[h=2]As of right now, I believe the wanted system is wholly broken. A lot of aspects don't make sense.
The only method security services has to respond to any crime whether it is accidental trespass ( you can't see boundary zones if in a flying ship, only with SRVs, and if you landed just as you entered you may not have enough time to power up and fly out to avoid a 500 credit fine ), or other things.
This set of ideas is to develop a new system to replace most of the current system ( not much of a system, more like if owes money, kill... If pays fine and owes nothing, transport and strand hundreds of light years away if the ship can't hyperdrive more than 5 or so, etc.. ).. I didn't spend a lot of time of this, but a lot of the ideas are solid - some may be a bit disorganized - if anyone is interested in helping to reformat this post, please submit a response.
I would really like to see a lot, if not all, of these ideas into the game because it would solve a lot of the issues and would help improve immersion.[/h]
I propose a new system which tracks individual charges against a player, timestamps ( Game time and non-game time ), fine amount ( simple enough ), reason ( Trespass, Ship running out of fuel and crash landing inside of trespass zone [ although unlikely it'll be that detailed ], murder, violence based crimes such as assault with intent to kill [ if you did a lot of damage to someone, but they did more and you fled or stopped firing ], murder [ unprovoked death of another ], vandalism or damaging a vehicle [ if you fire upon another vehicle whether by accident or on purpose - although accidental shots should be forgiven if the shield stopped damage, if it didn't then the fine is for the repairs no more and no less ], etc... ), and location ( Quadrant, Solar System, Planet or Parent / Orbiting Body, Moon or Man-Made Satellite if applicable, location on planet, body or satellite ) although location can easily be tied into the existing system
With this information a file can be made for all previous crimes to determine a threat level for your avatar. Second, a threat-level is also assigned for the current outstanding crimes. Based on these threat-levels, security services will respond in an appropriate way instead of using lethal force for everything. The threat levels will be simple - how likely is person going to run vs fight or surrender. 0 == surrender, 1 == run, 10 or 5 or whatever == fight - the exact format can be manipulated later...
If you have ran in the past, then that value is increased for the current outstanding and it is also logged for the future. If you fight every time, and there has never been a break ( must have 3 instances minimum to compare to ) in the pattern then you will be fired upon immediately without warning. There are ways to avoid this from happening - see below.
I also propose the system integrated is treated like real-life. You commit a crime, receive a citation ( this doesn't need to be implemented since everything is digital and you are notified instantly of the infraction ), you have 30 days to make payment or organize payment method, After 30 days, if the fine isn't paid, a warrant is issued - this is when Security services first gets involved UNLESS it is a violent crime with or without death - ie a person is damaged or killed - ships do not count...
The 30 day marker can be in-game time ( how much is that anyway? I think 24 or 48 real-life hours would be more than enough time )
The following occurs if security services gets involved ( time has run out and you haven't paid the fines, made arrangements to pay, or the crime was of a violent nature ). Also, the system always considers the crimes committed and history to determine force used - the fine amount outline is a basic outline of behavior used by Security Services.
Fines and levels of force used...
Note: Sightings
- A sighting is reported by a player scanning you and logs that as a confirmed sighting with your exact location provided in the data -
- If you destroy the player than scanned you within 10 minutes, then the data will not have been uploaded or transmitted and the confirmed reporting is not logged.
- If you destroy the players signal / transmission array, that can stop the sighting from being logged too until they land at an outpost, satellite, or whatever.
- Time is reduced to 3 to 5 minutes ( call it the time it takes to upload the data ) if you are within 1 AU of a satellite, station, base or whatever...
- If a security services ship scans you, the same happens.. but the time is cut in half. Any security services ships in the area are notified within 3 minutes and will head to your location if you have the right sized bounty.
- If another wanted person ( pirate, etc.. ) scans you, it isn't reported unless there is a large enough reward for offering information - you can bribe pirates but you have no way of knowing if they will honor the deal, or you can destroy them.
- If someone has report crimes against me disabled, the transmission will not be sent automatically - they will have to land at a space station, base or where-ever and manually report it ( I don't even know if this is integrated already to report crimes against you - if not.. it should be ... )...
- If someone has report crimes against me disabled, scans you, and then enables it, the 3 / 5 / 10 minute timer will start from that moment.
- If someone is transmitting information about you, their sensor array will have a red flashing light enabled ( or something so you know whether it is a visual cue, which I like because it's harder to confirm OR a way if you have an appropriate module to scan data being transmitted in the sector or area you're in )
Note: Security Services gauging your Intent when found - these help:
- Powering weapons down will show you aren't looking for a fight
- Powering shields down will show you are allowing them to approach and you are basically showing your belly - you are showing that they are in complete control of the situation ( and shields take a while to power up when power is reestablished which gives them more than enough time to destroy you if you power weapons and / or shields depending on the crime ).
