credits for deposit. Insurance is paid out on your death and various covers can be purchased, e.g. cash, ships or both, insurance will take an appropriate percentage from your account e.g. 30%.
12. Life insurance can only be claimed if the Cmdr. travels to the place of purchase, only then will the sum be paid out in full.
13. Cmdrs. who die will still keep their chosen names (option to add I,II,III,V etc. to the name index)

14. Kill-Death-murder bounties: Killing any Cmdr. unlawfully will result in a high fine and death warrant, these cannot be bought off like ship fines/bounties but stay with the Cmdr. until their death. Having a KDM bounty will attract greater police / bounty hunter attention.

15. Killing someone with a KDM bounty can only be rewarded with a bounty licence

16. Anyone can arrest another Cmdr. but they must hand them over at a station to claim the bounty. At any time, you can free a Cmdr., or come to a compromise
 
Last edited:
Sounds sensible.
I think it would also be worth adding that IMO the existing lifesupport system SHOULD include a lifeboat, which will make it's way using a micro-FSD to the previous port attended. That gives the CMDR an option to use.

Additionally, I do believe that the existing in game laws need a revision as they are simply insufficient to discourage piracy.
 
Back
Top Bottom