My bounty is as boundless as the sea

[Dante80]

Here is a quick question/suggestion for discussion.

What would the results be to game balance, meta-gaming and community if:

"When you have a bounty and take out a player with a bounty, you gain the money from the bounty AND your own bounty is diminished by the same amount."

Example: You have a bounty of 500cr. You take out a ship that this wanted for 300cr. You gain a 300cr token to cash in, and also your bounty is automatically reduced to 200cr.

And a picture example.

 

[hawkenfox]

Interesting idea. Would it be still be a collection basis , as in you will have to dock in a station to make that transaction or you are talking about this happening in space while flying around in space?

 

[azdour]

Hmmm... so you gain 300 to hand in at a station and your bounty gets reduced form 500 to 200.

Is that not effectively giving you 600?

Not sure I'd like this idea - if it was in I would want to be able to opt out otherwise you are forcing it on players who may just want to play without it.

 

[Dante80]

Interesting idea. Would it be still be a collection basis , as in you will have to dock in a station to make that transaction or you are talking about this happening in space while flying around in space?

The reduction to your bounty is automatic, the token must be collected.

Not sure I'd like this idea - if it was in I would want to be able to opt out otherwise you are forcing it on players who may just want to play without it.

You cannot opt out from something like this, its a balance mechanic. We are having a hypothetical discussion here about how it would affect the game, from player behavior to roleplaying tropes.

 

[TartanDragon]

How About You get the option. Collect the voucher or reduce your bounty. Cashing in both seems too generous.

 

[Bomber]

Bounty reduction

A good point to raise Dante80. I think the credits and bounty levels and payback is worth more consideration now we're moving into Beta 2 (fingers crossed)
What about 'all' bounty goes first to paying of your bounty or loans (when they come into game). Only after you've paid all your debts to society do you get the cash in hand?

 

[Cmdr Andy B]

that idea would make pirate bases or cooperation between pirates impossible as once someone got a large enough bounty on their head they would simply start killing their comrades until it was gone. i think that's both game breaking and lore breaking in one idea as we already have pirate bases in the fiction.

 

[Voz]

"You did wrong so you got a bounty on your head as we wanted you destroyed. Then you did us a favour so we still want you destroyed but not as much as we used to"

Sounds odd to me.

 

[Bomber]

Pirate on Pirate

that idea would make pirate bases or cooperation between pirates impossible as once someone got a large enough bounty on their head they would simply start killing their comrades until it was gone. i think that's both game breaking and lore breaking in one idea as we already have pirate bases in the fiction.

Who's to say they wont be doing it as is. If your a pirate and you come across a.n.other pirate with 1 mill bounty how many wont at least think of taking it
In the past pirates always double crossed each other its part of being a pirate

 

[Dante80]

that idea would make pirate bases or cooperation between pirates impossible as once someone got a large enough bounty on their head they would simply start killing their comrades until it was gone. i think that's both game breaking and lore breaking in one idea as we already have pirate bases in the fiction.

But the cooperation between pirates is a meta-game trope, and has nothing to do with profitability. It is always more profitable to assault a target that has a bounty, than one that hasn't (provided that the other variables are fixed). This is also consistent with what pirates historically have done until now..(pirate havens were neutral ports between different crews, and everything outside them fair game).

Essentially, this means that we would have wars between pirate factions everywhere, and policing a system would be self-regulated via both the actual mechanic and player banding and communication.

Also, the amount of actual warfare done between all player groups would go up a lot imo. A change like that actually ties the criminal system to a dynamically changing self interest, destroying arbitrary roles and producing more emergent gameplay (and the need for cooperation).

 

[azdour]

The reduction to your bounty is automatic, the token must be collected.

You cannot opt out from something like this, its a balance mechanic. We are having a hypothetical discussion here about how it would affect the game, from player behavior to roleplaying tropes.

My reply was a hypothetical reply to the discussion about how it could affect the game for certain players

But if that is not required then I retract my objection.

 

[Dante80]

My reply was a hypothetical reply to the discussion about how it could affect the game for certain players

But if that is not required then I retract my objection.

Sorry, sorry, I misunderstood. Any and every feedback is vastly appreciated man, cheers..

 

[Tacheel]

Doesn't this double the reward for a bounty kill for pirates compared to bounty hunters?

 

[azdour]

The reduction to your bounty is automatic, the token must be collected.

Sorry, sorry, I misunderstood. Any and every feedback is vastly appreciated man, cheers..

No worries.

Is there a time limit on the token that you must hand in?

And if you do not hand it in your bounty reverts to what it is?

 

[Zenicetus]

So, having your cake and eating it too? Since bounties are apparently intended as the main way to steer player behavior (and also an inducement to PvP), I don't think it's wise to add something that actually reduces the net bounty carried by a player, simply by collecting a bounty on someone else.

As it is, it's going to be very easy to pay down fines and bounties when player-to-player credit transfers arrive, and when FD starts selling credits for real money. Gotta keep those bounties high!

 

[Zenicetus]

Doesn't this double the reward for a bounty kill for pirates compared to bounty hunters?

Yeah, that too. Anyone role-playing a "clean" bounty hunter is effectively getting half the credits under this system, compared to anyone actually carrying a bounty.

 

[Matt168]

Doesn't this double the reward for a bounty kill for pirates compared to bounty hunters?

Seems that way.

How about they use the cash earned on bounties to pay off any price on their head? I'm not sure the proposed way bounties work is ready to be judged as broken yet.

 

[EAGLE 5]

Not sure about this one... practically what you're doing is letting the perps commit their crime, jumping out then camp at a nav point to clean off their record and go on their merrry way. Too many people would do this. Crime comes with punishment unless you take a risk and pay your record off clean which means evading police, random scans etc. I much rather see this dynamic, in fact, I'd add that if your bounty is big enough stations should start refusing you docking privileges which mean being on the run until you can make it to a more lax system or station.

 

[hawkenfox]

that idea would make pirate bases or cooperation between pirates impossible as once someone got a large enough bounty on their head they would simply start killing their comrades until it was gone. i think that's both game breaking and lore breaking in one idea as we already have pirate bases in the fiction.

Wait a minute. Pirates do kill each other for profit in real life ... you know that right .. it's probably more realistic that way. In the pirate world there is no law, be useful or be used.

 

[Cmdr Andy B]

Wait a minute. Pirates do kill each other for profit in real life ... you know that right .. it's probably more realistic that way. In the pirate world there is no law, be useful or be used.

while that may be true they dont get a bounty payment from the authorities for doing so, in my view that's the deal breaker.