- Powering Thrusters down will show you aren't looking to run
- Powering Hyperdrive or whatever down reinforces that you aren't looking to run ( although with thrusters off, you wouldn't be able to jump because you have to throttle up, however when power is enabled for thrusters it doesn't have much of a delay before you can accelerate so this helps )
- Powering Sensors down shows you are not looking to find weaknesses, etc.. and reinforces that you are not looking for a fight.
- In short: Everything powered off has an effect - except for life-support. That is the one thing that when left on or turned off doesn't change their perspective of you.
Note:
- If your weapons are powered up and deployed upon their arrival ( If you are facing away, you will receive warnings if non-violent past )
- If you are attacking another ship when they arrive
Note: Collateral
- Depending on the level of your fine, when discovered - you may choose to pay your fine immediately through them ( Shield, weapons, etc... must be turned off )
- If you tell Security Services you will pay the fine at the nearest station which can accept the fines, they will take the lowest costing piece of collateral from you which covers the cost of the fine. When you pay the fine, you receive it back.
- If you have a rover on board, or fighter, they will take that. If not, they'll take your ship and they will transport you back to the nearest area... - This way you can either fly, or they can fly you. If there is a high enough bounty, an arrest warrant can be issued and they will impound your vehicles regardless along with taking you to the nearest station for a trial ( before being transported to a prison colony so you have a chance to get out of it ).
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Note: This is a simplified layout of how fine amount changes their perspective of you, and helps them make decisions on how to proceed. ( Note: All of the previous level will be inherited. IE Officer calling for backup at x means x + 1 value also gets that trait, and so on... ) ( Note: I used this method of structure - you can also use if x >= 0 && x < 10000 ... for a range then you don't need else if, etc.. You could also reverse the order and change to greater than... So x > 1000000 else if x > 500000 else if x > 250000 else if x > 100000 else if x > 10000 else [ less than 10,000 ] -- All of this is a matter of how the developer prefers to implement it, however using less calls and comparators means less work so x > 0 and x < 10000 is more expensive than simply x < 10000 or else ... but it still boils down to a constant number of calls which in Big O notation is as fast as you can get, but it over generalizes things and with games, every little bit helps... so grabbing the value of x, storing the values of 0 and 10000 in temporary memory to reference for the comparison, then checking if less than, less greater than, or in range = 1 per operation... So 3 vs 6 'points'... they add up quickly... ) ( Note: I used ascending order here because it is easier to read when you consider inheriting attributes from the layer above )
- [ if ] Under 10,000
- If you don't have a history of firing upon security services ( which ended up killing the officer or damaging them ) or anyone else, weapons may remain powered but inactive without any negative issue.
- If you have a violent past, keeping weapons armed will ensure they deploy their weapons but they will not fire unless you deploy yours.
- If weapons are deployed and powered, you will receive up to 3 warnings before being fired upon if you have a non-violent past. If you fire your weapon in their direction, they will open fire until you undeploy them, then you will receive a 15 second warning before they start shooting again at which point you are to power them off. The only exception is if you are using short-range weapons such as mining equipment when they show up - in which case you will receive warnings. If the mining equipment is capable of reaching them, and you rotate your ship towards then or the weapons you will be fired upon.
- If you are captured or turn yourself in, you will be held in the station brig until you have paid your debt. You will not be transported to a prison colony unless there was a murder, and if so you will be limited to 40 light years travel and you will be liable for the travel expenses. 10 light years ( 1 system max with a maximum of 40 light years ) is an alternative if the current station doesn't have a brig.
- [ else if ] Under 100,000 ( This isn't needed for logic, but I'm adding it for readability for those that don't code or work with logic
- You are becoming a problem - Security Services will issue an All Security Services Bulletin to be on the lookout for your ships.
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- Security Services will call for backup / assistance when you are encountered
- At this point ( or next level? ) You will be fired upon immediately upon confirmation that it is you unless weapons are powered down and not visible.
- As of this level, you can be transported up to 250 light years to a prison facility, or up to 1000 light years away if involving a murder or more. You will be required to pay the transportation cost.
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Now, a lot of the above may be read and you may say - this is too complex to be put into the game. Or a lot of it isn't necessary. You would be right, not all is necessary but it would make the game more appealing and increase immersion. On top of that it would be a more realistic deterrent to committing heinous acts.
As for the complexity, it really isn't... The judge system is a simple messaging system with a form to choose punishment.
For collateral, removing an SRV from inventory and added to a seized assets database table would be really trivial.
Setting up actions based on fine-levels or what ship systems are active, also not difficult to do at all.
Getting the direction someone is facing relative to someone else, also simple.
Recording all crimes and determining if someone will flee or attack or pay - also not difficult. Statistics..
For prison, or prison work - that's a bit more, but it really isn't a lot more - if you are transported to a prison colony, you can get a ship to do work to mine, etc... to help pay off your debt to society faster.. You wouldn't be able to leave the system - adding a prison break system would be a little bit more on top because you'd have to add in crafting, or salvage of capable ships - also prison colony systems should have a warning to prevent people from flying there and crashing and giving prisoners access to FTL technology - although people will likely go there but still... It could be a crime...
