Emergency "Help Me" module

[emacinnes]

Allright, I can vouch for that one.
I have however one nitpicking caveat: The current recordholder from SOL to Sag A*, CMDR Alot, made it in 8h 43mins 43sec. That is 26,000LY in a stripped down Anaconda- and 1 ton of Kitten Brand Coffee.
The NPC rescue service must be slower than the potential player-rescue service. To make us viable at least.

I was thinking that the NPC was only dispatched if no player accepted within a given time frame, (the further out, the longer the given time frame, up to 15-20 minutes, possibly 1 hour for comms to travel 40,000LY in whatever voodoo is used) assuming it was a direct-to-ship broadcast, and not a bulletin mission. there would still be a chance of light NPC pirates from time to time either way, to help pass the time

The other use case scenario here I have in mind is somebody in a vulture or FDL on their way to an undermining, which can be about 17 jumps or more, and have gone through 3 dwarf systems in a row and are stuck. Which totally did not happen to me last week *cough* *cough*. They're not far out, help's nearby, but the comms doesn't support calling for help currently. A quick reappropriation of my son's account while he wasn't looking, an extra fuel limpet, and problem was solved, so there's a lot of scope for this activity in the game, if it would support it, pretty please, with extra chicken brand icing on top.

1.4 Intergalactic Rescue

* paraphrasing Thunderbirds before somebody pedantic picks up that it's technically only the one galaxy....

I'm glad I at least got away with calling it the Universe by mistake..... nobody noticed that one

 

[Anuranium]

I was thinking that the NPC was only dispatched if no player accepted within a given time frame...- assuming it was a direct-to-ship broadcast, and not a bulletin mission...
...there's a lot of scope for this activity in the game, if it would support it, pretty please, with extra chicken brand icing on top.

* paraphrasing Thunderbirds before somebody pedantic picks up that it's technically only the one galaxy....
I'm glad I at least got away with calling it the Universe by mistake..... nobody noticed that one

Repped!
Perhaps a broadcast similar to what FD gives us when they do updates?
1.4 Intergalactic Rescue - Yes please!

Yes, sometimes I'm a bit pedantic

 

[dognosh]

Rather than be sat there waiting indefinitely for rescue, I'd prefer an "Abandon Ship" function where I could use the escape pod without blowing up my ship, then go buy a sidewinder or Cobra with extra fuel, then go get my ship back. Then, my abandoned ship would appear as a specific Nav Marker when I get back to the system, with a ship-transfer option that "sacrifices" the new one, 10 second auto-destruct Picard Authorization Alpha Tango.

How ? If you are even only 10LY from a system with a station, how will a pod get there ?

 

[Deleted member 38366]

--- Deleted ---

 

[emacinnes]

How ? If you are even only 10LY from a system with a station, how will a pod get there ?

Every time the ship explodes currently and it says "eject", your pilot is sent by escape pod to the space station of choice using Space Magic(tm), which currently just happens off-screen. I was simply reusing this same Space Magic in this, but I prefer the distress call option now, it's more interesting.

 

[emacinnes]

My preferred Solution :

When in distress (can only be Fuel really, or entirely blown Thrusters w/ no Reboot/Repair capability left), activate Distress beacon, which is tied to those actual conditions (no gankers setting traps).
Then, the nearest Friendly or Allied Station prepares & launches a SAR NPC Ship with appropriate capabilities after some distance-dependent delay... Possibly also at a distance-dependent price tag.

I'd envision that NPC SAR ring would only extent to a limited space (maybe 100LY-1000LY max. from civilization?) - anything outside in Deep Space would be reserved for CMDRs.
I'd also have CMDRs (with proper, Allied/Friendly and Clean non-Terrorist history) get actual SAR Missions from Bulletin Boards to accept if they like, from Stations the distressed Player is Allied to or at least Friendly (also based on P2P matchmaking).
That would somewhat ensure you're rescued by an actual Ally and not blown to shreds for kicks by the usual suspects...

The bulletin boards can also be used to issue long range NPC distress call missions for explorers to do, or short range ones for pirates, but I'd prefer human distress calls go direct to ships as well (suitably equipped with a System Authority Rescue Scanner), so we can be getting a distress call in mid-supercruise, or mid RES battle, and leap to the rescue (or the bounty, mood depending) and make the gameplay a bit more emergent, rather than A then B then C then A again.

Don't really agree with the "friends only" thing, that takes all the risk right out of it, but the fact that getting the call means an extra device means that anything other than dedicated rescue-explorer-pirates won't be bothered.

Think of the comedy that could ensue, pirates set a trap with a distress call, and other pirates come to their "rescue", or pirates lay a trap for an explorer, or an explorer lays a trap for pirates. It has the potential for so much more than just rescuing people. For those in genuine distress, 2 million insurance or take a risk on a rescue. Worst case, you're still down 2 mil insurance, or if ur lucky, the pirate just wants a bit of the cargo (and he can topline his income returns with some advanced scans from systems on the way).

 

[Jordan Cobalt]

I like the idea I've been saying we need a cmdr distress beacon for a while now. As long as it doesn't become a summon police spell I don't have any problems with it.

One thing tho, would it be possible to do it in a p2p game? When you leave an instance you are no longer connected to the other players in sc. The wake is left for others to follow to your instance but unless you stay connected to them they won't know when you flip the help me switch.

 

[emacinnes]

I like the idea I've been saying we need a cmdr distress beacon for a while now. As long as it doesn't become a summon police spell I don't have any problems with it.

One thing tho, would it be possible to do it in a p2p game? When you leave an instance you are no longer connected to the other players in sc. The wake is left for others to follow to your instance but unless you stay connected to them they won't know when you flip the help me switch.

Think of it more as the game quietly "winging" players up between distress caller and rescuer that accepts the mission. Wings still see each other, from a technical perspective, even halfway across the galaxy, in a station, in a RES, in SC< etc.. etc... The caller leaves the game, the wing is broken. The rescuer leaves the game, the wing is broken. The rescuer or distressor cancels the call, the wing is broken. The mission lives and dies with the wing. It doesn't need to be a visible UI wing, it can be an invisible secondary "rescue wing".