Griefing & Piracy Solution Mega Thread.
Please do not vote until you have read and understood the entirety of this thread.
Please do not vote until you have read and understood the entirety of this thread.
Before you start reading, take a deep, deep breath with an open mind. This thread is over 3,300 words long, and will take time to read.[/I]
Right, so...
I have created this extensive solution to murder and piracy in the game that can be applied to Open.
It heavily punishes player vs. player murder, and yet provides a substantial quality of life improvement to the act of piracy.
We all know, from the last couple of weeks, or even the last couple of years since the game’s conception and creation, the problems with the crime and punishment system, so I will not go into great historical detail – it has honestly been debated enough already.
I, myself, am a firm believer that an Open PvE could work for those that do not care for Regular Open.
However, this opinion is not pleasing one or either side of the boat (plus neutral opinions), and despite numerous polls in numerous threads lately, it is still hotly debated (and I, myself, am guilty of getting involved in these heated debates - Yes, I know I'm no angel).
Moreover, this will also not do. We need to create a Crime and Punishment system that is fitting for the community – whereby petty crime (piracy) slaps a rightful bounty on your forehead, and outright murder (griefing) is punishable by outright stripping you of your wealth – because wealth is the only asset in this game that can be used, currently, in which to equally punish horrendous crimes such as murder.
The aim of this thread, followed by a poll, is to allow us all to engage in this idea to create, not only balance, but a fitting Crime system and a fitting Punishment system.
Additional Game Rule: Homicide Homicide is a new rule when engaged vs. human pilots. Homicide instantly detracts credits from the murdering pilot’s wealth; thus reducing it, if it comes to it, to 0 credits total balance. Should a serial killer get destroyed after having committed many Homicides, they will be spawned in a Sidewinder as per normal if they cannot afford the re-buy. Also triggers “Wanted: Homicide”; a permanent penalty that has no duration to run out, nor is cancelled by self-destruction or through death by AI ships; thus granting any player playing "Police" to kill the murderer without penalty (in any system). Getting killed by a clean pilot while you have the Wanted: Homicide status will wipe it. Having a Wanted: Homicide status means AI police will deliberately go out of their way to hunt you down - and, depending on your Rank and Ship, you could face a small fleet of police in a Medium or High Security system. Upon victim ship death, and before the Insurance Screen is triggered, a new screen will appear with the following options: “Was this death the result of a player vs. player Homicide?” “Yes” or “No” followed by; “Are you sure?” followed by; “Yes” or “No”. If the result is ultimately “Yes” and "Yes", the players responsible for the killing will not be refunded their lost credits. (This is to prevent murderers logging off immediately after the kill to prevent losing credits). If the result is “No” and "No", then it assumed that friendly fire could have been the cause – in which case, credits are automatically deposited back into the killer’s credit account. If a disconnect happens on this screen, or is crashed deliberately, the result will automatically be called for as “Yes” (though a better solution is to have the “Was this death the result of a player vs. player Homicide?” re-appear to make a decision, if this is possible). Once this has been resolved, the dead pilot will be shown the Insurance Screen as per normal to re-spawn.
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The Equation Factor
How does one narrow down suitable fines for punishment for cold-blooded murder? What multiplier could be used to prevent this with real consequences? In this idea, I shall use two multipliers:
UPDATE: 30/11/2016
Due to feedback about punishment concerning Homicide, all the values have been reigned in. Ranks no longer apply in the equation, which means a more simple formula is to be used; only the cost of the ship destroyed by unlawful means will now count towards the percentage of homicide cost.
This means the murderer is suitably punished for the crime in terms of credits, but is not overly punishing as to bankrupt someone because of accidental death or murder (the option to forgive on the black screen with “No” and “No” still applies).
In the below table, this value is as follows: +0.25%.
This means a Homicide against any ranked ship will be met with the cost of the victim’s ship.
Ship vs. Ship is: x0.25% Homicide +/= Ship Value = True Penalty.
| Example 01: Sidewinder victim vs. Sidewinder murderer = +0.25% to victim’s cost of ship. Sidewinder Ship Cost: 32,000cr +0.25% = 8,000cr + 32,0000cr = 40,000cr Homicide penalty. |
| Example 02: Sidewinder victim vs. Anaconda murderer = +0.25% to victim’s cost of ship. Sidewinder Ship Cost: 32,000cr +0.25% = 8,000cr + 32,000cr = 40,000cr Homicide penalty. |
| Example 03: Anaconda victim vs. Anaconda murderer = +0.25% to victim’s cost of ship. Anaconda Ship Cost: 146,969,451cr +0.25% = 367,424cr + 146,969,451cr = 147,336,875cr Homicide penalty. |
A Punishment That Fits the Crime.
A respectable Crime & Punishment system must be harsh; otherwise it would serve no punishment at all - Law must exist in order to prevent Chaos, which means including a way to prevent the crime occurring in the first place, whereby people will be less inclined to out-right murder someone "just because they can" or "the game allows it, so I'm doing it" as a way to play the game. I admit, creating the mathematics that are required for all the different ships would take a day or two to number crunch, but it can be done and easily implemented in a Beta.
However, this also means that if a Crime and Punishment system, like this thread's example, was to be implemented, it would reduce the amount of Combat Logging because there would be a boundary people could respect and would know the risks entailed - with a proper system in place, one that punishes the wicked, then people would feel that it is (or could be) fair to join Open Play. As it stands, there is no decent punishment system, and the police response in Medium or High security systems are a complete joke, and do not prevent abusive players from ruling the galaxy with both a care-free "git gud" attitude and go without some form of punishment by any form of hard-coded system.
A Crime & Punishment System needs to discourage violence in the wrong places at the wrong times or it is not a crime or a punishment system. However, going by this logic, it should mean piracy has a place, as a crime, that fits its own gloves for punishment, and this is what we will look at next (and is, by no stretch, as harsh as Homicide).
Piracy Revamp
Pirates, rejoice!
Piracy is something that many players in Elite “find more enjoyable” than randomly killing innocent pilots at random. Because of this, there will be some slight changes to how Piracy works against players to make a career out of it - with some help (see below).
Cargo Scanner Re-work
The Cargo Scanner will now have another extra function in normal space – it will work as a “Hack” module.
Update: Added 30/11/2016: Turning the Cargo Scanner Hack on can be done through your right-hand panel (similar to where you turn on your Wing Beacon) - this be be done with two simple options: On/Off. This means you can still scan cargo normally, but not instantly Hack the target unless the Hack is turned on.
Therefore, before we get into more detail, the maximum cargo that can be hacked for is tied into the quality of the scanner:
Updated: 30/11/2016 - Hack immunity has been increased from 1 hour to 3 hours - however, the amount of Cargo that can be hacked has been increased massively to make pirating more profitable and viable as a solo pirate or in wings. All the other rules still apply to Pirate/Piracy.
- *Rating E: 32 Cargo
- *Rating D: 64 Cargo
- *Rating C: 128 Cargo
- *Rating B: 256 Cargo
- *Rating A: 512 Cargo
- Only one Cargo Scanner allowed to be fitted on ship.
- If a third party tries to scan either the pirate vessel or the victim, it will not work.
- If either ship takes damage during the 5 minute time window, the Cargo Scanner fails – FSD cool down will resume and game play returns to normal. (This is primarily for help to arrive to disrupt the piracy).
- Cannot exceed your own ship’s cargo space. Therefore, if you are equipped with an A rated Cargo Scanner, but only have 32 cargo space; then only 32 cargo can be dropped and acquired.