Everything I discussed above would be fairly simple to add to the game depending how the coding is done. For a game such as this, it would be hard to imagine that a Coding Standard document for internal use didn't exist ( to make sure every developer writes code in an identical way so the code looks like it was created by a single person or a team which works very well and communicates incredibly well together )... It's even harder to believe the code isn't maintainable - ie improper class usage, functions, repetitive code, and so on... It could be the case, they could simply slap stuff together until it works ( Just because it works, doesn't make it right! - Josh 'Acecool' Moser ) which I really hope they didn't do... because with a well written bit of code, adding extra features, or making changes is a breeze...
I welcome all comments, criticism, suggestions for changes, rewrites to format this text better, etc...
Anyways, I ended up having a 2000 credit bounty, not a big deal I thought. It was a misunderstanding from loitering in a few places. Anyway, I went to the station, paid of the fine and then wanted to change some parts on my ship. After 15 seconds, it teleported me saying I was wanted or something 360 light years from my position. When I arrived at the prison colony, it told me that I needed to pay my 0 credit fine to be released. I paid it, but I didn't realize at this point that I had been teleported. I checked the galaxy map when I didn't see my normal points in my left hand navigation menu. That's when I found out I was 360 light years from QUINCE / Millerport.
I contacted support and they solved that issue since none of my ships could even travel to any other location from the prison colony ( all of them are the cheap ones only set up for questing in QUINCE and not to travel ) so I was stuck and the shipyard doesn't let you upgrade anything. I'm happy support solved this issue, still have another with a lot of missing funds - I'm looking for my screenshots I took prior to not playing for a while.
- Anyways, How does the new system work?
- Why am I able to pay my fines, only to be arrested for a 0 credit fine and transported 360 light years ( which costs a hell of a lot more than 0 credits, or even 2000 credits to do )?
I want to avoid this happening in the future, but with the wanted system in its current state of disrepair, becoming wanted is inevitable so I want to know what I'm up against for the future.
- Is a station going to spend millions to transport me 360 light years to a penal colony every time I pay a 500 to 2000 credit fine and be presented with a 0 credit fine I'm required to pay in order to be released?
- Are we still able to wait 10 minutes or so for the wanted status to disappear?
- How do I avoid being teleported after I have paid the fine?
- Should I even pay the fine or wait it out?
Support said you can 'turn yourself in' which wasn't the case because I have paid EXACTLY like this in the past and never ran into an issue like this. At worst I was scanned on approach and was forced to try to come into the station again a few minutes later after they dispersed. It's messed up to get shot at because you went into an out of bounds area with your ship ( and the areas are NOT visible in a ship, only with SRV ) which gives a fine of 500 credits. It's disappointing that the answer to everything is lethal force in this game. It wouldn't even take much to improve the system to have levels of force - for instance under 10,000 fine no action is done except if you are scanned, the law enforcement officer will ask you to go to the nearest station to pay your fine, and will escort you to ensure the fines are paid ( You do not lose your ship unless the fines are close to the value of the collateral ). Once paid, the ship is re-accessible. You could always fight your way out of it... An alternative is if you stop and let the cop onto your ship then they put you in a single person pod and hold your ship ( ship becomes available after 30 minutes or an hour or until fines are paid - you have the option of swapping collateral with something less expensive - also if you have a rover onboard and the rover is about the value of the fines [ value of collateral must be equal to or more than ] then they take the rover instead of the ship and you can fly your own ship to the nearest station to pay the fines ) until fines are paid. If you run an additional charge is added. You should also be able to pay cops directly ( since everything is digital, including funds, the fines would go through the system to pay off the fine ).
If you have any charges which were violent in nature, but did not result in a death - then the security services would use their weapons to disable your ship and capture you and transfer you to the nearest station. If you shut down power to all systems on your ship except life-support, or even including, then they will stop firing and approach you. If you power weapons then it is seen as an act of aggression and more force is used unless you disable weapons, etc...
If you have any charges which resulted in a death, then lethal force is used to destroy your ship unless you power down all weapons systems and everything except for life-support and allow security services to board. Same as above. Depending on what systems are powered you'll be seen as a threat or not.
If you activate self-destruct then another reaction will take place...
I'll post all of this in suggestions - but for now.. if anyone can tell me exactly how it works compared to before and how to avoid being in this situation again, it'd be most helpful.... ie, with the anonymous system, I should still be allowed to land to refuel, re-arm, etc.. right? But if I pay the fine then is it turning myself in, or was I scanned while in the hangar? I don't understand - it's strange.
Thanks in advance.
The only method security services has to respond to any crime whether it is accidental trespass ( you can't see boundary zones if in a flying ship, only with SRVs, and if you landed just as you entered you may not have enough time to power up and fly out to avoid a 500 credit fine ), or other things.
