How To...ENCOURAGE...Commanders To Assist Each other!

[Tzeff [NL]]

Every commander should receive at *any time (*unless he's already assisting another Commander!) a message from any local authority who says, for an example: "There's a commander in the Ngaliba system who's outgunned and outnumbered. Our Security Forces are currently unavailable. Do you want to assist?" And receive *Credits (*10.000Cr? 100.00Cr? 500.000Cr?) for each kill! But the commander can choose "no"!
Or: "There's an unescorted merchant commander on a Trade Route. We don't have enough Security ships in that sector. Do you want to assist?" And the commander can choose yes to catch up with the lonely commander and provide Escort...And Because you should be rewarded by doing this, you should receive *Credits per hour (*10.000Cr? 100.00Cr? 500.000Cr.) while flying on the commander's wing. That is...IF the "lonesome" commander accepts your protection!
RESPONSE: "Why fly all over there just to be too late or turned down? that!"
Answer: "Think about the (possible) Credits, boy! "

Or: "There's a commander assisting our forces in a local conflict, 100LY away. Do you want to assist?" And receive credits for each NPC you kill...while assisting the commander in the conflict zone! You don't have to be on his wing. Just be at the same Conflict Site and kill at least 1 NPC there. Then get your Credits...and maybe add that Commander as a new friend!
EDIT: For Conflict Zones, EVERY Commander withing 100LY should be notified. Including, those in a wing! We could possibly see multiple Commanders in the Conflict Zone, fighting NPCs!

Important details:
1. The message will only show the location of ONLINE commanders.
2. The message will be sent to the nearest random commander withing *100LY of the "commander in distress". (*Most players are farther away, so don't expect any commander to be 10LY nearby! And if the "commander in distress" can hold off the fight long enough, assistance might still reach on time!)
3. If you choose to ignore the message, it will be sent to the next nearest Commander....and continue searching for a "Helpful Commander" untill : A: The commander in distress has been killed B: The commander in distress has killed all the enemies, C: The commander in distress has managed to flee. You'll be notified "Mission Unavailable" if it's already over.
4. The "commander in distress" is outnumbered by NPCs!
5. The "commander in distress" has a much more powerful NPC attacking him!
6. Only if you're in a wing, you and your wingmen should receive messages to assist a "Commander in distress" that is also in a wing! He and his wingmen are outnumbered by multiple NPCs. He and his wingmen are being attacked by a Far More POWERFUL Enemy! (or Multiple Thargoids!)

This suggestion is to ENCOURAGE and IMPROVE the following: gameplay and interaction among commanders. And Commanders get to meet each other this way too! If it seems okay, LIKE it so the developers can see it!

 

[Ian Doncaster]

EDIT: For Conflict Zones, EVERY Commander withing 100LY should be notified. Including, those in a wing! We could possibly see multiple Commanders in the Conflict Zone, fighting NPCs!

100 LY radius would be about 1/8th of the bubble! While there might not be another commander in the same system as you, there will be hundreds within that radius at most times.

2. The message will be sent to the nearest random commander withing *100LY of the "commander in distress". (*Most players are farther away, so don't expect any commander to be 10LY nearby! And if the "commander in distress" can hold off the fight long enough, assistance might still reach on time!)

I would expect that at any time there'll be at least one or two players within 10 LY, within most of the bubble. Certainly within 20 LY. There are over 50 inhabited systems within 20 LY of Sol, for example. Even then...

4. The "commander in distress" is outnumbered by NPCs!
5. The "commander in distress" has a much more powerful NPC attacking him!

...the problem here is the travel time.

If the Commander actually needs help, then they've probably got two minutes at most to either flee the encounter or die - and probably less. It'll take any rescuer that long just to get to read the message and get to the same system, even assuming they're in a reasonably capable combat ship already - and then there's supercruise travel to the actual site

Combat zones are a bit different and this might work for those - but even then, the other CMDR is either in a ship perfectly capable of handling things themselves, or they'll have been forced to flee by the time you show up.


