Security, Lockdown, and Smuggling

[MadDogMurdock]

The current security situation is less than ideal.

In the original game, the government types were a clear and noticeable factor in the game.
Anarchies, Feudal, and Dictatorships were likely to spawn pirates on you.
Confederacies, Democracies, and Corporate States were pretty safe.

High and Low Security should serve the same purpose in ED but don't really provide that feeling.

Instead of encounters being driven by the pilot's rank, the Security, wealth, population, and BGS state should be the drivers.

If that's too ambitious then maybe a tweak to Docking Permission might be in order.

In higher security systems, stations should require a scan before granting permission.
In Lockdown states, that scan must occur at a Checkpoint, forcing legitimate pilots to visit one before going to their destination. Failure to do so should result in aggressive interdictions and refusal to grant docking permission.

To accompany this change, a new type of Cargo Rack should be introduced.
The Shielded Cargo Rack would be an Engineer modification, where they line the rack with scan resistant material.
This material takes up to 25% of the rack space, adds the equivalent mass, and provides a significant, up to 90% chance, of hiding the content from cargo scans.

A similar mod might be available for Passenger Cabins.

This would provide a smuggling mechanism into High Sec and Lockdown systems, with some risk but high rewards.

 

[Marc_Hicks]

The current security situation is less than ideal.

In the original game, the government types were a clear and noticeable factor in the game.
Anarchies, Feudal, and Dictatorships were likely to spawn pirates on you.
Confederacies, Democracies, and Corporate States were pretty safe.

High and Low Security should serve the same purpose in ED but don't really provide that feeling.

Instead of encounters being driven by the pilot's rank, the Security, wealth, population, and BGS state should be the drivers.

If that's too ambitious then maybe a tweak to Docking Permission might be in order.

In higher security systems, stations should require a scan before granting permission.
In Lockdown states, that scan must occur at a Checkpoint, forcing legitimate pilots to visit one before going to their destination. Failure to do so should result in aggressive interdictions and refusal to grant docking permission.

To accompany this change, a new type of Cargo Rack should be introduced.
The Shielded Cargo Rack would be an Engineer modification, where they line the rack with scan resistant material.
This material takes up to 25% of the rack space, adds the equivalent mass, and provides a significant, up to 90% chance, of hiding the content from cargo scans.

A similar mod might be available for Passenger Cabins.

This would provide a smuggling mechanism into High Sec and Lockdown systems, with some risk but high rewards.

Been saying that for ages myself. A person with Criminal Intent, or Wanted Status-entering a Hi-Sec system-should be almost akin to suicide, particularly if the Government type is Communist or a Dictatorship.

Though Manifest Scanners & KW Scanners should not be able to obtain all details on a ships pilot, passengers and/or cargo, they should be able to provide enough info to local bounty hunters/security ships to make a criminal pilot sweat buckets.

The flip-side, of course, is that pilots should be able to enter a Super-Cruise version of Silent Running, that makes it significantly harder for other ships to do a decent scan of your vessel.....though managing the heat produced should make life interesting (one might say it would be best as a two man job, if you get my drift). Certain modified hulls, cargo racks & power plants should also be available to make scanning a ship-in Super Cruise or N-Space-somewhat more difficult.

Any Black Markets that exist within such systems should be quite hard to find (they're not exactly going to put a sign up in the shop window), won't always be open for business (Anarchy Factions in the region will be able to tip off pilots, of sufficient reputation, as to whether black markets are currently open or closed), but will always offer the very best price for the goods you have, especially if you have a good rep with criminal factions.

 

[Justinian Octavius]

Agree, but not 100% sold on the shielded cargo rack tbh but certainly every system you visit shouldn't feel the same as it does now. Personally, I'd prefer a Bribe mechanic to be (re)introduced… dare I suggest it be made an in-game skill that you can get better at? So if you want to be a crook you start off smuggling at low security/low wealth systems then as you get more skilled you stand a better chance of flogging narcotics in the high security/high wealth systems… such smuggling should not require the blackmarket in this instance… the risk is if you get caught in a high sec system they'll stick a massive 'send in the Pinkertons' bounty on you.

 

[Marc_Hicks]

Agree, but not 100% sold on the shielded cargo rack tbh but certainly every system you visit shouldn't feel the same as it does now. Personally, I'd prefer a Bribe mechanic to be (re)introduced… dare I suggest it be made an in-game skill that you can get better at? So if you want to be a crook you start off smuggling at low security/low wealth systems then as you get more skilled you stand a better chance of flogging narcotics in the high security/high wealth systems… such smuggling should not require the blackmarket in this instance… the risk is if you get caught in a high sec system they'll stick a massive 'send in the Pinkertons' bounty on you.

Shielded Cargo racks are fine.....as long as they don't make the Cargo Racks impenetrable to scanning.

 

[Marc_Hicks]

The way I see it, the basic security levels should be more strictly delineated-though there might be obvious exceptions due to government type, system state.....and possibly even Power-play. This would be as follows:

Anarchy: Basically all bets are off. Law abiding pilots should usually only enter such systems as a last resort.....though the far above average commodity prices could be enough to attract the very brave and/or very reckless. Even for the law breakers, these systems should be far from completely safe, as they're in danger from other law breakers, as well as bounty hunters seeking to make a name for themselves. Essentially zero security outside of the zone around larger settlements & stations.....& even then not much. Missions into such systems would also be quite higher ranked than normal

Low Security: A little safer than Anarchy, but still not an area that a law abiding pilot would enter into without being well armed & armoured. Commodity prices would still be above average here, but piracy & hijacking would also be fairly rife. Security within Shipping lanes would exist, but would be light & fairly slow to respond, security around stations & settlements would be higher though. Low Security systems would be good places for law breakers to hide out in, as interdiction by local security would be extremely unlikely to occur, though bounty hunters would still be a potential danger.