This set of ideas is to develop a new system to replace most of the current system ( not much of a system, more like if owes money, kill... If pays fine and owes nothing, transport and strand hundreds of light years away if the ship can't hyperdrive more than 5 or so, etc.. ).. I didn't spend a lot of time of this, but a lot of the ideas are solid - some may be a bit disorganized - if anyone is interested in helping to reformat this post, please submit a response.
I would really like to see a lot, if not all, of these ideas into the game because it would solve a lot of the issues and would help improve immersion.[/h]
I propose a new system which tracks individual charges against a player, timestamps ( Game time and non-game time ), fine amount ( simple enough ), reason ( Trespass, Ship running out of fuel and crash landing inside of trespass zone [ although unlikely it'll be that detailed ], murder, violence based crimes such as assault with intent to kill [ if you did a lot of damage to someone, but they did more and you fled or stopped firing ], murder [ unprovoked death of another ], vandalism or damaging a vehicle [ if you fire upon another vehicle whether by accident or on purpose - although accidental shots should be forgiven if the shield stopped damage, if it didn't then the fine is for the repairs no more and no less ], etc... ), and location ( Quadrant, Solar System, Planet or Parent / Orbiting Body, Moon or Man-Made Satellite if applicable, location on planet, body or satellite ) although location can easily be tied into the existing system
With this information a file can be made for all previous crimes to determine a threat level for your avatar. Second, a threat-level is also assigned for the current outstanding crimes. Based on these threat-levels, security services will respond in an appropriate way instead of using lethal force for everything. The threat levels will be simple - how likely is person going to run vs fight or surrender. 0 == surrender, 1 == run, 10 or 5 or whatever == fight - the exact format can be manipulated later...
If you have ran in the past, then that value is increased for the current outstanding and it is also logged for the future. If you fight every time, and there has never been a break ( must have 3 instances minimum to compare to ) in the pattern then you will be fired upon immediately without warning. There are ways to avoid this from happening - see below.
I also propose the system integrated is treated like real-life. You commit a crime, receive a citation ( this doesn't need to be implemented since everything is digital and you are notified instantly of the infraction ), you have 30 days to make payment or organize payment method, After 30 days, if the fine isn't paid, a warrant is issued - this is when Security services first gets involved UNLESS it is a violent crime with or without death - ie a person is damaged or killed - ships do not count...
The 30 day marker can be in-game time ( how much is that anyway? I think 24 or 48 real-life hours would be more than enough time )
The following occurs if security services gets involved ( time has run out and you haven't paid the fines, made arrangements to pay, or the crime was of a violent nature ). Also, the system always considers the crimes committed and history to determine force used - the fine amount outline is a basic outline of behavior used by Security Services.
Fines and levels of force used...
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Note: Sightings
- A sighting is reported by a player scanning you and logs that as a confirmed sighting with your exact location provided in the data -
- If you destroy the player than scanned you within 10 minutes, then the data will not have been uploaded or transmitted and the confirmed reporting is not logged.
- If you destroy the players signal / transmission array, that can stop the sighting from being logged too until they land at an outpost, satellite, or whatever.
- Time is reduced to 3 to 5 minutes ( call it the time it takes to upload the data ) if you are within 1 AU of a satellite, station, base or whatever...
- If a security services ship scans you, the same happens.. but the time is cut in half. Any security services ships in the area are notified within 3 minutes and will head to your location if you have the right sized bounty.
- If another wanted person ( pirate, etc.. ) scans you, it isn't reported unless there is a large enough reward for offering information - you can bribe pirates but you have no way of knowing if they will honor the deal, or you can destroy them.
- If someone has report crimes against me disabled, the transmission will not be sent automatically - they will have to land at a space station, base or where-ever and manually report it ( I don't even know if this is integrated already to report crimes against you - if not.. it should be ... )...
- If someone has report crimes against me disabled, scans you, and then enables it, the 3 / 5 / 10 minute timer will start from that moment.
- If someone is transmitting information about you, their sensor array will have a red flashing light enabled ( or something so you know whether it is a visual cue, which I like because it's harder to confirm OR a way if you have an appropriate module to scan data being transmitted in the sector or area you're in )
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Note: Security Services gauging your Intent when found - these help:
- Powering weapons down will show you aren't looking for a fight
- Powering shields down will show you are allowing them to approach and you are basically showing your belly - you are showing that they are in complete control of the situation ( and shields take a while to power up when power is reestablished which gives them more than enough time to destroy you if you power weapons and / or shields depending on the crime ).
- Powering Thrusters down will show you aren't looking to run
- Powering Hyperdrive or whatever down reinforces that you aren't looking to run ( although with thrusters off, you wouldn't be able to jump because you have to throttle up, however when power is enabled for thrusters it doesn't have much of a delay before you can accelerate so this helps )
- Powering Sensors down shows you are not looking to find weaknesses, etc.. and reinforces that you are not looking for a fight.
- In short: Everything powered off has an effect - except for life-support. That is the one thing that when left on or turned off doesn't change their perspective of you.
