Talking about crime and punishment lately... some friends made me notice a problem using Report Crimes Off (RCOff). People doing PvP have usually that option OFF and they tend to keep it OFF, maybe for a better challenge while fighting an NPC or to avoid to hit police ships if using fixed weapons.
But using crimes OFF triggers a scenario that some Cmdrs exploit in PvP, here's the scenario:
Random attack:
1 - A Cmdr with RCOn attacks another Cmdr that has RCOff.
2 - The attacker will not become wanted because the victim has RCOff and the authorities are not alerted.
3 - The victim responds to the attacker and becomes wanted because the attacker has RCOn.
4 - Police attacks the victim.
Or in a duel:
1 - Two Cmdrs agree to duel.
2 - They agree to switch to RCOff
3 - One Cmdr secretly keeps RCOn
4 - Duel starts
5 - Authorities will attack the commander with RCOff.
I know, I know, for dueling people will say "go to an anarchy system to be safe" but I think that my idea makes more sense.
How to avoid getting attacked by the authorities if using RCOff:
1 - A Cmdr with RCOn attacks another Cmdr that has RCOff.
2 - The victim switch to RCOn.
3 - The victim waits for the link.
4 - The victim gets a hit after the link is established.
5 - The attacker becomes wanted.
6 - The victim can defend him/herself.
To me, it seems that the victim has still to do most of the work, and I don't think this makes sense.
My Idea
If you have a channel to report to the authorities why that channel shouldn't be full-duplex? What I mean is that if you want to be covered by the authorities, the authorities should also know what you are doing, "the big brother will defend you but also spy on you".
Let's call it Authority Link (AL), if you have ALOn and you attack a clean Cmdr that has ALOff you will become wanted because the authorities are monitoring your actions, to duel both Cmdrs need to switch to ALOff.
Or if you are a pirate you cannot use ALOn and that makes sense IMO, why the authorities would defend and not monitor a Cmdr if he/she's committing crimes?
Are you a smuggler? Sorry... but ALOn will share what you have on your ship, you are committing a crime after all, but you are using ALOff? Then the police will have more difficulty to scan you (maybe they could need a closer range or perform a longer scan).
Also for smugglers would be interesting to introduce an optional device to allow a fake signatures for the illegal goods so ALOn is allowed but the police will scan you with a normal scan losing your bonus above.
But there's also another problem now, we cannot see from the HUD (correct me if I'm wrong) if a Cmdr has RCOn or RCOff now, that has to change, that info should be showed when you select a ship, and also if a Cmdr is establishing the link back a warning should be issued.
As a Bonus:
Let's say you are a bounty hounter and you want to bounty hunt "like a pro" and not involve the authorities using RCOff should reward you with a bonus, maybe add 50% of the bounty as a bonus, you make the police save time, fuel and hull damage after all.
Let me know what you think, am I missing something? Will this make RC more fair or clear? Is this already been suggested?
Thank you
But using crimes OFF triggers a scenario that some Cmdrs exploit in PvP, here's the scenario:
Random attack:
1 - A Cmdr with RCOn attacks another Cmdr that has RCOff.
2 - The attacker will not become wanted because the victim has RCOff and the authorities are not alerted.
3 - The victim responds to the attacker and becomes wanted because the attacker has RCOn.
4 - Police attacks the victim.
Or in a duel:
1 - Two Cmdrs agree to duel.
2 - They agree to switch to RCOff
3 - One Cmdr secretly keeps RCOn
4 - Duel starts
5 - Authorities will attack the commander with RCOff.
I know, I know, for dueling people will say "go to an anarchy system to be safe" but I think that my idea makes more sense.
How to avoid getting attacked by the authorities if using RCOff:
1 - A Cmdr with RCOn attacks another Cmdr that has RCOff.
2 - The victim switch to RCOn.
3 - The victim waits for the link.
4 - The victim gets a hit after the link is established.
5 - The attacker becomes wanted.
6 - The victim can defend him/herself.
To me, it seems that the victim has still to do most of the work, and I don't think this makes sense.
My Idea
If you have a channel to report to the authorities why that channel shouldn't be full-duplex? What I mean is that if you want to be covered by the authorities, the authorities should also know what you are doing, "the big brother will defend you but also spy on you".
Let's call it Authority Link (AL), if you have ALOn and you attack a clean Cmdr that has ALOff you will become wanted because the authorities are monitoring your actions, to duel both Cmdrs need to switch to ALOff.
Or if you are a pirate you cannot use ALOn and that makes sense IMO, why the authorities would defend and not monitor a Cmdr if he/she's committing crimes?
Are you a smuggler? Sorry... but ALOn will share what you have on your ship, you are committing a crime after all, but you are using ALOff? Then the police will have more difficulty to scan you (maybe they could need a closer range or perform a longer scan).
Also for smugglers would be interesting to introduce an optional device to allow a fake signatures for the illegal goods so ALOn is allowed but the police will scan you with a normal scan losing your bonus above.
But there's also another problem now, we cannot see from the HUD (correct me if I'm wrong) if a Cmdr has RCOn or RCOff now, that has to change, that info should be showed when you select a ship, and also if a Cmdr is establishing the link back a warning should be issued.
As a Bonus:
Let's say you are a bounty hounter and you want to bounty hunt "like a pro" and not involve the authorities using RCOff should reward you with a bonus, maybe add 50% of the bounty as a bonus, you make the police save time, fuel and hull damage after all.
Let me know what you think, am I missing something? Will this make RC more fair or clear? Is this already been suggested?
Thank you