Clarification on collision laws?
Hi,
I was wondering if anyone has any official information posted by devs on the new collision laws and whether they apply outside station No Fire Zones? Or whether an extra criminal system applies for collisions outside No Fire Zones?
I originally thought that the new collision laws (which I like very much) only applied within the No Fire Zone of stations - you get a clear indicator in your bottom right when you are speeding, and collisions that occur when this warning is present will incur a small fine from the system authorities (if present) if you cause shield damage, a bigger fine if you do hull damage and a bounty if you cause ship destruction.
When I was in a RES, I collided with a pirate I had not yet scanned - I'd boosted, and the pirate approached from beneath saying 'The scan won't hurt', and then collided with me. Now, I'll make clear now that I could have watched the scanner, etc, been more careful. I have no problem with the collision occurring or that I could have avoided it. When his ship exploded, I incurred a murder bounty.
Let me repeat - I have no problem with the idea of this... it seems like a decent way of dealing with ram-griefing in places other than stations. I tested it later by ramming an NPC pirate I had scanned (so a WANTED target known to me), and pleasingly, I was rewarded with the bounty despite not using any weapons fire. This clearly indicates that collisions are being used in some way to assign responsibility for ship destruction. So you can claim a bounty by ramming now. That's a good thing.
Now, I'm not interested in arguments about how this could be exploited (I saw a couple of threads about 1% hull shieldless Sidewinders, so yes, I get the picture). All I'm interested in is knowing how this collision legality works.
I've seen a number of other people say the same thing had happened to them, and they were confused too.
We were all under the impression that the collision laws were only going to apply in station No Fire Zones. Is this still the case? Have they been changed? Or are these separate laws that have been implemented? I don't remember ever seeing these being announced, and no one else seems to be sure either. I've been trying to find something, but I simply can't.
So:
1. Can anyone link any actual official posts by devs (in patch notes, updates, wherever) where murder by ramming outside No Fire Zones are mentioned? I don't mean speculation - I mean an actual announcement by devs where they confirm officially what the laws are. It's quite possible that I (and others) have missed this - so I'd love to see this so I know categorically what these new laws are, rather than guessing and speculating.
2. Does anyone know positively that it's a bug? A reply from devs in a different forum post where this has been responded to that it is a bug - a link to a bug report? If it is a bug, I'll happily report it. But I don't want to report a bug if this is what is intended (which I can see is more than possible - kind of prefer it actually).
3. If any devs do read this, and have the time - can you confirm how the laws stand? It'd just be great to know for sure what the situation is currently.
4. In general, there's been really good work on updating the manual - it's my first port of call for checking things. I wonder if the new collision laws could be added to it? This would make it clear where it stands.
And to all FD devs - thank you for this game. Over the last six months, I can count the number of minutes I've spent playing other games on the fingers of four hands, and I feel very guilty for that. You're making my perfect game, and you've barely put a foot wrong so far. I don't know how you're doing what you're doing, but please keep doing it. I've never been so happy gaming in my life.