- If you do not possess any weaponry on your ship, this is seen as a positive indicator for Security Services ( You still have self-destruct so there is still danger ) - Note: Mining weaponry isn't considered weaponry if the range is incredibly short ( but only if they remain out of range, if they enter range they will see it as a threat if you haven't stowed and / or powered off by then ), longer range ones are considered less than weapons if the damage is less than X. Otherwise they are treated like any other weapons.
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Note:
Security Services gauging your Intent when found - these harm
- These actions will be viewed as negative or aggressive and you will be met with an escalated level of force - Note: Some short range mining equipment is on a longer leash than longer range weapons- If your weapons are powered up and deployed upon their arrival ( If you are facing away, you will receive warnings if non-violent past )
- If you are attacking another ship when they arrive
- this will be seen as incredibly aggressive - The only exception is if you are defending yourself from another wanted shift / person / crew - if they are not wanted then you'll be fired upon. If they are wanted, they'll likely disable both of you ( EMP or something ).
- If you are mining and facing away from Security Services and then rotate your ship to where the weapons can be fired at them ( if they have the range ) - this will be seen as highly aggressive if the weapons have the reach.
- If you are mining and facing towards Security Services when they arrive and are behind a rock but move to get a clear shot of them - this will be seen as highly aggressive if the weapons have the reach. - If you have a history of attacking Security Services ( Where it hasn't been the ship taking damage or the ships shield taking damage - ie the ship has been destroyed or the person inside has been damaged ) then you will be fired upon immediately unless all weapons systems are unpowered.
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Note: Collateral
- Depending on the level of your fine, when discovered - you may choose to pay your fine immediately through them ( Shield, weapons, etc... must be turned off )
- If you tell Security Services you will pay the fine at the nearest station which can accept the fines, they will take the lowest costing piece of collateral from you which covers the cost of the fine. When you pay the fine, you receive it back.
- If you have a rover on board, or fighter, they will take that. If not, they'll take your ship and they will transport you back to the nearest area... - This way you can either fly, or they can fly you. If there is a high enough bounty, an arrest warrant can be issued and they will impound your vehicles regardless along with taking you to the nearest station for a trial ( before being transported to a prison colony so you have a chance to get out of it ).
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If you do not pay the fine within 30 real-life days, that piece of equipment will be lost to you ( maybe go up for auction, I think this would be the best solution - Starting cost should be the actual sell-price or half of that - or even the cost of the fine as the starting cost that way some people could find some nice deals )...
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Note: Trials
- This should be a trial in a similar sense to what we have on Earth - based on the sector you could have an always-guilty theater trial, fair trial, racist trial, etc...
- You will be able to talk to a real person acting as a judge - they will either be in the game ( scheduled ahead of time, or when a judge comes on line the cases are handed to whoever gets them - online = first come first serve ).
- An alterative is an Offline Trial. This is for people like me who can't spent a lot of time in-game because of a broke neck, back and severe nerve damage - or other reasons.. In short, you log in and type out your response / reasoning, etc... The judge asks a few questions along with an attorney for each side? When you log in again, you respond and can make your final statement and / or plea. From there the Judge rules. Some of what you can do is offer to pay half of the fine or in full today or in 30 days or whatever, no jail time, jail time instead of fines, etc... civil service ( such as mining missions at penal colony with a ship they provide without jump capability and you may be able to modify it for escape? ) and more... As your previous records will be in the system the judge can see if you've done this in the past and honored your word, or fell through... etc... Also, judges should be selectively chosen - and there should always be a way for game moderators to review the trial to make a final determination if an appeal is requested and the GM will have the final say. The judge will also be able to say whether or not the collateral is kept, destroyed, auctioned, etc... ( If the crime was perpetrated in it - if it wasn't then it must be returned when fines are paid, or auctioned off. Any extra funds pulled in will be given to the perp - 10% for the judge, attorney fees, etc.. ( judge 5%, each attorney 2.5% or something, plus 100,000 court cost or 10,000 per charge, or 100,000 or based on type of charge. 250,000 for murder, 10,000 for trespass, and so on... Non-refundable court cost which doesn't count towards fees )...
This could come later, but having an in-game justice system controlled by the players can really help with immersion. It can help set up dictators, and so on... Dictators will still have certain rules - ie they wouldn't be able to simply steal someones ship just because they were caught in it in order to auction in, or whatever.
The other benefit is if someone received a fine for a really stupid reason they could take it to court..
Also, I should note.. Court costs are covered by the losing side - not by the suspect regardless so if the person is innocent or a game bug caused the fine, then the game would eat the cost. This would help reduce the number of support tickets for many issues..
- If someone is captured and sent to prison, when their sentence is up they should be transported back to the place where they were arrested, if they choose. If they choose this, they do not receive the bus fair credits.. - Note: If this option is chosen, it will take x real-time for the avatar to be transported there and they can be online or offline for this travel time. So 1 hour or more for 360 light years ( I thin that was the time it gave me to transport a ship to the prison colony along with 1 million plus credits, but the ship wouldn't have been any good because hyperdrive wasn't set up )....
