After spending a good couple of hours policing resource gathering sites around Jupiter, I had several encounters that made me wonder "What just happened?", and not in a good way.
Friendly Fire: Obviously a necessary system, but needs some fine tuning. I've seen the threads about it, and find the "Well we had to deal with it in Beta so too bad for you" mentality in some them a little silly. I understand the argument that one should be responsible for controlling ones weapons, however there are many opportunities for things out of the pilots control to cause friendly fire and trigger a response.
Example: While patrolling, I encountered an Anaconda with a large bounty on his head. He is wanted, hostile, and security forces have already engaged. I join the fight, a harrowing space battle for the ages. After whittling the beast down to 39% hull, a sidewinder inexplicably flies through my line of fire, perpendicularly, from beneath my ship and takes two rounds of Multicannon before I can release the trigger. I had no way of seeing him coming or avoiding him, I consciously chose to stop firing the instant I saw him, with the delay of the impulse getting from my brain to my thumb. I immediately got smacked with a 200cr fine, and virtually everyone around me turned hostile (save for one very brave Hauler who harbored no love for the Sidewinder). Apparently the Anaconda was a bigger threat, so they seemed be ignoring me for the moment. No biggie, right? Well, said sidewinder proceeded to pull a hard turn and careen jihadi-like into the Anacondas engines... and I got charged with murdering him. 6000cr fine. Still not that big a deal, but now everybody present decided I needed to pay for my crimes against humanity. I am now paying for the Sidewinders stupidity. I was unaware I was playing a "driving on the freeway" sim.
End Result: 6200cr fine, space police filing paperwork for many expended space bullets, Anaconda missile tea party, angry miners chasing me while playing banjo music and making piggy sounds, and loss of a 60k bounty that should have been cake. Fiddlesticks!
Suggestion: Friendly Fire needs a threshold.
Allegiance AI: After fleeing the scene of my previous crime and serving my time for murder (about 2 minutes of FSD, Docking, and a paltry fine) I jumped into another site searching for more criminals like myself to blow up. After flying towards the marker for a moment, I came across what one could only call a flotilla of Anacondas. They were all green (Sol system loves me and forgives my homicidal tendencies), clean, and Mother Gaia aligned. Well that's cool, always nice to have five Anacondas putting on a space parade nearby if I get into trouble. I zipped around, found one fellow who told me the scan wouldn't hurt. He was wrong, it hurt him bad. I turned back toward the space parade to find them all firing (and missing, horribly) at an Evil Cobra. The Cobra is green, but wanted. He's also Mother Gaia aligned. Decent 19k bounty. Naturally I swoop in to save the parade from this villain, lighting him up with my space bullets and space lasers. Since he is busy dodging the space parades light show, I just drop in behind him and put him down quickly. Bounty earned, high fives all around! Except there were no high fives. There were lasers. And at least one very irresponsibly manned cannon. Now since I'm real quick on the uptake, I put this experience together with my earlier wonderment at multiple miner ships turning hostile after I'd pop a wanted ship to collect his bounty and figured out that if you destroy a criminal, every ship in his faction turns hostile. Even if those ships are also trying to murder him. I am befuddled by this decision.
End Result: No high fives. Bounty earned, space parade light show in pursuit. FSD away!
Suggestion: Criminality should override faction loyalty if said faction is (sort of) lawful and especially if said faction is participating in the murder of the criminal. I realize this is a very arguable point, as pirate factions should naturally turn hostile if you blow one of them up regardless of his evil schemes.
Wanted Status: Earlier in my Jupiter ring escapades, I was involved in a fender bender with a (until then, green and friendly) space police eagle. It was negligible, a little paint exchange. It may have been my fault. Until this point, we had been happily murdering a cadre of villainous space pirates together. This belly bump brought our relationship to an abrupt end. A 200cr fine was issued, my insurance company dropped my coverage, and the space police initiated a full scale military assault on my position. Many space bullets were projected in my general direction.
End Result: More space police paperwork, high-speed pursuit, more time spent in glorious FSD.
Suggestion: Enable payment to space police in the field for minor infractions OR simply allow the offender to go pay the fine without mobilizing the fleet for minor infractions.
I hope you all enjoyed my wall of text, I tried to make it less tedious than usual. Despite the humor, I seriously believe these small tweaks would enhance the gameplay experience. Thanks for reading.
