Hi All!
What's the problem?
No doubt that the new crime changes are pretty interesting. There is an obvious focus to give committing crime a real impact to players. I however feel that a 7 day time frame for being locked out of your favorite system is a little extreme, especially for a common accident every player has probably encountered. To prevent more exploitive resolution to such a system, and so it can be further fine tuned to make crime a much more interesting experience overall. I came up with the following ideas below. These focus on giving players the opportunity to prevent a potentially punishing game play aspect.
The Suggestion
There needs to be a more refined Crime Status for a player. This status will tell authorities what type of action needs to be taken toward a player. This is really like the Clean, Wanted, but an added third state that allows for some interesting encounters with authorities. A state of "in between" for players who have done wrong, but maybe they really shouldn't be killed for it until further investigation. It will allow authorities to still engage players, but potentially be a turning point on whether the player should be chased down and killed or not. I will call this state "Shaky".
So now, we have three states a player can be in for crime,
Low
Carrying salvaged cargo without a permit (assuming random floating cargo isn't "stolen", there should be a difference
you don't need to eject this cargo will result in a lower cost fine). Ramming players around the mail slot, ejecting cargo around a station (ejecting multiple at once only counts as one point, but the fine will be issued per cargo)
These can be done multiple times up until a threshold, which would allow these to happen a couple of times without too serious of a response from authorities. These crimes happen and while they aren't desirable you don't have to worry about it being a major issue if it happens a few times. Once you pass the the threshold, you would move into the "shaky" state, being a repeat offender.
Medium
Accidental damage to other ships not wanted, carrying illegal goods. Once these occur (or are scanned for the cargo related ones) you will be put into a shaky state. Cargo scanned at this level will apply a generalized fine (relatively lowish), you will be asked to eject the cargo immediately at a point in the scenarios below. Committing two shaky acts in succession will result in you being wanted.
High
Murder, launching limpets at clean/shaky ships, carrying stolen cargo, resisting instructions after a scan Shaky state, assaulting Navy Vessels, being in a competing power's territory. These automatically make you wanted. Authorities have enough cause to know you performed these acts intentionally already, and therefore are a threat to the public.
What will it do?
Okay so now that we can properly dictate the type of crime you have committed knowing how serious it is, and we have a better way to distinguish what would apply to this new "Shaky" state, but why do we have it? The Shaky state allow you a chance to right your wrongs (in some cases) before you're treated as you are now (ULTRA THREAT ALPHA PRIORITY 1). This could be based on a trait of the faction in control, probably their government type in particular.
I see a few scenarios for interaction with authorities in regards to a Shaky status that could happen and would make the crime experience more immersive and bearable.
1. Neutral resolution. Authorities ping players warning them that if they don't immediately leave the area to pay the fine, they will have no choice but to use force. A mission will be added to their inbox to pay off their fine with some leeway of time and the next authority will probably use method number This gives players who can't afford it then to have some extra time to do so before it becomes more serious.
2. Immediate resolution. Authorities ping players, and ask them to "pull over" which could involve stopping their momentum and maybe disable their thrusters. Once you have complied, they send a "mission" to your inbox this expires in a minute so you have to be quick but it allows you to pay off your fine right away.
3. Hostile resolution. Authorities notify you that they don't play games with crime and take the same action they do now when a player becomes wanted, transitioning their state from shaky to wanted.
These are just a couple of ideas for scenarios, though the could obviously use refinement or more. The key objective from these interactions is to give players who have committed crimes a turning point. Are they committing to the life of crime? And the time implications of the new system before they can pay it off, or do they just want to pay off the fine ASAP and continue to be a good citizen.
Over all the main objective of this system is to provide players with a more interactive experience with authorities, as well as adding a buffer from a poor experience through accidental means. What do you guys think?
What's the problem?
No doubt that the new crime changes are pretty interesting. There is an obvious focus to give committing crime a real impact to players. I however feel that a 7 day time frame for being locked out of your favorite system is a little extreme, especially for a common accident every player has probably encountered. To prevent more exploitive resolution to such a system, and so it can be further fine tuned to make crime a much more interesting experience overall. I came up with the following ideas below. These focus on giving players the opportunity to prevent a potentially punishing game play aspect.
The Suggestion
There needs to be a more refined Crime Status for a player. This status will tell authorities what type of action needs to be taken toward a player. This is really like the Clean, Wanted, but an added third state that allows for some interesting encounters with authorities. A state of "in between" for players who have done wrong, but maybe they really shouldn't be killed for it until further investigation. It will allow authorities to still engage players, but potentially be a turning point on whether the player should be chased down and killed or not. I will call this state "Shaky".
So now, we have three states a player can be in for crime,
- Clean
- Shaky
- Wanted
Low
Carrying salvaged cargo without a permit (assuming random floating cargo isn't "stolen", there should be a difference
you don't need to eject this cargo will result in a lower cost fine). Ramming players around the mail slot, ejecting cargo around a station (ejecting multiple at once only counts as one point, but the fine will be issued per cargo)These can be done multiple times up until a threshold, which would allow these to happen a couple of times without too serious of a response from authorities. These crimes happen and while they aren't desirable you don't have to worry about it being a major issue if it happens a few times. Once you pass the the threshold, you would move into the "shaky" state, being a repeat offender.
Medium
Accidental damage to other ships not wanted, carrying illegal goods. Once these occur (or are scanned for the cargo related ones) you will be put into a shaky state. Cargo scanned at this level will apply a generalized fine (relatively lowish), you will be asked to eject the cargo immediately at a point in the scenarios below. Committing two shaky acts in succession will result in you being wanted.
High
Murder, launching limpets at clean/shaky ships, carrying stolen cargo, resisting instructions after a scan Shaky state, assaulting Navy Vessels, being in a competing power's territory. These automatically make you wanted. Authorities have enough cause to know you performed these acts intentionally already, and therefore are a threat to the public.
What will it do?
Okay so now that we can properly dictate the type of crime you have committed knowing how serious it is, and we have a better way to distinguish what would apply to this new "Shaky" state, but why do we have it? The Shaky state allow you a chance to right your wrongs (in some cases) before you're treated as you are now (ULTRA THREAT ALPHA PRIORITY 1). This could be based on a trait of the faction in control, probably their government type in particular.
I see a few scenarios for interaction with authorities in regards to a Shaky status that could happen and would make the crime experience more immersive and bearable.
1. Neutral resolution. Authorities ping players warning them that if they don't immediately leave the area to pay the fine, they will have no choice but to use force. A mission will be added to their inbox to pay off their fine with some leeway of time and the next authority will probably use method number This gives players who can't afford it then to have some extra time to do so before it becomes more serious.
2. Immediate resolution. Authorities ping players, and ask them to "pull over" which could involve stopping their momentum and maybe disable their thrusters. Once you have complied, they send a "mission" to your inbox this expires in a minute so you have to be quick but it allows you to pay off your fine right away.
3. Hostile resolution. Authorities notify you that they don't play games with crime and take the same action they do now when a player becomes wanted, transitioning their state from shaky to wanted.
These are just a couple of ideas for scenarios, though the could obviously use refinement or more. The key objective from these interactions is to give players who have committed crimes a turning point. Are they committing to the life of crime? And the time implications of the new system before they can pay it off, or do they just want to pay off the fine ASAP and continue to be a good citizen.
Over all the main objective of this system is to provide players with a more interactive experience with authorities, as well as adding a buffer from a poor experience through accidental means. What do you guys think?
