(MUCH) Greater Tolerance for Accidental Hits on NPCs.

Overkill

Overkill
I believe this suggestion was made before, but for the love of me, I can't find the original thread. Also, the original thread was a little vague anyway, so I'd like to raise the issue fresh.

THERE SHOULD BE A GREATER TOLERANCE FOR HITTING AUTHORITY SHIPS.

I'm sure this has happened to more than one person. You've found a wanted pilot and you engage it. In the heat of the battle, ships form local authorities (Feds, Imperials, local sector police, etc.) join in the fight, engaging the same target you're dogfighting. The fight is frantic and in one of those moments when you have a perfectly clear shot and steady firing window, you pelt that sucker with bullets and laser fire. Then all of a sudden an authority ship quickly crosses your line of fire and before you can lift your finger off the trigger the wayward authority ship has flown straight into your laser beam or took a bullet. Even just one bullet from a multi-cannon or one pulse from a pulse laser, BAM! You now have a fine and a bounty on your head, and all other authority ships (not to mention players) in the system consider you free game. All because one stupid authority pilot flew into YOUR line of fire and took some teensy weensy damage (just to their shields, no less) while you were engaging a valid target.

There really should be a better system to take into consideration accidental hits, and not just immediately penalize you for a single hit on a wrong target. Perhaps some sort of "no more than X hits over Y time" threshold on a single neutral NPC before the it considers you hostile, such as "no more than 3 hits over 5 seconds". Considering that some weapons such as the Plasma Accelerator can do immense damage in one hit, it could also be "no more than X damage over Y time", such as "no more than 10 damage over 3 seconds". To prevent possible player circumvention of this rule by doing a bit of damage every Y+1 time, a cap could also be placed: "No more than 10 damage over 3 seconds, maximum 20 damage regardless of time". The first condition would ensure that accidental hits on a non-hostile during a dogfight won't immediately be detrimental to the player, while continued damage on a non-hostile would be a clear reflection of aggression on the player's part (or just sheer incompetence, which may still justify the player being shot out of the sky).

This sort of system is sorely needed and I'm sure will be much appreciated, especially for those players whose careers concentrate on bounty hunting.
 
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Lasse B.

Lasse B.
I'd say "no continued damage for more than 300ms and no damage against the same vessel for the next 10 seconds". This is long enough for everybody who has the necessary reaction times required to play such games to be able disengage weapons fire, and too short to do any serious damage. What I'd rule out too is weapons that are capable of one or two shotting a vessel, like the plasma accelerator and a couple of missiles.

To further illustrate, I took a plasma ball yesterday and my perfectly healthy shield & hull of my Cobra were reduced to no shields and 42% hull. This shows how devastating such weapons can be. As you explained nobody wants players to be able to abuse the "friendly fire leniency" mechanic, so perhaps just limit it to sustained fire weapons such as pulse, burst & beam lasers and multi cannons and leave everything else as it is right now.
 

Overkill

Overkill
Lasse B. said:
To further illustrate, I took a plasma ball yesterday and my perfectly healthy shield & hull of my Cobra were reduced to no shields and 42% hull. This shows how devastating such weapons can be. As you explained nobody wants players to be able to abuse the "friendly fire leniency" mechanic, so perhaps just limit it to sustained fire weapons such as pulse, burst & beam lasers and multi cannons and leave everything else as it is right now.
Click to expand...

Yup, which is why I suggested the damage cap -- one hit from a plasma accelerator for example would trigger the hostility. After all, one should REALLY be careful where you point those things. Plus, plasma fire is slow-moving and, statistically, would have a very hard time hitting fast fighter craft; you'd typically use them on slow, lumbering ships and in which case, you KNOW what you're firing at. Although improving friendly AI to actually dodge friendly plasma fire would also help. :p

Regardless of the details, there NEEDS to be a system. And soon. Those overeager authority ships can be a real buzzkill. >.<
 
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