Miner's Revenge / Fleeing Pirates

[martin779]

Was just wondering (and forgive me if I'm repeating a previously made suggestion but I have tried to search the forum first) but would it make game-play interesting to be able to jettison cargo as a way of potentially escaping pirates but with a twist that, with the appropriate tech/munition purchased, you can booby trap your decoy.

So, a canister jettisoned would have a time-to-live before it's contents were lost so pirates are encouraged to collect the canister rather than pursue your ship. There would also be no way of detecting the canister was a booby trap, unless of course you have a scale of tech for booby trapping the canister and if the pirates sensor level > your booby trap level, they could then detect the booby trap.


Sorry, that's a bit of a ramble but I'm supposed to be working

 

[BoldRover]

Sorry, too much potential for griefing in that

 

[Theaghan Black]

Cool.

 

[Erimus Kamzel]

Sorry, too much potential for griefing in that

Some would call pirates picking on miners griefing

I like the idea and there should always be a counter measure i.e. as mentioned the pirates should scan the cargo before scooping it. If they have quality scanners it'll detect the shenanigans.

The booby trap should only last so long in space too before self destructing. Newbs have a habit of scavenging junk and the last thing FD want is a lot of unhappy newbs.


We used to call them boom boxes in UO. Greedy people just couldn't keep their noses out of boxes laying around and you'd have endless fun watching them blow up or get poisoned.

 

[Theaghan Black]

The booby trap should only last so long in space too before self destructing. Newbs have a habit of scavenging junk and the last thing FD want is a lot of unhappy newbs.

That's almost the way I've taught my dog to not eat food found by the street: I prepared some "booby traps" -> spicy meat balls. Successfully.

We used to call them boom boxes in UO. Greedy people just couldn't keep their noses out of boxes laying around and you'd have endless fun watching them blow up or get poisoned.

 

[Paden]

would it make game-play interesting to be able to jettison cargo as a way of potentially escaping pirates but with a twist that, with the appropriate tech/munition purchased, you can booby trap your decoy.

Just had the exact same thought today. Jettison a cargo canister which is either a bomb or EMP device. I guess balancing is a key here. As much as I'd like it to utterly destroy pirate ships, that would be too much, and could effectively stop PvP piracy altogether. But it would be good to damage / disable the pirate to an extent that allows you to escape.

The other idea I had would be for a bounty hunting team scenario - if a 'victim' could set off some kind of disabling EMP type thingy that would disable both the pirate and the victim, allowing others to come in and sort out the mess - great for team ambushes, but very risky in a 1 v 1 scenario - you'd both be sitting ducks.

Apologies if this has already been suggested. Don't want to make piracy impossible, but on the other hand I want all the tools available to be able to stand up to those pesky bandits.

 

[metatheurgist]

Suggested canister mines long ago. Doesn't seem to be popular. It's a two edged sword, pirates could also leave them lying around as a trap.

 

[martin779]

Apologies if this has already been suggested. Don't want to make piracy impossible, but on the other hand I want all the tools available to be able to stand up to those pesky bandits.

Yes, I agree. Although if the pirate is in a sidewinder as opposed to a Cobra, I'd expect the booby trap do deal more damage due to the smaller hull size and closer proximity of ships components/tech to the explosion.

However, it shouldn't be a equalizer, just a slim chance of creating a window for escape or at the very least a "**** you" as you have to eject as your life support fails :smilie:

Suggested canister mines long ago. Doesn't seem to be popular. It's a two edged sword, pirates could also leave them lying around as a trap.

How about spoofed canisters then? Canisters that show up as something valuable but which are actually just the contents of the on-board toilet?

 

[Paden]

Or how about some kind of ECM that would allow a 'victim' to upload a virus knocking out one of the attacker's systems (weapons / thrusters / drive / shields). Might be difficult to determine how this happens - ideally would be dependent on 'hostile' scanning or missile lock, but that's probably too hard to determine. Maybe done through comms channel if a pirate sends a threatening message? Any ideas if this / how this could work?

 

[Theaghan Black]

I think explosive cargo should be treated as banned goods and be buyable only on the black market: it's dangerous for the stability of the government since it's the perfect weapon for terrorists/rebels.

On the other side an EMP cargo is far less dangerous at the authorities'eyes and could be freely sold as anti-piracy weapon.

 

[Frobitz]

Here you go

http://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=15425

I proposed something similar and blethered about this idea and some related issues at length. Didn't really catch on though.

 

[gazzareth]

I like the idea of dropping a thermonuclear surprise for pirates, although could be very much overused which would lead to pirates ignoring the containers and just going for the kill to get the stuff you didn't voluntarily eject.

G

 

[Zulu Romeo]

If there was a way to tell if the canisters were genuine, or fake or trapped - say, once they were taken on board or if they could be scanned at a very close distance - then I'd like this feature.

I agree that these should be contraband cargo themselves, and either significantly uncommon or significantly expensive to acquire.