I just had what I think is a good idea without processing it too much, just came to me now, so don't be too critical please, I may well have not thought it through!
So earlier today I was reading a thread and a guy said 'it's ridiculous that we can be King and Admiral in two opposing navies at the same time', and as I read it, I was thinking, 'you know, they're right, it is pretty weird'. Then another poster came along and cleared my brain fart by saying...'woah, wait, we are not members of the federation or empire, or whatever, so we aren't really in their 'Navy', we are members of the pilot's federation, and the Navy rank is just a way for the powers to keep track of how much we've contributed as independents, to their success as a faction, and it's also the PF that gives us nice cheap insurance...' I was like, yeh, that's right, what a revelation, that whole system makes sense now!
Then I started thinking about crime and punishment, then insurance, then C+P again, then insurance again, and had a potential brainwave. While the poster I referred provided a great explanation of the ranks, it doesn't really cover why the PF is willing to subsidise 70% (or whatever it is, I don't die very often
) of the cost of my ship, when I failed to anticipate the mass of the planet of I was trying to land on, or for that matter any number of destroyed ships under ANY circumstances, and also, why is the insurance free and we pay only a large deductible (effectively)???
So here's a thing...
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE PILOT'S FEDERATION!
Dear Commanders, it cannot have escaped your attention the rapid growth that the noble profession of independent spacefarer has enjoyed these last few years. Unfortunately due to the sheer number of Commanders and
deranged space murderers suboptimal pilots being granted licenses, we are no longer able to insure the spacecraft of members of the PF free of charge.
Starting in 330x, all pilots will be required to pay insurance premiums, payable at x% of the value of your ship, x times per x period. Assuming your account has the funds, they will be automatically deducted and an invoice received to your mailbox when due. This will no longer require a one-off fee for replacement of the ship. Instead your ship will be returned to you as it was including any non-unique cargo (i.e. unique mission cargo, bye bye, as it should be) for a nominal delivery fee. Your insurance will be invalid under the following circumstances...
* You are wanted globally for criminal destruction (but not damage or theft) of another PF member's assets. (*OOC: This is assuming the rumoured 'global wanted status' variable is implemented in the case of destruction of a clean player's ship)
* You do not have funds on 'premium day'
In the case of the latter, your ship will be uninsured until you are able to pay (the invoice you will have received at the time we were unable to deduct your funds). In the case of the former, you immediately forfeit your insurance (in the event of your vessel's destruction, no options to replace your ship or its modules will be offered whatsoever) and remain uninsured until your global status returns to 'clean', by your bounty being claimed or timing out (*OOC did I mention I think the global bounty for destruction of a clean ship out of battle, should be set at the same value of the of the destroyed ship (let's say the Pilot's Federation just want their expenses back on the destroyed ship's claim), including cargo of destroyed vessel, with additional value added for engineering mods consummate with their effectiveness, so this means that the successful bounty hunter gets a good payout AND the griefer has to lose the ship they were flying) AND a new insurance premium is paid.
Announcement ends, keep flying Pilots and pay your premiums on time!
synopsis:
This means that a griefer if destroyed while wanted, will have no insurance options, ship lost. It also ensures that even playing in solo to avoid being bounty hunted during that time, there will still be a high level of risk. Plus, even if they do choose to hide-out in solo during that period, well that's win for us legit players too, as they aren't in open play! So bounty timeouts need to be a decent deterrent, say a real life week for each player ship destroyed, stacking both bounties and weeks with each clean player ship destroyed.
Unaltered, I am not unaware that this leaves the state that in the case two players legitimately want to have a duel and face the consequences, that if both ships were clean, whoever fired first would be considered a murderer and even if it was an epic battle and they survived by the skin of their teeth, they'd be branded a murderer, have a huge bounty and lose their ship insurance temporarily. The way to mitigate this is to say that if a player attacks another player, and the attacked player turns and fights and does, let's say 10% damage to the attacking ships overall integrity taking into account shields and hull (so lets say a 300mj shield represents 300 integrity, plus another 700 from the hull, if the attacked player returned fire and did 100 damage), at that point, it would be considered a fair duel and only the normal bounty as seen in the current system would apply to the player who fired first and subsequently destroyed a 'clean' ship, no matter how epic the battle, non global wanted level, no loss of insurance. Because nobody should be penalised for defending themselves from wanton attack and there should still be 'some' penalty for the brazen unreasonable attack. So, players can't turn and fight, then complain when they lose, either. Basically, if you try to run and they destroy you, the consequences for the griefer are harsh, whereas if you turn and fight, well, that's your lookout.
This also means that insurance payments can be anticipated by players and unexpected death isn't the sudden financial handicap it can be sometimes currently. It's win, win, win, isn't it?
Now, if I've missed some glaringly obvious reason why this won't work or is open to abuse, feel free to let me know, but please be nice, it is a genuine attempt to solve the problem that keeps me and many others out of open, and it ties up a weird mechanic (ship insurance) neatly.
