So people were talking about having "piracy ranks" and so forth in ED, which got me thinking:
Why not base a pirate rank based on current total bounty you currently have? It would be just like in the "One Piece" anime/manga where the total level of respect/fear/hostility that pirates or authorities have towards you is directly proportional to the level of your bounty on your head.
The higher the bounty on your head, the higher your current rank. If you die, you lose all rank. If you pay off your bounty, you also lose all rank. The higher your rank, the more advantages you get to offset the inherent disadvantages of having a bounty.
As a pirate, you would get many advantages the higher your bounty goes. For example, one obvious advantage SHOULD be that the higher your "pirate rank", the higher you would be able to sell stolen goods on the black market, up to the full 100% retail value for the highest elite rank. If the good is also illegal, you would be able to sell it for up to 250% retail value (which would open up interesting trade smuggler careers like weapons smuggler).
But the higher your rank goes, the better the PIRATING GEAR you are able to get from Pirate stations! Like more powerful versions of modules that you CANT get at normal stations as a "good citizen". This would be BALANCED by the fact that if you get scanned by the authorities, even if you are completely clean, you would constantly be fined for having "illegal modules" installed in your ship (on top of being attacked for having an existing bounty on your head).
These can be unique modules like:
Pirate scanner, which lets you scan for all trading ships not in SC and reveals them in the form of a "Trader USS" for a few minutes. Using the scanner, however, would alert the authorities and increase the odds of interdiction. It would also decrease the authority reaction time if you jump into a Trader USS and attack the vessel.
Stronger, overcharged weapons, with much higher damage output ability but requires greater heat management.
Stronger chaff that lasts longer than normal chaff with more ammo.
Heat sinks with more ammo (which helps you with your heat management).
Improved hatch-breaker limpets with ammo that makes more efficient use of cargo space and other possible perks above the "civilian" version.
IMPROVED FRAME SHIFT INTERDICTERS THAT PREVENT YOU FROM TAKING DAMAGE (a HUGE perk from a piracy perspective, which is why it should be restricted to being sold ONLY to high level pirates).
Cargo scooper module that automatically pull cargo into your hull once you are within 150m when deployed. I know this may not be popular with some people who are sadists about scooping cargo, but seriously, who wants to take the time to scoop up 80 pieces of cargo, esp when half of them will end up exploded and can only be sold at half price? Keep in mind that this gear would be considered ILLEGAL and carry HEAVY FINES if you are caught, so you're simply exchanging one set of problems (not being able to scoop fast enough) with another set of problems by having this gear installed.
There is a LOT of room for ideas for "pirate unique" modules. Keep in mind that ALL of these modules have the inherent disadvantage of causing you to be fined if you are scanned with any of them by the cops. In fact, you might not even WANT to get most of these modules (UNLESS you are in a pirating ship as I am about to explain).
This can be extended to a line of unique pirate ship types that have clear combat advantages, but has the huge disadvantage of being a ship that will accumulate fines (which turn into bounties) every time you get scanned by authorities. The risk of fines, of course, would be mitigated by a silent running mode that lets you completely disappear from sensors and contacts (even at point blank range) for a few seconds at the cost of shields and shield regeneration. This can be used to great effect when docking at stations, but then you wouldn't have the benefit of playing bumper cars while docking.
This can also be extended into SC as well as a form of "cloak", which whenever used would disable shields and cause gradual heat gain in exchange for not being detected by sensors and contacts (of course, you can still be seen and manually targeted on screen, and it should not stop you from being interdicted by the cops after a set period of time). This would make for great ambush tactics, naturally.
Another possible advantage of buying a pirate ship could also be that you can assume another identity WHILE you are in THAT ship. If your "pirate identity" is different from your commander ID, any bounties accumulated while flying the ship would stick to the Pirate ID. The result? An incentive to KEEP your bounties so you can get that better gear while allowing you enough flexibility to go back to trading in your "civilian ship". If this seems unappealing to you for whatever reason, then perhaps you should come up with ways for that identity to become "compromised" (like say, being scanned by the cops and having a % chance of being recognized and fired on if your "pirate identity" has an existing bounty).
Of course, the biggest disadvantage of having a pirate ship is that everyone knows what you are up to the moment they jump into the system.
As it stands, there are a lot of down sides to having a bounty at all on your head (as there SHOULD BE), but relatively few incentives other than good old "pew pew" fun and almost NO incentives to maintain your bounty levels. By adding these new mechanics and ideas, you would actually help the profession. And naturally, if you help the pirates and have plenty of incentives to KEEP their bounties (at the risk of losing everything, of course), it would make it all the more rewarding for bounty hunters when they kill someone who manages to maintain that high bounty.
Hope you like the idea. Hopefully someone on the DEV team gets inspired by my ideas.
