The whole problem with GANKING is that there is some motivation that cannot be denied. A human pilot can be more of a challenge than the best AI. I must admit, I would enjoy occasional PvP encounters in some ways versus always just fighting the AI, which can become predictable.
The primary problem may simply be that not enough players want to engage in PvP encounters. For them, (as it was for me, coming up through the ranks) the cost is just too high. Because of this, most GANKERS just indiscriminately attack other players they come across that are not currently aligned with them. They may be just trying to discourage people from trading in certain areas. There are admittedly many possible motivations for the behavior, but it is ultimately destructive to the concept of Open Play.
Doing away with the loss of crew when you lost your ship mitigated this somewhat, at least for me. I currently can afford to lose a few ships in order to play a more risky game. Even if not intending to engage in PvP fighting, the cat and mouse aspect I am suggesting would appeal to me. Maybe it would to you as well.
In a Nutshell, the suggestion is this: Use an old real world concept.
Letters of Marque
You can google this if you like. That there are variations of this concept is clear. I want to suggest something that allows Privateers and Corsairs to legitimately raise the Jolly Rodger and get gains for doing so correctly. It is not the only way to look at Letters of Marque, and you may have another way to suggest this that is better. I have spent a lot of time trying to understand motivations and gear my suggestion here appropriately, but I must admit, I cannot understand everyone's motivation in such a vast sea of players. You may have an understanding that lends to this idea in a way I could not conceptualize. I appeal to you, as fellow players, to approach this post in that manner. Make suggestions to tweak or improve this concept. I want the newer players to be able to play in Open Play without suffering dire consequences. Me, I can afford to take the risks, and probably will, if this concept or something as effective as it, is implemented.
Step 1: You must first get a Letter of Marque from a power involved in a War or Civil War. Currently, there are only two sides to every conflict, so it would only legitimize attacks against those allied with or currently engaged in services for the other side. Maybe at some point, the way War is generated in ED will have more than one faction involved. I think that would be cool, but not needed.
a) In order to get such a Letter of Marque, you must first be allied with the faction that will be giving it to you.
b) You will engage in a Massacre Mission that has as one of its rewards the award of a "Letter of Marque." I would suggest that this be a smaller Mission. Maybe a follow on Mission. Maybe only offered if Combat Bonds were previously turned in by that player. It should not be too hard, but should require some effort and risk.
c) That "Letter of Marque" is only good for that one ship, in one configuration. Changing ships or modifying the loadout invalidates the Letter of Marque. Only one Letter of Marque is allowed to be utilized in a system. You can have multiple Letters of Marque, even on opposing sides of a conflict, but only in different systems.
d) A Letter of Marque is good for the duration of the conflict, unless otherwise invalidated. When the war ends, so does the Letter of Marque. Booty that has not been redeemed reverts to being stolen goods.
Step 2: Find legitimate targets. All ships that are allied with the opposite side, or are doing missions for the opposite side, are legitimate targets. Finding those allied is simple. Finding those doing Missions requires more effort.
a) A ship that is allied with the opposition will show up even if scanning them in supercruise. They will display as "marqued" in red, which for the player with a Letter of Marque, is the same as being wanted. You can pursue and interdict them freely, without incurring a bounty.
b) A ship that is scanned after dropping out of supercruise will also be the same. You can demand cargo, or just open fire immediately, depending upon the way you want to play it.
c) If they are engaged in a Mission that involves cargo deliveries, either going to, or coming from the opposition, a Cargo Manifest Scanner will show this if they currently are carrying the cargo. If they are not carrying the cargo, they will remain "clean" from your perspective.
d) If they are engaged in any mission for the opposition, a Kill Warrant Scanner will show this, regardless of whether or not they currently have cargo involved in said mission or even if they have a data delivery mission. They will show as "marqued" and can be freely engaged. If they show up as having a bounty in another system, they still may show up as "clean" as to respect for that system. Be careful if you want to stay legitimate.
e) The ship that is marqued may not engage in combat until fired upon. They can deploy fighters and get their weapons ready, and they will see the Jolly Rodger someplace, letting them know that they have been properly marqued as a target of some freelancer or corsair. They won't know who, however, although that is likely to be obvious. If they fire first, they will incur a bounty.
f) System Security/Defense ships will honor "Letters of Marque" and not interfere, generally. If either ship has a local bounty and they discover this, they will react normally to that.
g) System Security/Defense ships will never show up as "marqued" even when they are from the opposition. Attacking them, even if attacked by them, will still result in a bounty.