In general, the problem is that to cooperate with another commander you usually have to arrange to do so in advance (I've run a lot of escorts of returning explorers - but they generally booked my services a day or two in advance to make sure we'd be both online at the same time, which doesn't really work for anything other than returning explorers) - or hang around in places where it's likely to happen anyway. Community Goals used to be pretty good for this - with the new Interstellar Initiatives maybe this will make a return.

There's also the option now to join an active squadron in the sort of activity you like - find the combat boards, trade boards, etc. and check the top 50 or so for one that's recruiting and has a public statement that sounds right. Or use the System chat channel to see if there's anyone else around.

 

[Krieger]

I like what you did there!

I would certainly like this type of scenario. I think some building blocks are already in the game. For instance the Pirate Attack scenarios that can happen near megaships.

Before starting the scenario the game could try to find assistance in the way you described and get a pledge from one or more nearby commanders AND let the commander near the megaship accept the assistance (so no disappointments on either side). The game could then wait until the assisting commanders have (almost) arrived before starting the scenario. The scenario could be adjusted to the number of commanders assisting and their combat ranks.

If the commander near the megaship declines assistance the game can play the normal PvE version of the Pirate Attack scenario.

 

[Para Handy]

... otherwise known as the "Here is another titbit for you PKers to go feast upon..."

 

[Krieger]

... otherwise known as the "Here is another titbit for you PKers to go feast upon..."

I think PK-ers using this to kill the commander needing assistance need not be a problem. If the game detects an "assisting" commander attacks the commander in distress, the game could simply kick him from the instance. Similar to how multicrew kicks crew members committing crimes.

 

[lenna]

I think you are over-thinking things, I disagree that there is a need to do as you are suggesting.

That being said, I believe there is a legitimate case for a commander to be able to trigger an SOS signal regardless of the reason. The SOS/Distress signal will just show on the system map and may get shown on the galaxy map. These would notionally work in a similar way to wing-member/friend indicators - albeit with a different colour/symbol.

 

[Robert Maynard]

I expect that most players would switch off the "send help" beacon to avoid PKers coming to "help".

 

[lenna]

I expect that most players would switch off the "send help" beacon to avoid PKers coming to "help".

In Open, maybe. In Private Group, probably not.

If the "beacon" transmitters (i.e. by the person sending the signal) are filterable (e.g. everyone, friends-only, squadron-members-only) then it would probably get more use.

 

[Marra Morgan]

That being said, I believe there is a legitimate case for a commander to be able to trigger an SOS signal regardless of the reason. The SOS/Distress signal will just show on the system map and may get shown on the galaxy map. These would notionally work in a similar way to wing-member/friend indicators - albeit with a different colour/symbol.

I would like this

If the "beacon" transmitters (i.e. by the person sending the signal) are filterable (e.g. everyone, friends-only, squadron-members-only) then it would probably get more use.

What's the point in filtering on Friends or Squadron? You could simply just message them directly for back-up.

 

[lenna]

What's the point in filtering on Friends or Squadron? You could simply just message them directly for back-up.

Messaging is slow and not convenient if you are in a fight, the beacon could be toggled via a key-press OR automatically triggered.

 

[Marra Morgan]

Messaging is slow and not convenient if you are in a fight, the beacon could be toggled via a key-press OR automatically triggered.

You can faff about with toggles and filters if you want; I'll settle for a direct message.

But yeah, distress beacons are a great idea.

 

[lenna]

I expect that most players would switch off the "send help" beacon to avoid PKers coming to "help".

I also forgot one aspect - bait and switch - could be exploited by Pirates to spring a trap on the unwary. Maybe a bit disreputable to do this but it would add a little flavour to Pirate gameplay.

The SOS beacon could even be used to attract NPC help too.

 

[Sylow]

While i very much like the idea behind this suggestion, i also think that this is where it will fail:

...the problem here is the travel time.

