Pirate Bounties - A (maybe) new idea

[scorpyon]

I've been thinking about the state of bounties in the game, for pirating in general and for bounty hunters looking to actually be able to "do their thing" and I had a thought about a way that would make this more interesting.

I would propose something along the lines of a "time-impacted bounty pay-off scheme".
What this means is that players would only be able to pay off a set amount of their bounty per hour.
Say, for example, 1,000 credits per hour.

This means that when you get that ever-so-annoying mini-bounty for accidentally shooting up a civilian in the heat of battle, you can still pay it off straight away since it will only be around 200 or so.

But usually murdering someone nets you in the region of maybe 10k, so you would need to pay it off over the next x-amount of hours, giving a temporary but more severe punishment for "Crimes Against Humanity", etc. Of course, this still allows the pirate to run to another system / faction area for safety if they want that option, but would help prevent players from "camping out" in certain systems and paying off their bounties immediately every time they murder someone.

This also means that if you choose to stick around the region for that time (since bounties are mostly region-based), you run the risk of a BH finding you and getting a chance to actually "do their job", assuming they survive in the process, of course.

While this isn't a "fix-all" solution to many of the problems people have posted, I think it would be at least a step in the right direction to fixing the problem that bounties are so easy currently to get rid of and would make pirates think twice about attacking civilians - there is much more risk / reward.

This would therefore not prevent pirating as a career-choice and would in fact give it more of a lucrative status for players who want to prove themselves.

 

[Digriz]

Seems a rather arbitrary system.
How about not being able to pay off murder warrants at all, you'll be wanted until the bounty is claimed.
Won't stop the true pirates who revel in the notoriety, but will give the pretend variety who like to hide behind an artificial clean status something to consider before pulling the trigger.

 

[scorpyon]

Because there are times when you achieve a bounty without realising you've done something wrong.
Case in point : in my earlier adventures, I was hunting Wanted NPCs. I found one that had a bounty, but didn't realise he was Clean until I had killed him.
Ended up with a 10k bounty on my head.

Now that was my fault, so this system would teach me a lesson about being careful who you kill without the pressure of "forever" being wanted until I die.

Also, if you were perma-wanted, you would just go out in a cheap sidey to get someone to kill you until your bounty was gone.

 

[kapitankev]

it's not artificial, it's paid for, completely legit. Clean as a whistle.

Here's how I reckon it should work....

First off, make piracy more profitable...get rid of stolen cargo. In fact this is coming soon.

Second, no fines for killing but huge bounties instead. As the bounty rises stations will turn hostile, police response needs to be faster and more aggressive. Bounties cannot be paid off. There are 3 ways to lose your bounty :

- Work it off via missions
- Get Killed
- Timeout - the bounty reduces the longer you stay clean....I'd say over the course of a week.

Here's the IMPORTANT part....to stop you from getting in a sidewinder and letting your mate claim the bounty here's what has to also happen....

You cannot collect bounties from anyone who is in or has ever been on your friend list!
The bounty is tied to the ship you did the killing in and to any other ship you buy OF THE SAME TYPE.

So, you kill someone in your clipper.....your clipper is now marked with a bounty. You could abandon your clipper and purchase another ship but if you buy another clipper the bounty will still be on it. Your fave ship is MARKED, you have to work it off, stay clean for the timeout or die.

It's not perfect but nothing will be. Some players will escape bounties as they upgrade ships but really this'd be pretty rare. Most players are quite attached to their ship.

Finally as people are raising the valid problem of friendly fire incidents....they shouldn't be logged unless you do a certain % of damage to a freindly ship.
So, you're free to the shoot the cops once or twice within a certain time period....15 seconds? whatever.....FD can work that out.....based on shield recharge times etc...


toot toot!

 

[scorpyon]

Pretty much agree with most of that.

I don't really get the difference between fines and bounties, since they both seem to have exactly the same effect?
You get a Wanted status for a piddly amount. Cops and Bounty Hunters still get to kill you for... what... dropping litter? Taking too long to dock? (Etc)
Not sure why they even bother with fines tbh.

Tying the bounty to the ship class you kill in is a nice idea. It might need some further thought perhaps.
I certainly think it would help prevent pirate cheaters "selling" their bounties to their mates. Can't really tie it in to friends system thopugh, since all the other player has to do is de-friend them first.
I'm not sure if it works as as an overall deterrent overall to pirates who go pirating in their cheap- Viper / Cobra, then hop into their python / conda to do trading for a quick pay-off / replacement either.

FD did put a "fix" in for the friendly fire problem and it sort of works "most" of the time. Though I do still get the occasional pointless bounty for a misfire, but certainly not as much as I used to.

 

[kapitankev]

You wouldn't be able to collect the bounty from anyone who has ever been in your friend list....not sure if FD keep logs of deleted friends mind you....they should. It's the only way I can see to stop people collecting their friends bounty.

With the bounty/ship tag, yep it's not perfect. Rich players could have a lot of fun in a cobra and then go back to their python. However the cobra is now a "dirty" ship for them. To clean the cobra they have to :

- Die in it

- Stay clean for the timeout in it. Another important part....the timer stops when you're not in the "dirty" ship, you can't get in a clean ship and let the timer run out, you have to play clean for the duration of the timeout in the dirty one.

- Complete enough missions to clean yourself up, again in the "dirty" ship.