- If they choose not to, they receive x credits for 'bus fair' ( prisons may do this to help them get to where they are going so the city doesn't end up with someone on the street because they can't afford a bus ticket ).
- All costs associated with prison are charged to the inmate. ie Food at x per simulated day, detergent for simulated sheets, etc... All of it can be bundled together as x fee per day. Just like court costs - the criminal or losing side pays.
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Note: Trials
- This should be a trial in a similar sense to what we have on Earth - based on the sector you could have an always-guilty theater trial, fair trial, racist trial, etc...
- You will be able to talk to a real person acting as a judge - they will either be in the game ( scheduled ahead of time, or when a judge comes on line the cases are handed to whoever gets them - online = first come first serve ).
- An alterative is an Offline Trial. This is for people like me who can't spent a lot of time in-game because of a broke neck, back and severe nerve damage - or other reasons.. In short, you log in and type out your response / reasoning, etc... The judge asks a few questions along with an attorney for each side? When you log in again, you respond and can make your final statement and / or plea. From there the Judge rules. Some of what you can do is offer to pay half of the fine or in full today or in 30 days or whatever, no jail time, jail time instead of fines, etc... civil service ( such as mining missions at penal colony with a ship they provide without jump capability and you may be able to modify it for escape? ) and more... As your previous records will be in the system the judge can see if you've done this in the past and honored your word, or fell through... etc... Also, judges should be selectively chosen - and there should always be a way for game moderators to review the trial to make a final determination if an appeal is requested and the GM will have the final say. The judge will also be able to say whether or not the collateral is kept, destroyed, auctioned, etc... ( If the crime was perpetrated in it - if it wasn't then it must be returned when fines are paid, or auctioned off. Any extra funds pulled in will be given to the perp - 10% for the judge, attorney fees, etc.. ( judge 5%, each attorney 2.5% or something, plus 100,000 court cost or 10,000 per charge, or 100,000 or based on type of charge. 250,000 for murder, 10,000 for trespass, and so on... Non-refundable court cost which doesn't count towards fees )...
This could come later, but having an in-game justice system controlled by the players can really help with immersion. It can help set up dictators, and so on... Dictators will still have certain rules - ie they wouldn't be able to simply steal someones ship just because they were caught in it in order to auction in, or whatever.
The other benefit is if someone received a fine for a really stupid reason they could take it to court..
Also, I should note.. Court costs are covered by the losing side - not by the suspect regardless so if the person is innocent or a game bug caused the fine, then the game would eat the cost. This would help reduce the number of support tickets for many issues..
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Note: Prison / Prison Colonies, etc...
- If someone is captured and sent to prison, when their sentence is up they should be transported back to the place where they were arrested, if they choose. If they choose this, they do not receive the bus fair credits.. - Note: If this option is chosen, it will take x real-time for the avatar to be transported there and they can be online or offline for this travel time. So 1 hour or more for 360 light years ( I thin that was the time it gave me to transport a ship to the prison colony along with 1 million plus credits, but the ship wouldn't have been any good because hyperdrive wasn't set up )....
- If they choose not to, they receive x credits for 'bus fair' ( prisons may do this to help them get to where they are going so the city doesn't end up with someone on the street because they can't afford a bus ticket ).
- Transport to prison colonies should occur in real-time online or offline too... If a fee is paid, this can be skipped but would make someone less likely to commit the acts which would lead to being sent to a prison colony... ( non violent fines, trespass, etc... won't ever be sent to prison colony unless fines are above 250k or so, and late to paying once or twice )... For violent offenders, 100k or more and prison colony. Otherwise, they spend the time in the brig at the station or base where they were caught.- All costs associated with prison are charged to the inmate. ie Food at x per simulated day, detergent for simulated sheets, etc... All of it can be bundled together as x fee per day. Just like court costs - the criminal or losing side pays.
Note: This is a simplified layout of how fine amount changes their perspective of you, and helps them make decisions on how to proceed. ( Note: All of the previous level will be inherited. IE Officer calling for backup at x means x + 1 value also gets that trait, and so on... ) ( Note: I used this method of structure - you can also use if x >= 0 && x < 10000 ... for a range then you don't need else if, etc.. You could also reverse the order and change to greater than... So x > 1000000 else if x > 500000 else if x > 250000 else if x > 100000 else if x > 10000 else [ less than 10,000 ] -- All of this is a matter of how the developer prefers to implement it, however using less calls and comparators means less work so x > 0 and x < 10000 is more expensive than simply x < 10000 or else ... but it still boils down to a constant number of calls which in Big O notation is as fast as you can get, but it over generalizes things and with games, every little bit helps... so grabbing the value of x, storing the values of 0 and 10000 in temporary memory to reference for the comparison, then checking if less than, less greater than, or in range = 1 per operation... So 3 vs 6 'points'... they add up quickly... ) ( Note: I used ascending order here because it is easier to read when you consider inheriting attributes from the layer above )
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- [ if ] Under 10,000
( This isn't needed for logic, but I'm adding it for readability for those that don't code or work with logic 1 credits to 9,999 )
- You aren't of much interest - Security Services will not go out of their way to look for you but if they come across you, they will try to initiate contact.- If you don't have a history of firing upon security services ( which ended up killing the officer or damaging them ) or anyone else, weapons may remain powered but inactive without any negative issue.