- If you have already been scanned and pirated, you will gain a three hour immunity. Any pirate, who therefore scans you afterwards, will be counter-attacked by your ship’s AI, and your virus packet will shut down and reboot the pirate’s vessel (similar to what happens if you scan an Unknown Probe) upon successful completion of their scan. This also grants immunity to wings of pirates attempting to do the same thing to one player.
- Pirates will be warned during the scan that a “Virus Bomb” is imminent in 5 seconds – if they receive this instant voice message and text message on screen, they should stop scanning.
- Prevent your hard-points from firing.
- Prevents you boosting.
- Prevents your utilities from working (only applies to Chaff, Heat-sinks, ECM, Kill-Warrant Scanner, Wake Scanner).
- Slows your Thrusters to 0% upon successful scan and hack.
- Prevents you from using your FSD, either Low-wake or High-wake.
- Prevent the target from deploying or firing Hard-Points
- Prevents target boosting.
- Prevents target utilities from working (only applies to Chaff, Heat-sinks, ECM, Kill-Warrant Scanner, Wake Scanner).
- Slow targets Thrusters to 0% upon successful scan and hack.
- Prevents target from using their FSD, either Low-wake or High-wake.
Next, the person who used the Cargo Scanner can pick, at will, and at a set amount determined by the quality of his or her Cargo Scanner module (but never more than the pirate can carry) the goods that he or she wants to be dropped by the target ship.
Two Choices:
- “Do you accept to drop %% amount of Cargo?”
- If “YES”, you drop desired amount of cargo that the pirate demanded. You have just been pirated! A bounty is then automatically added to the human pirate based on the credits of cargo automatically jettisoned through this process.
- If “NO”, then the penalty of Homicide still applies. At this stage, it is up to the Pirate as to whether or not the target is worth engaging – not killing – in order to use Hatch Breaker Limpets to try to take some or all the cargo. If the Pirate is not careful, and causes the victim to die, they will suffer the Homicide penalty. Selecting “NO” will not trigger “PIRATE” if are not already a pirate. Shooting the defending vessel, of course, will still award a regular fine in the system that it happened.
Upon accepting either choice, FSD cool down cycle will initiate, taking around 30 seconds. The Pirate(s) will have the option of trying to disable the cargo ship’s FSD or Thrusters if he, she, they can do it before the ship gets away – at this stage, it really is entirely up to the pirate in how to handle the situation.
It is worth remembering that, if you are already “Wanted”, and the cargo ship in question has teeth (some powerful weaponry) and perhaps a fighter available to them, which they could potentially end up killing you – such is a danger involved in piracy. Although they would be able to claim nothing from killing you because of the Pirate special rule, aside from serving you “a lesson”, the player will not be penalized.
This means it is unwise to try to pirate Corvettes, Anacondas, or Cutters, and you risk seeing an Insurance Re-buy screen. This means the RISK is entirely handed to you. It may be worth Pirating in a wing to force larger vessels to bow down to you to spill their cargo.
It also means players are open to losing expensive and exceedingly rare Engineering materials in their cargo holds because the Pirate can choose what he or she demands (remember, you can always say “No”). These can be used by pirates to use at the Engineers themselves, but will provide no percentage increase or chance at gaining a “Special Quality”, if possible, from the Engineer.
However, unlike regular bounties that one would collect from an AI on killing a player with the Pirate special rule, a player killing you will not reset your Pirate status, nor will they receive a Homicide penalty, but neither will they be able to claim a bounty.
Ramming Revisited
- Ramming another player, and killing them, will result in a Homicide penalty – the victim will have a re-buy reduced by 100%.
- Ramming another player, and killing yourself while doing, will kill you. Not entitled to any re-buy reduction.
- Ramming another player, and killing yourself and your target, will hit you with a Homicide penalty – the victim will have a re-buy reduced by 100%.
Future Opportunities
- Stations spawn missions at Low Security Stations that pay for robbing players carrying certain cargo. This is one way in which to make piracy feel “supported” by the game itself, and to give it a more legitimate feel to “blaze your own trail”. Such a system could be intelligent, and rely on Frontier's data centre to send players to systems that are actively busy with traders. This payout will help pirates gain small fortunes and to reward success.
