I thought I'd throw my hat in the ring for suggestions to make Elite a better experience for players in both Open and Solo play environments by adding an element of player agency to the death mechanic that can at times be, in my experience, extremely unforgiving and cavalier with a players time, especially at the hands of other players.
** Warning ** Wall of Text Detected **
My proposal: Rework Player Death & Rebuy (PvP & NPC Ship Combat Only)
Issues Addressed: Mitigates potential for significant frustration and anger at time lost depending on where/when combat occurs, especially when combat is unwanted (Exploration or Trade vessels being attacked by pirates/malicious players, Power Players, etc.)
Criteria – When Player’s Hull reaches 0% due to damage taken by PvP or NPC weapons fire/ship to ship ramming. (Edge Case of Ship Ramming Ship into Asteroid/Structure/Planet would need to be accounted for somehow...or not)
Change - At time hull reaches 0%, send defeated ship CMDR to a seperate instance to engage in an attempt at recovery from destruction utilizing methods outlined below. Ship(s) with hull greater than 0% would remain, and be able to salvage cargo/mats left behind based on loot table much like a destroyed NPC ship would.
* From the perspective of the survivor/victor of the battle:
** Defeated ship displays ship destruction animation (though the hull should remain somewhat intact with severe cosmetic deformation), defeated ship is no longer targetable, and cargo or materials are selected to be displayed based on similar “loot tables” as NPC cargo drops for ship destruction. (Saw a suggestion in another thread that this be based on combat rank, which I thought was a good idea as well)
* From the perspective of the defeated/loser of the battle:
** System failure, and power down sequence initiated, “blackout” of pilot as ship is reinstanced. Ship State at this point: Hull 0%, Core Components 0%, Optional Components Between 1%-5% (includes Cargo Hatch). Pilot then “wakes up” in a separate instance of normal space (location may determine some variance, such as if in an instance with an outpost, space station, or megastructure, in which case ship should be at or outside the no-fire zone when player “wakes up”) and now has decisions to make about the ship to prevent final catastrophic ship loss. The procedure would look something like this:
*** Limited Self Repair – Addition to every ship of a Class 1 LSR Module. Does Not Affect Hull Integrity – any actions that would incur Hull damage would result in ship destruction and rebuy. LSR activation will provide a onetime restoration of “minimal functionality” to all essential Core Components (Power Plant, Thrusters, Frame Shift Drive, Sensors, and Life Support) until replenished at a station or outpost. Once activated (Automatic once player “wakes up”), the ship is stable while stationary in normal space (additionally in Combat Zones, ship will register as neutral unless actions are taken by pilot to register them as otherwise, if pilot does not leave CZ to repair, and receives any further damage, ship will be destroyed and normal rebuy proceedings will commence.) Performing any tasks that utilize any of the Core Components will detract from the integrity for each component (can be represented via the integrity displays under modules as a “red” line instead of orange or as an overlay on the main HUD? Perhaps more simplistically displayed as LSR Reserves?) Power plant and Sensors are excluded from this integrity issue (though perhaps periodic sensor glitching can/should occur). This will allow for player decision to risk trying to recover any cargo that may have been lost at the time of ship decompression (Mission Specific Cargo perhaps?) Upon losing all integrity to a Core Component, reliance on one of the actions to follow will be necessary. LSR is really only meant for temporary operation of the ship, and therefore the ship will have very limited jump range (as in finite number of jumps regardless of fuel scooping), and is intended to allow a CMDR to reach the nearest star port for emergency repairs. If a star port is outside of the range of the ships LSR capabilities, the ship will automatically be dropped into normal space, and one of the following options will be necessary.
*** SAR – If in a populated system, ship can deploy a distress beacon, based on security levels and population of the system, probability and response timing of Search and Rescue ships (or Salvage and Recovery if in Anarchy System) to arrive on scene and impart repairs could be presented to the CMDR as an audible response from Rescue/Recovery One. If in a non-populated system, a SAR request can be made, and could be treated much like a “ship transfer” in that it would require payment and an allotment of time for SAR to reach your location. Rescue/Recovery One would be able to impart permanent repairs to all essential modules and restore a small amount of hull integrity. Essentially enough to make the ship viable for travel of any distance, but at considerable risk from environmental factors. This might also work for running out of Fuel as well. A tie in to the Fuel Rats would be really cool here for Open play. (Inside the bubble, SAR will incur a fee payable at the time of rescue, and should be fairly nominal, could vary depending on affiliation or reputation, and higher in Anarchy systems, but affordable. Outside the bubble, SAR would be much more expensive, either situation could be setup as a wage garnishment, much like having a crew member taking a portion of your profits. Full payment can be made at any time at the SAR contacts screen. The higher your SAR costs, the more of a percentage they take from profits up to a max % TBD?)