- If you have a violent past, keeping weapons armed will ensure they deploy their weapons but they will not fire unless you deploy yours.
- If weapons are deployed and powered, you will receive up to 3 warnings before being fired upon if you have a non-violent past. If you fire your weapon in their direction, they will open fire until you undeploy them, then you will receive a 15 second warning before they start shooting again at which point you are to power them off. The only exception is if you are using short-range weapons such as mining equipment when they show up - in which case you will receive warnings. If the mining equipment is capable of reaching them, and you rotate your ship towards then or the weapons you will be fired upon.
- If you are captured or turn yourself in, you will be held in the station brig until you have paid your debt. You will not be transported to a prison colony unless there was a murder, and if so you will be limited to 40 light years travel and you will be liable for the travel expenses. 10 light years ( 1 system max with a maximum of 40 light years ) is an alternative if the current station doesn't have a brig.
- [ else if ] Under 100,000 ( This isn't needed for logic, but I'm adding it for readability for those that don't code or work with logic
10,001 credits to 99,999
)- You are becoming a problem - Security Services will issue an All Security Services Bulletin to be on the lookout for your ships.
- If you have a violent past which led to the death of someone ( and it wasn't self-defense ) then you will be fired upon immediately until weapons are offline. Once weapons are offline they'll stop shooting - lower shields and they approach - you should receive radio transmissions to the effect.
- As of this level, you can be transported up to 100 light years to a prison facility, or up to 400 light years away if involving a murder or more. You will be required to pay the transportation cost.
100 light years ( maximum of 400 light years ) is an alternative if the current station doesn't have a brig.
-
[ else if ]
Under 250,000 ( This isn't needed for logic, but I'm adding it for readability for those that don't code or work with logic
- You are a becoming a menace - Security Services will put more resources into locating you - in addition, any ship which matches your description will be scanned if you have been seen in the area in the past hour ( this is to prevent every single person from being scanned ).100,000 credits to 249,999
)- Security Services will call for backup / assistance when you are encountered
- At this point ( or next level? ) You will be fired upon immediately upon confirmation that it is you unless weapons are powered down and not visible.
- As of this level, you can be transported up to 250 light years to a prison facility, or up to 1000 light years away if involving a murder or more. You will be required to pay the transportation cost.
- If you have a history of running and / or attacking Security Services - It is likely they will use an EMP or other disabling weapon immediately upon your discovery.
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[ else if ]
Under 500,000 ( This isn't needed for logic, but I'm adding it for readability for those that don't code or work with logic
- You are a menace - Security Services will put more resources into locating you.
250,000 credits to 499,999
)- You are a menace - Security Services will put more resources into locating you.
-
[ else if ]
Under 1,000,000 ( This isn't needed for logic, but I'm adding it for readability for those that don't code or work with logic
- [ else ] Over 1,000,000500,000 credits to 999,999
) - You are a serious issue, every Security Service Officer has a file on you, knows what each of your ships looks like, what they are outfitted with, and more... They are committed to looking for you by traveling between systems and actively looking for you. They will scan every ship matching your description even if there is no confirmed report of you being in the area recently - as long as it is possible you are in the area ( max distance you can travel using the overclocking? of FTL, or using the Pulsar Network ) from your last confirmed sighting.
-
[SUB]
[/SUB]-
( This isn't needed for logic, but I'm adding it for readability for those that don't code or work with logic
- You are a very serious issue, every Security Service Officer has a file on you, knows what each of your ships looks like, what they are outfitted with, and more... They are committed to looking for you by traveling between systems and actively looking for you. They will scan every ship matching your description even if there is no confirmed report of you being in the area recently.
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1,000,000 credits to infinity
)- You are a very serious issue, every Security Service Officer has a file on you, knows what each of your ships looks like, what they are outfitted with, and more... They are committed to looking for you by traveling between systems and actively looking for you. They will scan every ship matching your description even if there is no confirmed report of you being in the area recently.
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Now, a lot of the above may be read and you may say - this is too complex to be put into the game. Or a lot of it isn't necessary. You would be right, not all is necessary but it would make the game more appealing and increase immersion. On top of that it would be a more realistic deterrent to committing heinous acts.
As for the complexity, it really isn't... The judge system is a simple messaging system with a form to choose punishment.
For collateral, removing an SRV from inventory and added to a seized assets database table would be really trivial.
Setting up actions based on fine-levels or what ship systems are active, also not difficult to do at all.
Getting the direction someone is facing relative to someone else, also simple.
Recording all crimes and determining if someone will flee or attack or pay - also not difficult. Statistics..