Medium Security: This would basically be the "Galactic Norm", so to speak. Security levels would be reasonably high, as would response times to crimes committed within shipping lanes. Some security ships might even come with low to mid range engineering. Committing crimes near Stations & Settlements would be pretty much suicidal, though outposts would only be very lightly policed. A well equipped pirate or hijacker would do reasonably well in such a system, though a wing might be preferable. Interdiction by security forces would be fairly uncommon, but regular.

High Security: Law Breakers enter these systems at their own risk. Security Forces within Shipping Lanes are numerous & quick to respond, so pirates & smugglers would require special equipment in order to operate in such systems. Even security around outposts would be fairly high. Also, many of these security vessels would be engineered, even up to G5 modules. Any true black markets operating in such systems, though, would offer extremely good prices for any illegal goods you can successfully smuggle in.....but beware of fake black markets set up to sting the unwary.

Hope that all makes sense.

 

[Marc_Hicks]

about the SHIELDED CARGO RACKS


I'm all for most of your primary suggestions, but vehemently against 'shielded cargo racks' and similar 'special' gizmos.

The reason being that all those special, engineered features seem so far to take the game continuously further and further away from using its base mechanics - heat-based stealth, evasion etc - and towards the ever increasing system of simplistic binary actions/reactions.

You grinded the special cargo shield, I have to grind the special scanner, then you enginner the even more special cargo shield and I get a super special scanner and so on and so forth. This is obviously a simplified example.

Instead, in my opinion, the designers should focus very hard on restoring the balance and fleshing out the use of its base mechanics with all their fantastic potential - heat and stealth that are completely underused to the point of being nearly broken.


I don't think special tools are bad, and there may be merit to your specific suggestion, but I'm worried to see how all the depth has been taken away from stealth, smuggling, interdiction escape mechanics by means of similar tools and lack of properly developing the depth of the core mechanics instead.

That is why I am for shielded cargo racks that can still be scanned.....they just take longer and/or require shorter range. Evasion & Stealth would then still be necessary to avoid getting pinged. I am also an advocate for KW & Manifest Scanners being useable in Super-cruise....whilst also allowing Silent Running to useable in Super Cruise (albeit with some heat management difficulty). Heck, I even want checkpoints to be useful as a means of pulling ships out of Super-cruise if they stray too close.

 

[Justinian Octavius]

The reason why I'm not 100% on shielded cargo racks is because it removes the jeopardy from smuggling; it should be a skill in same way that you progress through imho. As above, a one that can hinder the effectiveness of scans, maybe, but… maybe I'm just nostalgic about Frontier: Elite II but I think there could be a great bit of game play in bribing/smuggling for those who want to be criminals.

 

[Marc_Hicks]

The reason why I'm not 100% on shielded cargo racks is because it removes the jeopardy from smuggling; it should be a skill in same way that you progress through imho. As above, a one that can hinder the effectiveness of scans, maybe, but… maybe I'm just nostalgic about Frontier: Elite II but I think there could be a great bit of game play in bribing/smuggling for those who want to be criminals.

As I said, just ensure that there is still some jeopardy. A ship can still scan a shielded cargo rack or passenger cabin, it just takes a bit longer. Also, the shields would require an active power supply, meaning you may need to divert power from somewhere else to activate it.

 

[Marc_Hicks]

Agreed with all the above as long as other elements are considered as you have outlined.

I also think a form of silent running should be possible in SC, even if it goes against 'realism',
in which case apply handwavium, engaging gameplay should be prioritised as always.

Proposition:

Super Cruise Silent Running

1. Silent Running can be applied in SC

2. The faster the speed of the travelling ship, the shorter the duration of SR possible and the quicker it will have to be turned off and longer the recharge period

3. SR would cause a full visual and radar dissapearance.

4. A subject utilising SC SR would have to strategise the usage - slower flight meaning longer SR but easier interdiction, or faster flight for shorter SR but more difficult interdiction

5. It would make hunting such a player more interesting, trying to predict the movement of the target during pursuing.

6. It would make evading being hunted more interesting by changing course and direction of travel during the 'blackouts', trying to shake off the pursuer.

7. Overall it would create a gameplay involving evasion and guessing for targets and pursuers trying to outsmart each other, instead of the basic circling and chasing each others tails.

I could see certain engineered modules assisting in Super-cruise Silent Running-like Stealth Power Plants (lower heat output) & Stealth Hulls (which makes ships in Super Cruise harder to detect even without Silent Running).

Likewise, a good co-pilot could help a smuggler to make regular adjustment to power use in order to ensure Silent Running could be maintained for longer, by minimizing heat build up.

 

[MadDogMurdock]

The suggestion of the shielded rack was mainly as a counterweight to the forced scan at High Security and Lockdown.

I'd be all for Stealth and Heat Management being a thing again to avoid scans, but I don't see how that should allow you to dock.