Piracy options for exploration data and data delivery missions

[rekurzion]

... and the other shoe dropped. [down]

because of the words EVE online? that's petty. its a nice mechanic. you get a puzzle like the old slider puzzles where you have to reorder the puzzle to crack the code. there are other mechanics specific to EVE that would not make sense in ED but nice nonetheless. one of the better mini games i've come across. i'm not sure how much its changed as i haven't played in over 3 years.

but consider this. without piracy, bounty hunters have less to hunt. its all part of the food chain. traders > pirates > bounty hunters. i think you give too little credit to traders and explorers being able to defend themselves and assume that every pirate or aggressive pilot is capable. i've spent over 5000 hours in open flying an asp scout in all sorts of roles and i can tell you that's hardly the case.

 

[GlitchedVision0101]

Good point. I think then this would have to be initiated similar to an interdiction, but with the hacking interface popping up instead, and without the target being notified. Possibly, it could require the use of a specialised utility module instead of the data link scanner.
As a further consequence of being detected, you should get dropped out of supercruise so you can't simply just immediately make another attempt.

the question then becomes how do you handle distance between you and your target? what if the target gets out of range or randomly drops out of supercruise to look at a nearby point of interest? there are too many variables here to make this idea practical. one could even hyperspace jump away during the attempt. Finally, a skilled pilot could, if perceptive, notice they're being followed pretty closely and fly into a situation that if not handled correctly would be instant death. The hacker, having their interface blocked by the minigame, would then be just set on a straight forward or auto follow path with no way to react to the defender's fancy piloting. Interesting idea though.

 

[VR CMDR Novindus]

the question then becomes how do you handle distance between you and your target? what if the target gets out of range or randomly drops out of supercruise to look at a nearby point of interest? there are too many variables here to make this idea practical. one could even hyperspace jump away during the attempt. Finally, a skilled pilot could, if perceptive, notice they're being followed pretty closely and fly into a situation that if not handled correctly would be instant death. The hacker, having their interface blocked by the minigame, would then be just set on a straight forward or auto follow path with no way to react to the defender's fancy piloting. Interesting idea though.

Those scenarios would add to the fun in my opinion. You get what data you can in the time you have, because as mentioned in my initial suggestion, it's a gradual download as you continue to hack, so even if the target drops out of supercruise, or evades somehow, you could still have taken some data from them.
Also, I don't think the mini-game should prevent the pilot from seeing their target's course changes, or any dangers in front of them - if it's designed well that is.

 

[rekurzion]

Pirates don't pirate where the chances of bumping into another ship is almost zero.

currently no. there is no reason for a bubble pirate to roam around in the black for less than 1% chance to pirate someone. but you've offered a method for how a pirate, or the bounty hunter hunting them, may go about this

Explorers often post these sorts of details as they explore because other explorers are interested

in essence you are creating a new type of pirate and bounty hunter, expanding the boundary of the game past the bubble. an explorer pirate. one who is an explorer first but a little shady. if the opportunity presents itself they can take advantage.

think of it like the romulans. they have their own science staff that go about an explore for the empire. but if they come across a competitor, or have advanced intelligence of where a competitor will be, they will intercept and steal if possible.

it's no thing to just go to solo or a pg to avoid it as there really is no difference between solo/pg and open for an explorer anyway.