Why not base a pirate rank based on current total bounty you currently have? It would be just like in the "One Piece" anime/manga where the total level of respect/fear/hostility that pirates or authorities have towards you is directly proportional to the level of your bounty on your head.
The higher the bounty on your head, the higher your current rank. If you die, you lose all rank. If you pay off your bounty, you also lose all rank. The higher your rank, the more advantages you get to offset the inherent disadvantages of having a bounty.
As a pirate, you would get many advantages the higher your bounty goes. For example, one obvious advantage SHOULD be that the higher your "pirate rank", the higher you would be able to sell stolen goods on the black market, up to the full 100% retail value for the highest elite rank. If the good is also illegal, you would be able to sell it for up to 250% retail value (which would open up interesting trade smuggler careers like weapons smuggler).
But the higher your rank goes, the better the PIRATING GEAR you are able to get from Pirate stations! Like more powerful versions of modules that you CANT get at normal stations as a "good citizen". This would be BALANCED by the fact that if you get scanned by the authorities, even if you are completely clean, you would constantly be fined for having "illegal modules" installed in your ship (on top of being attacked for having an existing bounty on your head).
These can be unique modules like:
Pirate scanner, which lets you scan for all trading ships not in SC and reveals them in the form of a "Trader USS" for a few minutes. Using the scanner, however, would alert the authorities and increase the odds of interdiction. It would also decrease the authority reaction time if you jump into a Trader USS and attack the vessel.
Stronger, overcharged weapons, with much higher damage output ability but requires greater heat management.
Stronger chaff that lasts longer than normal chaff with more ammo.
Heat sinks with more ammo (which helps you with your heat management).
Improved hatch-breaker limpets with ammo that makes more efficient use of cargo space and other possible perks above the "civilian" version.
IMPROVED FRAME SHIFT INTERDICTERS THAT PREVENT YOU FROM TAKING DAMAGE (a HUGE perk from a piracy perspective, which is why it should be restricted to being sold ONLY to high level pirates).
Cargo scooper module that automatically pull cargo into your hull once you are within 150m when deployed. I know this may not be popular with some people who are sadists about scooping cargo, but seriously, who wants to take the time to scoop up 80 pieces of cargo, esp when half of them will end up exploded and can only be sold at half price? Keep in mind that this gear would be considered ILLEGAL and carry HEAVY FINES if you are caught, so you're simply exchanging one set of problems (not being able to scoop fast enough) with another set of problems by having this gear installed.
There is a LOT of room for ideas for "pirate unique" modules. Keep in mind that ALL of these modules have the inherent disadvantage of causing you to be fined if you are scanned with any of them by the cops. In fact, you might not even WANT to get most of these modules (UNLESS you are in a pirating ship as I am about to explain).
This can be extended to a line of unique pirate ship types that have clear combat advantages, but has the huge disadvantage of being a ship that will accumulate fines (which turn into bounties) every time you get scanned by authorities. The risk of fines, of course, would be mitigated by a silent running mode that lets you completely disappear from sensors and contacts (even at point blank range) for a few seconds at the cost of shields and shield regeneration. This can be used to great effect when docking at stations, but then you wouldn't have the benefit of playing bumper cars while docking.
This can also be extended into SC as well as a form of "cloak", which whenever used would disable shields and cause gradual heat gain in exchange for not being detected by sensors and contacts (of course, you can still be seen and manually targeted on screen, and it should not stop you from being interdicted by the cops after a set period of time). This would make for great ambush tactics, naturally.
Another possible advantage of buying a pirate ship could also be that you can assume another identity WHILE you are in THAT ship. If your "pirate identity" is different from your commander ID, any bounties accumulated while flying the ship would stick to the Pirate ID. The result? An incentive to KEEP your bounties so you can get that better gear while allowing you enough flexibility to go back to trading in your "civilian ship". If this seems unappealing to you for whatever reason, then perhaps you should come up with ways for that identity to become "compromised" (like say, being scanned by the cops and having a % chance of being recognized and fired on if your "pirate identity" has an existing bounty).
Of course, the biggest disadvantage of having a pirate ship is that everyone knows what you are up to the moment they jump into the system.
As it stands, there are a lot of down sides to having a bounty at all on your head (as there SHOULD BE), but relatively few incentives other than good old "pew pew" fun and almost NO incentives to maintain your bounty levels. By adding these new mechanics and ideas, you would actually help the profession. And naturally, if you help the pirates and have plenty of incentives to KEEP their bounties (at the risk of losing everything, of course), it would make it all the more rewarding for bounty hunters when they kill someone who manages to maintain that high bounty.
Hope you like the idea. Hopefully someone on the DEV team gets inspired by my ideas.
Last edited: