Thoughts on Some of the Proposed Changes...
Greetings Commanders,
...
Essentially, the new crime and punishment system will add appropriate consequences for criminal activity, make the crime system more legible and easier to understand, there will be new rules for bounties and fines, and new rules for respawning after ship destruction.
Bounties and Fines
• Bounties and fine are applied to the ship you're in.
• Fines never mature into bounties.
• Bounties never become dormant.
• Bounties never expire.
• Fines can be paid off at security contacts
• Bounties can be cleared by Interstellar Factors when your Notoriety is 0
• Claimed bounties for the jurisdiction you died in must be paid when you re-spawn at detention centres.
...These changes aim to simplify crimes. You will now have more control over your criminal status risk and reward. You can store a ship with bounties on (a hot ship), hiding your criminality, but at the cost of not using the ship. Bounties are now more significant as you must use Interstellar Factors to clear them, which can be expensive.
I read many pages of feedback when Frontier were 'consulting' the 'community' (those players who frequent this forum...) on the proposed changes to the crime and punishment system. From what I read, there were many who expressed great concern with the idea of attaching the 'wanted' status to the ship, and not to the Commander. It appears to me that Frontier had a set idea in mind, and have opted to completely ignore those concerns, while giving the appearance of 'listening' to the wider community - (well, those on this forum that seem to dictate the direction of the game for the thousands of other players not subscribed to this forum...).
Bounties, Noteriety & Murder
• Bounties and fine are applied to the ship you're in.
• Bounties never become dormant.
• Bounties never expire.
• Bounties can be cleared by Interstellar Factors when your Notoriety is 0
• Claimed bounties for the jurisdiction you died in must be paid when you re-spawn at detention centres.
• Bounties prevent access to all services except missions in progress, Interstellar Factors and black markets.
• A ship with bounties on it is hot.
• Notoriety increases by one whenever a Commander commits a murder crime.
• Any Notoriety means the interstellar factors cannot clear your fines or bounties.
• Notoriety decays one unit every 2 hours of time when you’re logged in the game back down to zero.
(These changes ensure that Commanders can't completely shed their criminal status by swapping to clean ships.)
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So, looking at these bullet points, it appears that a Commander can commit murder and have his notoriety increased by 1. The Commander need only wait 2 hours and his notoriety will be reset to 0. At that point, the Commander is free to go and clear the bounty for murder after 2 hours.
Personally, I do not find this change appealling. It's a ridiculous notion to believe that a person who commits a murder loses notoriety - especially in such a short space of time. Basically, a player could go on a killing spree for a night, and then go to bed. The next day - after 8 hour sleep, and perhaps a day at work, the notoriety is back to zero. Pay off all bounties and go at it again...
On Bounties, they never expire, but can be paid off (cleared)... Basically, a murderer is free to slaughter, lose notoriety, pay off the bounty and suffer very little consequences (I haven't been sucessfully interdicted by an AI ship for months and months - regardless of ship I fly...).
I would like to clarify whether notoriety applies to the galaxy at large, or just the jurisdiction in which a person committed a crime? I could see some benefit to having notoriety applying to different jurisdictions. For example, a Commander loyal to the Empire may not mind being wanted and being notorious in Federation space - jumping into Federation space to commit crimes, but returning to Empire space (Independent, or whatever) to sell plunder. This is where the rivalry between powers comes into play, I suppose - and the PowerPlay feature touches on this.
• When in a hot ship, port services are restricted in jurisdictions where the ship is wanted - your ship logs in anonymously.
• Fines prevent access to all services except missions in progress, security contact, Interstellar Factors and black markets
• Bounties prevent access to all services except missions in progress, Interstellar Factors and black markets.
I'd have much prefered a system whereby the Commander in a hot ship is able to use facilities, unless the ship has been sucessfully scanned by the station/authorities before docking. This would mean that Commanders have to resort to methods such as silent running to try and dock before being scanned. Or, alternatively, if a ship is wanted and is scanned by the station/authorities, they should be denied permission to dock and attacked (I think that happens now...).
• Any Notoriety means the interstellar factors cannot clear your fines or bounties.
• Hot ships can be cleaned using Interstellar Factors, at a cost.
On the mater of hot ships and modules, I can't help but thinking this is ridiculous. Basically, a Commander can switch to a clean ship, despite being a murderer, all fines and bounties are attached to the hot ship now docked (if scanned by an authority vessell, I guess the clean ship remains clean as the commander is not wanted). The only thing the Commander has attached to his is 'notoriety' - which clears by 1 unit every 2 hours. Meanwhile, the 'notorious' Commander can fly around in a clean ship for 20 hours (if noteriety is at 10), trading, participationg in Community Goals, etc., without any risk from the authorities. When the notoriety hits 0, the Commander can go and pay off the bounty, clean the hot ship and that's it... Financial loss only (probably minor financial impact, too).
What needs to happen is that if a Commander switches to a clean ship, the Commander, if scanned by an AUTHORITY vessels, is detected with notoriety - it becomes wanted in the clean ship (a human Commander able to claim all (or part - dependent on the current level of notoriety) bounties, etc., attached to the notorious Commander/ship - despite being in a clean ship). Meanwhile, the stored 'hot' ship remains 'hot' even if the notorious Commander in a clean ship is destroyed and respawned - unless and until that ship is cleaned. The clean ship the notorious Commander switches to should also become 'hot' if the Commander is sucessfully scanned by AUTHORITY vessels (not human players). If the notorious Commander is detected and scanned in a clean ship by a human Commander only, the ship should remain clean, but the human Commander is still able to attack - without becoming a criminal - and receive all/part bounties, etc.
Anyway, that's a few of my thoughts on the these matters. I expect that in the future, when the flaws in this new system are highlighted, Frontier will need to look at this again and try to repair the damage done. Implement these recommended changes now, or similar/better ideas, and it'll save us all a lot of pain in the long term.
Thanks.
As a late note, please keep in mind that certain Passenger Missions have passengers that are 'illegal'. It is necessary to avoid scans with such passengers on board. If scanned, the authorities either attack or fine - can't remember which. Thus, it makes sens that a notorious (illegal) Commander who switches to a clean ship should have to avoid all scans, or risk attack - either by the authorities or oher human players. Again, I'd suggest that a succesful scan by an authority vessel results in the clean ship with the notorious Commander inside becoming HOT.