*** Bypass – If you’re too far from any space ports to make it via LSR, but close enough that you think you can make it without the need to wait for or pay for SAR, you could bypass the safeties on your Core Components. This would essentially allow a short amount of supercruise travel, and 1 hyperspace jump. Essentially enough time to Fuel Scoop or make a jump to the next system. Upon arrival to the next system (or at the end of the short period of supercruise, xx Ls?) the ship will ‘safely’ return to normal space and power down all modules, requiring the player to reboot all modules, set them to “Bypass” again, and repeating the procedure until they have reached a star port or decide to contact SAR or a player with SAR capabilities.
Potential Other Issues Addressed:
“Ganking” – A player in a significantly superior ship targeting and destroying ships that are ill equipped to fight back or even escape.
* “Ganker” is still subject to all the normal Crime & Punishment measures, as well as any player driven initiatives to halt the behavior, but still gets to blow up ships that are no match for them and generally be a bully. Notoriety is increased, emergent gameplay is provided for both the “Ganker” and the “Ganked.”
* Victims now have the ability to, via gameplay, avoid significant damages or loss brought about by another player being malicious. (Mission Failure due to ship destruction, or cargo loss can now potentially be mitigated, as can Exploration Data, and highly ranked crew members now be saved.)
Station Griefing – By providing the LSR gameplay, a CMDR who buys a sidewinder to then “ram” and be “destroyed” by ships entering the mail slot who are exceeding 100m/s, thereby imparting the targeted ship with a bounty, and being destroyed by station weapons, would in essence only succeed in wasting their own time.
* The Griefer would be re-instanced, “wake up” (at or near the no-fire zone) and activate LSR, and once their ship came online, would need to immediately wake out to avoid station security scanning them, and identifying them as a criminal (as they too would have been guilty of reckless flying when they rammed the incoming ship above 100m/s) and “dispatch” them to the nearest detention center for processing. Thereby adding considerably to the time it would take them to successfully complete the loop of targeting ships and suiciding into them to cause them to be blown up by station security. Notoriety would increase, and station resources would no longer be accessible due to the need to dock anonymously. It would become a very expensive and time intensive endeavor.
* The Griefed would in all likelihood still be taken out by station security, however, when they “wake up” (at or near the no-fire zone) and activate their LSR, they could then quickly wake out to avoid being scanned by security, locate a nearby station to repair, take care of any “bounties” at an interstellar contact, and resume their business (with no significant loss of a rebuy, or reputation/cargo loss if they’re quick enough). Obviously this is all completely avoidable if you keep speed below 98m/s near stations!
Thank you for your time if you've read this far! I enjoy this game a great deal, and am looking forward to new content and activities, and want to say I really appreciate all the hard work that has gone into this game thus far by both the developers (Keep up the great work, Game Dev is HARD!) and the community!
Fly safe! o7
** Warning ** Wall of Text Detected **
My proposal: Rework Player Death & Rebuy (PvP & NPC Ship Combat Only)
Issues Addressed: Mitigates potential for significant frustration and anger at time lost depending on where/when combat occurs, especially when combat is unwanted (Exploration or Trade vessels being attacked by pirates/malicious players, Power Players, etc.)
Criteria – When Player’s Hull reaches 0% due to damage taken by PvP or NPC weapons fire/ship to ship ramming. (Edge Case of Ship Ramming Ship into Asteroid/Structure/Planet would need to be accounted for somehow...or not)
Change - At time hull reaches 0%, send defeated ship CMDR to a seperate instance to engage in an attempt at recovery from destruction utilizing methods outlined below. Ship(s) with hull greater than 0% would remain, and be able to salvage cargo/mats left behind based on loot table much like a destroyed NPC ship would.
* From the perspective of the survivor/victor of the battle:
** Defeated ship displays ship destruction animation (though the hull should remain somewhat intact with severe cosmetic deformation), defeated ship is no longer targetable, and cargo or materials are selected to be displayed based on similar “loot tables” as NPC cargo drops for ship destruction. (Saw a suggestion in another thread that this be based on combat rank, which I thought was a good idea as well)
* From the perspective of the defeated/loser of the battle:
** System failure, and power down sequence initiated, “blackout” of pilot as ship is reinstanced. Ship State at this point: Hull 0%, Core Components 0%, Optional Components Between 1%-5% (includes Cargo Hatch). Pilot then “wakes up” in a separate instance of normal space (location may determine some variance, such as if in an instance with an outpost, space station, or megastructure, in which case ship should be at or outside the no-fire zone when player “wakes up”) and now has decisions to make about the ship to prevent final catastrophic ship loss. The procedure would look something like this:
*** Limited Self Repair – Addition to every ship of a Class 1 LSR Module. Does Not Affect Hull Integrity – any actions that would incur Hull damage would result in ship destruction and rebuy. LSR activation will provide a onetime restoration of “minimal functionality” to all essential Core Components (Power Plant, Thrusters, Frame Shift Drive, Sensors, and Life Support) until replenished at a station or outpost. Once activated (Automatic once player “wakes up”), the ship is stable while stationary in normal space (additionally in Combat Zones, ship will register as neutral unless actions are taken by pilot to register them as otherwise, if pilot does not leave CZ to repair, and receives any further damage, ship will be destroyed and normal rebuy proceedings will commence.) Performing any tasks that utilize any of the Core Components will detract from the integrity for each component (can be represented via the integrity displays under modules as a “red” line instead of orange or as an overlay on the main HUD? Perhaps more simplistically displayed as LSR Reserves?) Power plant and Sensors are excluded from this integrity issue (though perhaps periodic sensor glitching can/should occur). This will allow for player decision to risk trying to recover any cargo that may have been lost at the time of ship decompression (Mission Specific Cargo perhaps?) Upon losing all integrity to a Core Component, reliance on one of the actions to follow will be necessary. LSR is really only meant for temporary operation of the ship, and therefore the ship will have very limited jump range (as in finite number of jumps regardless of fuel scooping), and is intended to allow a CMDR to reach the nearest star port for emergency repairs. If a star port is outside of the range of the ships LSR capabilities, the ship will automatically be dropped into normal space, and one of the following options will be necessary.