Step 3: Collect "Booty"
a) In a system where one has a "Letter of Marque" any cargo that would otherwise be marked as "stolen" instead becomes "booty" that can be picked up freely. System ships scanning you will know your cargo is "legitimate" and will not fine you, in that system. Other systems, if you do not have a "Letter of Marque" will see it as stolen, even if taken quasi-legimately.
b) Cargo that is illegal other than just being stolen, still remains so.
c) Cargo that was obtained by being stolen in another system will also be be treated as legal "booty" in a system when one has a legitimate "Letter of Marque" and Freelancers and Corsairs often take advantage of this.
Step 4: Collect Rewards.
a) While the "Letter of Marque" is valid, "Booty" may be sold at any market in the system where the Faction that issued the letter is present. The price paid will be half of the normal price. (the other half goes to the issuer of the letter, and should have impact of some sort on the BGS system)
b) Destroying a ship that was "marqued" results in a Combat Bond that behaves exactly as other Combat Bonds do. They scale for the ship destroyed, and are valid even when the "Letter of Marque" no longer is valid. You may have to go find a Blackmarket for "Booty" you did not redeem in time, but the Combat bonds will remain valid unless the Faction is completely driven out of the system.
Those are the basic mechanics, as I envision them. If you want a Letter of Marque, you must first put yourself at Risk by being allied with a faction yourself. Of course, you can do all of that in Solo, to minimize the Risk. I have no objection to that. You have to decide if such is dishonorable or not, and if you made any statement about people being too chicken to come out into Open, that hypocrisy is only a matter of your conscience, as far as I am concerned. No one should attack you for that. Hopefully, no-one will anger me enough for me to do so, and I will try to keep my cool. Others may think differently.
As for illegitimate GANKING, (attacking targets not otherwise valid that are player characters) I would suggest the following simple change: If you kill another Player Character in such a way as to incur a bounty, you will be liable for reparations. This would be the cost of the ship that the Player lost. If they were able to use insurance, that buyback price would be enough. If you just happened to have had bad enough Karma to kill someone who could not afford the insurance buy back, the reparations would be the FULL buy back price of the lost ship. Reparations can be paid in advance at any Factor. If not paid, they are satisfied first, before you can try and buy back your ship if you are destroyed. That will not stop all GANKING. However, it will make it less harmful, (which is most important) and extremely costly to those who just want to keep on GANKING. Lawless kills may or may not incur this. I am of two minds on this. My best read is that lawless kills should not, for now. It remains to be seen if this would be enough.
This is the carrot and stick approach. The carrot would take a bit to implement. The stick would probably be pretty easy, programmatically...
;'{P~~~
The primary problem may simply be that not enough players want to engage in PvP encounters. For them, (as it was for me, coming up through the ranks) the cost is just too high. Because of this, most GANKERS just indiscriminately attack other players they come across that are not currently aligned with them. They may be just trying to discourage people from trading in certain areas. There are admittedly many possible motivations for the behavior, but it is ultimately destructive to the concept of Open Play.
Doing away with the loss of crew when you lost your ship mitigated this somewhat, at least for me. I currently can afford to lose a few ships in order to play a more risky game. Even if not intending to engage in PvP fighting, the cat and mouse aspect I am suggesting would appeal to me. Maybe it would to you as well.
In a Nutshell, the suggestion is this: Use an old real world concept.
Letters of Marque
You can google this if you like. That there are variations of this concept is clear. I want to suggest something that allows Privateers and Corsairs to legitimately raise the Jolly Rodger and get gains for doing so correctly. It is not the only way to look at Letters of Marque, and you may have another way to suggest this that is better. I have spent a lot of time trying to understand motivations and gear my suggestion here appropriately, but I must admit, I cannot understand everyone's motivation in such a vast sea of players. You may have an understanding that lends to this idea in a way I could not conceptualize. I appeal to you, as fellow players, to approach this post in that manner. Make suggestions to tweak or improve this concept. I want the newer players to be able to play in Open Play without suffering dire consequences. Me, I can afford to take the risks, and probably will, if this concept or something as effective as it, is implemented.
Step 1: You must first get a Letter of Marque from a power involved in a War or Civil War. Currently, there are only two sides to every conflict, so it would only legitimize attacks against those allied with or currently engaged in services for the other side. Maybe at some point, the way War is generated in ED will have more than one faction involved. I think that would be cool, but not needed.
a) In order to get such a Letter of Marque, you must first be allied with the faction that will be giving it to you.
b) You will engage in a Massacre Mission that has as one of its rewards the award of a "Letter of Marque." I would suggest that this be a smaller Mission. Maybe a follow on Mission. Maybe only offered if Combat Bonds were previously turned in by that player. It should not be too hard, but should require some effort and risk.
c) That "Letter of Marque" is only good for that one ship, in one configuration. Changing ships or modifying the loadout invalidates the Letter of Marque. Only one Letter of Marque is allowed to be utilized in a system. You can have multiple Letters of Marque, even on opposing sides of a conflict, but only in different systems.
d) A Letter of Marque is good for the duration of the conflict, unless otherwise invalidated. When the war ends, so does the Letter of Marque. Booty that has not been redeemed reverts to being stolen goods.