Such examples include, depending on reputation of faction:
- *Piracy Mission: Interdict and steal 50 tonnes of Gold
600,000cr minimum reward; 2,340,000 maximum reward.
- *Piracy Mission: Interdict and steal 70 tonnes of Painite
5,400,000cr minimum reward; 9,500,000 maximum reward.
- *Piracy Mission: Interdict and steal 360 tonnes of Platinum
20,200,000cr minimum reward; 40,000,000 maximum reward.
- *Piracy Mission: Interdict and steal 56 Imperial Slaves
1,350,000cr minimum reward; 4,950,000 maximum reward.
* The time limit to hand them in is non-applicable (infinite).
* Rewards cannot be higher than sell value of target cargo - this is to prevent a back door whereby allies can rob each other by simply buying stock from stations and then handing in the missions for the benefits and credit reward.
Pirate Code History
There are many different opinions on "what" a pirate is and "what" a pirate does. Some people assume pirates try to steal cargo, then go. Some people assume pirates just go around aimlessly murdering their victims and just use cargo as an excuse. Some believe they try to both steal and murder their victims. In light of these different views, because various people have mentioned throughout this thread, and others - I thought I would share the historical importance of what pirate codes are:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_code
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piracy
"A pirate code, pirate articles or articles of agreement were a code of conduct for governing pirates. A group of sailors, on turning pirate, would draw up their own code or articles, which provided rules for discipline, division of stolen goods, and compensation for injured pirates."
Now, this being the future, our vessels are still space "ships" sailing throughout the galaxy. Piracy, I would then assume (even in Elite Dangerous), means pilots practice some sort of Pirate Code. Therefore, this means all pirates are different - and cannot be ruled as "this is what they are and how they would act".
So, in light of this (and perhaps something to be expanded upon), I shall continue developing the practice of piracy in this thread in the near future - and not be told "what" piracy is and "what" piracy does, because such meanings are superfluous.
Conclusion
As you can see, this means if you want to be a pirate, then it is a “way of life” in the game of Elite Dangerous. A way to play the game because of the lengthy 7 days it takes to wipe yourself clean by staying clean. This means hiding in Low Security systems or Anarchy systems, or systems with no population at all in them (yet also serving as a potential piracy spot against traders).
Just to clear up another detail, the time does tick down if you are off-line, as normal, or you can go exploring in the deep black for a week if piracy is not your career.
Killing innocent players is automatically penalizing on your credits should you do it. Without such harsh penalties existing, this new system will fail to distinguish piracy and griefing – you need to be EXTRA careful dealing with your targets – this is added danger to pull off a successful heist.
Planning and tactics are key in dominating shipping lanes.
Forming pirate gangs and forming pirate wings will be the way forward to make a living off of expensive cargo (Diamonds, Painite, Unknown Artefacts, Meta-Alloys, etc.), while at the same time respecting the lives of the people you are stealing from to make a living.
The odds are suitably stacked against the pirate, especially solo pirates – working in a team is best to pull off stealing cargo against larger vessels capable of carrying more cargo.
The same goes for traders – forming trading Wings to protect one another from single pirates, or having a few combat vessels protect you on your travels, is also a valid way to prevent piracy.
I’m hoping this is read.
I know it is lengthy, but it is a solid, constructive attempt to solve the rifts dividing everyone in the forum in how to “do something” because the winds of magic have changed because of recent revelations.
If you can think of any ideas, or problems to this, after giving it a serious read and a serious think, please contribute.
Please take time to vote and to provide feedback. The more of us that show support for an idea like this, the more likely it could be implemented by Frontier. After all… a new 2.2(b) Beta is coming with updates to weapons, bugs, and much more. With a little effort, perhaps this could be included?
Kind regards,
A humble player with some ideas o7
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