*** SAR – If in a populated system, ship can deploy a distress beacon, based on security levels and population of the system, probability and response timing of Search and Rescue ships (or Salvage and Recovery if in Anarchy System) to arrive on scene and impart repairs could be presented to the CMDR as an audible response from Rescue/Recovery One. If in a non-populated system, a SAR request can be made, and could be treated much like a “ship transfer” in that it would require payment and an allotment of time for SAR to reach your location. Rescue/Recovery One would be able to impart permanent repairs to all essential modules and restore a small amount of hull integrity. Essentially enough to make the ship viable for travel of any distance, but at considerable risk from environmental factors. This might also work for running out of Fuel as well. A tie in to the Fuel Rats would be really cool here for Open play. (Inside the bubble, SAR will incur a fee payable at the time of rescue, and should be fairly nominal, could vary depending on affiliation or reputation, and higher in Anarchy systems, but affordable. Outside the bubble, SAR would be much more expensive, either situation could be setup as a wage garnishment, much like having a crew member taking a portion of your profits. Full payment can be made at any time at the SAR contacts screen. The higher your SAR costs, the more of a percentage they take from profits up to a max % TBD?)
*** Bypass – If you’re too far from any space ports to make it via LSR, but close enough that you think you can make it without the need to wait for or pay for SAR, you could bypass the safeties on your Core Components. This would essentially allow a short amount of supercruise travel, and 1 hyperspace jump. Essentially enough time to Fuel Scoop or make a jump to the next system. Upon arrival to the next system (or at the end of the short period of supercruise, xx Ls?) the ship will ‘safely’ return to normal space and power down all modules, requiring the player to reboot all modules, set them to “Bypass” again, and repeating the procedure until they have reached a star port or decide to contact SAR or a player with SAR capabilities.
Potential Other Issues Addressed:
“Ganking” – A player in a significantly superior ship targeting and destroying ships that are ill equipped to fight back or even escape.
* “Ganker” is still subject to all the normal Crime & Punishment measures, as well as any player driven initiatives to halt the behavior, but still gets to blow up ships that are no match for them and generally be a bully. Notoriety is increased, emergent gameplay is provided for both the “Ganker” and the “Ganked.”
* Victims now have the ability to, via gameplay, avoid significant damages or loss brought about by another player being malicious. (Mission Failure due to ship destruction, or cargo loss can now potentially be mitigated, as can Exploration Data, and highly ranked crew members now be saved.)
Station Griefing – By providing the LSR gameplay, a CMDR who buys a sidewinder to then “ram” and be “destroyed” by ships entering the mail slot who are exceeding 100m/s, thereby imparting the targeted ship with a bounty, and being destroyed by station weapons, would in essence only succeed in wasting their own time.
* The Griefer would be re-instanced, “wake up” (at or near the no-fire zone) and activate LSR, and once their ship came online, would need to immediately wake out to avoid station security scanning them, and identifying them as a criminal (as they too would have been guilty of reckless flying when they rammed the incoming ship above 100m/s) and “dispatch” them to the nearest detention center for processing. Thereby adding considerably to the time it would take them to successfully complete the loop of targeting ships and suiciding into them to cause them to be blown up by station security. Notoriety would increase, and station resources would no longer be accessible due to the need to dock anonymously. It would become a very expensive and time intensive endeavor.
* The Griefed would in all likelihood still be taken out by station security, however, when they “wake up” (at or near the no-fire zone) and activate their LSR, they could then quickly wake out to avoid being scanned by security, locate a nearby station to repair, take care of any “bounties” at an interstellar contact, and resume their business (with no significant loss of a rebuy, or reputation/cargo loss if they’re quick enough). Obviously this is all completely avoidable if you keep speed below 98m/s near stations!
Thank you for your time if you've read this far! I enjoy this game a great deal, and am looking forward to new content and activities, and want to say I really appreciate all the hard work that has gone into this game thus far by both the developers (Keep up the great work, Game Dev is HARD!) and the community!
Fly safe! o7
As for the Teleport stuff....yeah...about that... :x