All the rest might somehow be handled. Modes and gankers, there could be a workaround. When to trigger the request also is complicated. If i'm in my lightweight Courier and the system waits till shields are down, it doesn't do any good. When shields go down on my Courier, i am either already making my escape or it'll blow up within a few seconds. When in my hybrid Krait MK II on the other hand, i might be in an assassination mission and just because six enemies are shooting at me and my shield just went down, i don't feel troubled yet at all. It just means that i'll loose twenty to thirty percent of hull before my shields recover. That is, if the target still is alive at that time.

All of that might, in one way or another, be worked around. But travel times are the killer. If the situation is dire, you win, explode or run in limited time. Another player won't arrive in that time. If the warning comes early enough for another player to make it to you, you probably were not in trouble yet. So the most likely outcome for somebody coming for the rescue would be to arrive in a HAZres, finding the pilot he wanted to save just scooping up salvage from the destroyed enemy while the shield recharges.

Nice idea in theory, but as long as we don't have some "insta teleport to player" feature, traveling times will kill it.

 

[Tzeff [NL]]

... otherwise known as the "Here is another titbit for you PKers to go feast upon..."

What's "PKers"???

 

[Tzeff [NL]]

I think you are over-thinking things, I disagree that there is a need to do as you are suggesting.

That being said, I believe there is a legitimate case for a commander to be able to trigger an SOS signal regardless of the reason. The SOS/Distress signal will just show on the system map and may get shown on the galaxy map. These would notionally work in a similar way to wing-member/friend indicators - albeit with a different colour/symbol.

And what if that "SOS signal" is a...TRAP! You come in and find yourself swarmed by 3 powerful capital sized ships!

 

[Tzeff [NL]]

While i very much like the idea behind this suggestion, i also think that this is where it will fail:



All the rest might somehow be handled. Modes and gankers, there could be a workaround. When to trigger the request also is complicated. If i'm in my lightweight Courier and the system waits till shields are down, it doesn't do any good. When shields go down on my Courier, i am either already making my escape or it'll blow up within a few seconds. When in my hybrid Krait MK II on the other hand, i might be in an assassination mission and just because six enemies are shooting at me and my shield just went down, i don't feel troubled yet at all. It just means that i'll loose twenty to thirty percent of hull before my shields recover. That is, if the target still is alive at that time.

All of that might, in one way or another, be worked around. But travel times are the killer. If the situation is dire, you win, explode or run in limited time. Another player won't arrive in that time. If the warning comes early enough for another player to make it to you, you probably were not in trouble yet. So the most likely outcome for somebody coming for the rescue would be to arrive in a HAZres, finding the pilot he wanted to save just scooping up salvage from the destroyed enemy while the shield recharges.

Nice idea in theory, but as long as we don't have some "insta teleport to player" feature, traveling times will kill it.

Unless, the game gets millions of players as soon as possible!

 

[Robert Maynard]

What's "PKers"???

Player Killers.

 

[Sylow]

Unless, the game gets millions of players as soon as possible!

Between the size of the galaxy, P2P and the instancing system, a few million people won't even make a difference...

 

[Tzeff [NL]]

... otherwise known as the "Here is another titbit for you PKers to go feast upon..."

I expect that most players would switch off the "send help" beacon to avoid PKers coming to "help".

From my previous suggestion "how to encourage (I wrote "force"!) players to fight each other, I received multiple angry comments that give me the impression that most players don't want to do PvP ("because the game doesn't reward players enough for doing that!")

So, I wouldn't worry about..."PKs"...!

 

[lenna]

And what if that "SOS signal" is a...TRAP! You come in and find yourself swarmed by 3 powerful capital sized ships!

That is a natural consequence of any random encounter with other players - However, that risk would notionally only be an issue for "public" SOS beacons, if they are from a squad member or a friend then there would notionally be a level of trust already established.

Ultimately, there is no need to force/encourage/direct gameplay to being either co-operative or competitive. Your opening proposal is too artificial and forced IMO.