Step 2: Find legitimate targets. All ships that are allied with the opposite side, or are doing missions for the opposite side, are legitimate targets. Finding those allied is simple. Finding those doing Missions requires more effort.
a) A ship that is allied with the opposition will show up even if scanning them in supercruise. They will display as "marqued" in red, which for the player with a Letter of Marque, is the same as being wanted. You can pursue and interdict them freely, without incurring a bounty.
b) A ship that is scanned after dropping out of supercruise will also be the same. You can demand cargo, or just open fire immediately, depending upon the way you want to play it.
c) If they are engaged in a Mission that involves cargo deliveries, either going to, or coming from the opposition, a Cargo Manifest Scanner will show this if they currently are carrying the cargo. If they are not carrying the cargo, they will remain "clean" from your perspective.
d) If they are engaged in any mission for the opposition, a Kill Warrant Scanner will show this, regardless of whether or not they currently have cargo involved in said mission or even if they have a data delivery mission. They will show as "marqued" and can be freely engaged. If they show up as having a bounty in another system, they still may show up as "clean" as to respect for that system. Be careful if you want to stay legitimate.
e) The ship that is marqued may not engage in combat until fired upon. They can deploy fighters and get their weapons ready, and they will see the Jolly Rodger someplace, letting them know that they have been properly marqued as a target of some freelancer or corsair. They won't know who, however, although that is likely to be obvious. If they fire first, they will incur a bounty.
f) System Security/Defense ships will honor "Letters of Marque" and not interfere, generally. If either ship has a local bounty and they discover this, they will react normally to that.
g) System Security/Defense ships will never show up as "marqued" even when they are from the opposition. Attacking them, even if attacked by them, will still result in a bounty.
Step 3: Collect "Booty"
a) In a system where one has a "Letter of Marque" any cargo that would otherwise be marked as "stolen" instead becomes "booty" that can be picked up freely. System ships scanning you will know your cargo is "legitimate" and will not fine you, in that system. Other systems, if you do not have a "Letter of Marque" will see it as stolen, even if taken quasi-legimately.
b) Cargo that is illegal other than just being stolen, still remains so.
c) Cargo that was obtained by being stolen in another system will also be be treated as legal "booty" in a system when one has a legitimate "Letter of Marque" and Freelancers and Corsairs often take advantage of this.
Step 4: Collect Rewards.
a) While the "Letter of Marque" is valid, "Booty" may be sold at any market in the system where the Faction that issued the letter is present. The price paid will be half of the normal price. (the other half goes to the issuer of the letter, and should have impact of some sort on the BGS system)
b) Destroying a ship that was "marqued" results in a Combat Bond that behaves exactly as other Combat Bonds do. They scale for the ship destroyed, and are valid even when the "Letter of Marque" no longer is valid. You may have to go find a Blackmarket for "Booty" you did not redeem in time, but the Combat bonds will remain valid unless the Faction is completely driven out of the system.
Those are the basic mechanics, as I envision them. If you want a Letter of Marque, you must first put yourself at Risk by being allied with a faction yourself. Of course, you can do all of that in Solo, to minimize the Risk. I have no objection to that. You have to decide if such is dishonorable or not, and if you made any statement about people being too chicken to come out into Open, that hypocrisy is only a matter of your conscience, as far as I am concerned. No one should attack you for that. Hopefully, no-one will anger me enough for me to do so, and I will try to keep my cool. Others may think differently.
As for illegitimate GANKING, (attacking targets not otherwise valid that are player characters) I would suggest the following simple change: If you kill another Player Character in such a way as to incur a bounty, you will be liable for reparations. This would be the cost of the ship that the Player lost. If they were able to use insurance, that buyback price would be enough. If you just happened to have had bad enough Karma to kill someone who could not afford the insurance buy back, the reparations would be the FULL buy back price of the lost ship. Reparations can be paid in advance at any Factor. If not paid, they are satisfied first, before you can try and buy back your ship if you are destroyed. That will not stop all GANKING. However, it will make it less harmful, (which is most important) and extremely costly to those who just want to keep on GANKING. Lawless kills may or may not incur this. I am of two minds on this. My best read is that lawless kills should not, for now. It remains to be seen if this would be enough.
This is the carrot and stick approach. The carrot would take a bit to implement. The stick would probably be pretty easy, programmatically...
;'{P~~~
I think you grossly overestimate the "problem" of ganking. This usually only happens in a few notorious systems that I could easily count with one hand. The rest is made up and artificially amplified forum hysteria. Or hand on heart: How often were you actually ganked in the last time? But I would agree, that is how some gankers would like to be perceived. All you actually do is to serve their urge for public attention...