Friendly Fire: Obviously a necessary system, but needs some fine tuning. I've seen the threads about it, and find the "Well we had to deal with it in Beta so too bad for you" mentality in some them a little silly. I understand the argument that one should be responsible for controlling ones weapons, however there are many opportunities for things out of the pilots control to cause friendly fire and trigger a response.
Example: While patrolling, I encountered an Anaconda with a large bounty on his head. He is wanted, hostile, and security forces have already engaged. I join the fight, a harrowing space battle for the ages. After whittling the beast down to 39% hull, a sidewinder inexplicably flies through my line of fire, perpendicularly, from beneath my ship and takes two rounds of Multicannon before I can release the trigger. I had no way of seeing him coming or avoiding him, I consciously chose to stop firing the instant I saw him, with the delay of the impulse getting from my brain to my thumb. I immediately got smacked with a 200cr fine, and virtually everyone around me turned hostile (save for one very brave Hauler who harbored no love for the Sidewinder). Apparently the Anaconda was a bigger threat, so they seemed be ignoring me for the moment. No biggie, right? Well, said sidewinder proceeded to pull a hard turn and careen jihadi-like into the Anacondas engines... and I got charged with murdering him. 6000cr fine. Still not that big a deal, but now everybody present decided I needed to pay for my crimes against humanity. I am now paying for the Sidewinders stupidity. I was unaware I was playing a "driving on the freeway" sim.
End Result: 6200cr fine, space police filing paperwork for many expended space bullets, Anaconda missile tea party, angry miners chasing me while playing banjo music and making piggy sounds, and loss of a 60k bounty that should have been cake. Fiddlesticks!
Suggestion: Friendly Fire needs a threshold.
Allegiance AI: After fleeing the scene of my previous crime and serving my time for murder (about 2 minutes of FSD, Docking, and a paltry fine) I jumped into another site searching for more criminals like myself to blow up. After flying towards the marker for a moment, I came across what one could only call a flotilla of Anacondas. They were all green (Sol system loves me and forgives my homicidal tendencies), clean, and Mother Gaia aligned. Well that's cool, always nice to have five Anacondas putting on a space parade nearby if I get into trouble. I zipped around, found one fellow who told me the scan wouldn't hurt. He was wrong, it hurt him bad. I turned back toward the space parade to find them all firing (and missing, horribly) at an Evil Cobra. The Cobra is green, but wanted. He's also Mother Gaia aligned. Decent 19k bounty. Naturally I swoop in to save the parade from this villain, lighting him up with my space bullets and space lasers. Since he is busy dodging the space parades light show, I just drop in behind him and put him down quickly. Bounty earned, high fives all around! Except there were no high fives. There were lasers. And at least one very irresponsibly manned cannon. Now since I'm real quick on the uptake, I put this experience together with my earlier wonderment at multiple miner ships turning hostile after I'd pop a wanted ship to collect his bounty and figured out that if you destroy a criminal, every ship in his faction turns hostile. Even if those ships are also trying to murder him. I am befuddled by this decision.
End Result: No high fives. Bounty earned, space parade light show in pursuit. FSD away!
Suggestion: Criminality should override faction loyalty if said faction is (sort of) lawful and especially if said faction is participating in the murder of the criminal. I realize this is a very arguable point, as pirate factions should naturally turn hostile if you blow one of them up regardless of his evil schemes.
Wanted Status: Earlier in my Jupiter ring escapades, I was involved in a fender bender with a (until then, green and friendly) space police eagle. It was negligible, a little paint exchange. It may have been my fault. Until this point, we had been happily murdering a cadre of villainous space pirates together. This belly bump brought our relationship to an abrupt end. A 200cr fine was issued, my insurance company dropped my coverage, and the space police initiated a full scale military assault on my position. Many space bullets were projected in my general direction.
End Result: More space police paperwork, high-speed pursuit, more time spent in glorious FSD.
Suggestion: Enable payment to space police in the field for minor infractions OR simply allow the offender to go pay the fine without mobilizing the fleet for minor infractions.
I hope you all enjoyed my wall of text, I tried to make it less tedious than usual. Despite the humor, I seriously believe these small tweaks would enhance the gameplay experience. Thanks for reading.
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