For prison, or prison work - that's a bit more, but it really isn't a lot more - if you are transported to a prison colony, you can get a ship to do work to mine, etc... to help pay off your debt to society faster.. You wouldn't be able to leave the system - adding a prison break system would be a little bit more on top because you'd have to add in crafting, or salvage of capable ships - also prison colony systems should have a warning to prevent people from flying there and crashing and giving prisoners access to FTL technology - although people will likely go there but still... It could be a crime...
Everything I discussed above would be fairly simple to add to the game depending how the coding is done. For a game such as this, it would be hard to imagine that a Coding Standard document for internal use didn't exist ( to make sure every developer writes code in an identical way so the code looks like it was created by a single person or a team which works very well and communicates incredibly well together )... It's even harder to believe the code isn't maintainable - ie improper class usage, functions, repetitive code, and so on... It could be the case, they could simply slap stuff together until it works ( Just because it works, doesn't make it right! - Josh 'Acecool' Moser ) which I really hope they didn't do... because with a well written bit of code, adding extra features, or making changes is a breeze...
I welcome all comments, criticism, suggestions for changes, rewrites to format this text better, etc...
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Note: The below topic is a question I posted and may contain some information about the above which I didn't add..------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anyways, I ended up having a 2000 credit bounty, not a big deal I thought. It was a misunderstanding from loitering in a few places. Anyway, I went to the station, paid of the fine and then wanted to change some parts on my ship. After 15 seconds, it teleported me saying I was wanted or something 360 light years from my position. When I arrived at the prison colony, it told me that I needed to pay my 0 credit fine to be released. I paid it, but I didn't realize at this point that I had been teleported. I checked the galaxy map when I didn't see my normal points in my left hand navigation menu. That's when I found out I was 360 light years from QUINCE / Millerport.
I contacted support and they solved that issue since none of my ships could even travel to any other location from the prison colony ( all of them are the cheap ones only set up for questing in QUINCE and not to travel ) so I was stuck and the shipyard doesn't let you upgrade anything. I'm happy support solved this issue, still have another with a lot of missing funds - I'm looking for my screenshots I took prior to not playing for a while.
- Anyways, How does the new system work?
- Why am I able to pay my fines, only to be arrested for a 0 credit fine and transported 360 light years ( which costs a hell of a lot more than 0 credits, or even 2000 credits to do )?
I want to avoid this happening in the future, but with the wanted system in its current state of disrepair, becoming wanted is inevitable so I want to know what I'm up against for the future.
- Is a station going to spend millions to transport me 360 light years to a penal colony every time I pay a 500 to 2000 credit fine and be presented with a 0 credit fine I'm required to pay in order to be released?
- Are we still able to wait 10 minutes or so for the wanted status to disappear?
- How do I avoid being teleported after I have paid the fine?
- Should I even pay the fine or wait it out?
Support said you can 'turn yourself in' which wasn't the case because I have paid EXACTLY like this in the past and never ran into an issue like this. At worst I was scanned on approach and was forced to try to come into the station again a few minutes later after they dispersed. It's messed up to get shot at because you went into an out of bounds area with your ship ( and the areas are NOT visible in a ship, only with SRV ) which gives a fine of 500 credits. It's disappointing that the answer to everything is lethal force in this game. It wouldn't even take much to improve the system to have levels of force - for instance under 10,000 fine no action is done except if you are scanned, the law enforcement officer will ask you to go to the nearest station to pay your fine, and will escort you to ensure the fines are paid ( You do not lose your ship unless the fines are close to the value of the collateral ). Once paid, the ship is re-accessible. You could always fight your way out of it... An alternative is if you stop and let the cop onto your ship then they put you in a single person pod and hold your ship ( ship becomes available after 30 minutes or an hour or until fines are paid - you have the option of swapping collateral with something less expensive - also if you have a rover onboard and the rover is about the value of the fines [ value of collateral must be equal to or more than ] then they take the rover instead of the ship and you can fly your own ship to the nearest station to pay the fines ) until fines are paid. If you run an additional charge is added. You should also be able to pay cops directly ( since everything is digital, including funds, the fines would go through the system to pay off the fine ).
If you have any charges which were violent in nature, but did not result in a death - then the security services would use their weapons to disable your ship and capture you and transfer you to the nearest station. If you shut down power to all systems on your ship except life-support, or even including, then they will stop firing and approach you. If you power weapons then it is seen as an act of aggression and more force is used unless you disable weapons, etc...
If you have any charges which resulted in a death, then lethal force is used to destroy your ship unless you power down all weapons systems and everything except for life-support and allow security services to board. Same as above. Depending on what systems are powered you'll be seen as a threat or not.
If you activate self-destruct then another reaction will take place...
I'll post all of this in suggestions - but for now.. if anyone can tell me exactly how it works compared to before and how to avoid being in this situation again, it'd be most helpful.... ie, with the anonymous system, I should still be allowed to land to refuel, re-arm, etc.. right? But if I pay the fine then is it turning myself in, or was I scanned while in the hangar? I don't understand - it's strange.
Thanks in advance.
