Smuggling/Pirating Module Ideas

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

Hey all
After doing a fair amount of smuggling, and realising that chaffs don't work, and neither does silent running.
Rather than FD fix this, (which they don't seem to do), how about some other modules to assist?

Idea 1a: Passive Cargo Bay Shielding Module.
A passive module that causes cargo scans to take much longer. Requires a large amount of power.
Idea 1b: Active Cargo Bay Shielding Module.
A module that acts much like the cargo scanner itself. Requires activation and management during a scan, and generates heat. Has a mini-game!
Upon a scan, with this module fitted, you press and hold the assigned fire group, and a "scan meter" and timer will pop up.
The scan meter is a bar that is 75% red, 20% amber and 5% green. This sweet spot moves around slowly, and you need to keep the bar in amber or green until the timer runs out to pass the scan.
Red fails. You get a bounty/fine, and they know your cargo. Such as normal.
Amber means you avoided the scan, but the Feds/pirates know you tried to evade, and issue fines or bounty, but they still don't know what you're carrying and attempt to rescan, with no chance of Green zone. "Do no get scanned" missions will not fail.
Green means you successfully spoofed the scanners in to thinking you have no cargo.
NPCs have no idea you did this and will great you as though you really do have no cargo. "Don't get scanned" missions will not fail.

I like the sound of that.
The heat buildup means you can't pair the cargo Shielding with a heat sink because you need to feather the trigger to balance the bar. So you have to be cautious.

Thoughts?

Second idea is for pirates!
FSD scrambler!
Much like the cargo bay Shielding, its an active module. Requires weapon hardpoint, a huge amount of power, very short range (500m) and generates loads of heat.
But activating it on your target will high and low wake mass lock, causing the FSD to take much longer to charge. (Factor depends on module vs target)
The massive heat build up will mean you can't keep it on for long, and it also drains weapon capactors. The power requirements also make it hard to fit 2. And using a heatsink is more or less mandatory. (Heat build up would equal firing 2 SCBs at once)
Releasing the FSD scrambler will restore the targets ability to charge at a normal rate.
Bigger and better modules only change the mass lock factor. Nothing else. Example; Class 1 wouldn't not do much to large ship. But a class 3 would be excellent for all ships. But very expensive.

Thoughts?

 

[CMDR Hagglebeard]

1A - sounds good, in the Design Decision Archive they have an idea for something similar, which gives you an X% chance of not having your cargo scanned correctly.

1B - Eh, sounds bad, I don't much like mini-games. What if it worked similarly to ECM, in that you hold it down for some time, and when released your cargo hold has a chance to display the wrong cargo to the assailant for X amount of time? Probably a bad idea.

Pirate Idea - I don't like the current mass-locking system at all, but if it will continue forever, and the FSD scrambler is added, it would be okay. I'd definitely extend the range to 2 kilometers, lower power draw, but make it a single-fire. Fire this, your heat builds as it would with an SCB, and the target gets an extra 25 seconds onto low-wake time and 15 seconds on high-wake time. Only gets a few charges, similar to the SCB, and has a fairly long recharge time, around a minute or so. Does not affect the low-wake time of already mass-lockable ships.

In your description, you seemed to make the FSD scrambler very limited. Considering that a smart and more patient trader would arm his ship, and a pirate's equipment would limit his combat ability, the trader and pirate aren't too far off. Take a pirate Cobra vs a trader Cobra, for example.

The pirate Cobra has 36t of cargo space (2x 4E, 1x 2E), a class 4 shield (Bi-Weave, for instance), A hatch breaker limpet and an FSD interdictor. As for weapons, he has 2 gimballed multicannons and 2 gimballed beams, as he can't afford to miss the trader's modules. The trader cobra has a class 4 standard shield and 44t of cargo (2x 4E, 3x 2E), and as for weapons, 2 fixed Pulse and 2 seeker missiles.

Before utilities, these two are quite similar. Likely the same internals, but now, the pirate has the advantage of the clearly superior gimballed weapons. Bring in utilities. The trader can now house a chaff launchers, or a chaff and ECM, or a chaff and heat sink, or a chaff and shield booster, etc. The pirate has a cargo scanner, and so only one available utility, if he doesn't choose the wake scanner. If he doesn't choose a heat sink launcher and go stealthy, or an ECM (which nobody uses), he's atg the mercy of the trader's armament. Now, the trader can almost continually fire at the pirate given that the pilots are of equal skill, while the pirate has to deal with the trader using chaff. Lastly, to clarify, the pirate must use gimballed weapons to knock out the power plant and stop the trader - any other way doesn't yield enough.

A few other points to solidify my argument:

- If you're flying a dedicated trade-ship in an area with pirate activity and you opt for maximum jump range, with defense as an afterthought, you deserve to get creamed. You can always min/max, but do it smart or die.
- Many people do the above - this does not change the rule. This game has a skinner-box appeal to it, and if you want to play it right, you won't opt for the mindless grind. Besides, trading without any danger and thinking it's fine is insane - the point you trade for in Elite is to get the best ship to protect yourself, to survive. If you have no opposition, you have no purpose.

So, I've gone off track. TL;DR: FSD Scrambler needs buff

Big 'ol pirate thread for you: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=163170

 

[stupidbluemonkey]

I think shielded cargo compartments are really a no-brainer for this game. I agree with Hagglebeard that 1B doesn't sound like much fun to me, but 1A? Yeah, we should definitely do something like that. I hadn't thought of the high power consumption angle, but even if you simply reduced the cargo capacity by one tier in order to fit some inert shielding in there I think it would suffice. (i.e., Size 2 Cargo Max: 4t, Shielded Max: 2t, Size 3 would be 8 and 4 respectively.. can't use shielding on size 1, perhaps? Just my own take on the idea.)

FSD scrambler: Yes, please. Overall I'd love to see more electronic warfare in the game. Like ghost signals that tell other pilots I'm in a wing when I'm not, misleading sensor signals that create shadow targets... many many more ideas to be explored.

 

[Marc_Hicks]

Several of these ideas I have mentioned myself-like the shielded cargo rack module (I don't like the mini-game idea, but I do like the idea of it being a module that requires power to function). I also think that if you get found with one of these modules, it should carry a hefty fine-& maybe even wanted status in higher security systems). It would also be good if you could customise cargo compartments so that they can be fitted in places they usually would never go-thus making them smuggling compartments-the downside being that you'll have to go without another internal compartment. However, these compartments would be immune to scans.

Other ideas I have posted here are modules like a fake transponder (can make a wanted ship appear clean, requires power) & a scrambler unit that prevent PC's & NPC's from reporting a crime in progress.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

The only reason I made the FSD scrambler so nerfed is because of the way people would use it.
It shouldn't be easy to mass lock someone from hyperspace.

Maybe it should have a mini game like interdictions. So both sides have an equal chance of winning.

Last thing we want is another way for greifers to gank noobs after all.

Either way, if FD adds a module to do, say, FSD scramble, then they need to release a balancing module, like FSD Shielding. But nothing OTT like Eve where there are so many variables, you could never defend yourself against all of them.