Fleshing it out - Bounty Hunting
Ideas for Improving Bounty Hunting
I've posted some of these ideas before (in the wrong area of the forum) plus I've had some new ideas which are included below. I'm also going to post threads with ideas for other areas of the game (such as piracy and player factions).
The idea is to try and encourage a proper bounty hunting dynamic in the game rather than the current ‘bounty farming’ at RES sites. RES sites should still provide plenty of action and profit for hunters, but RES hunters would not get the large pay-outs and notoriety that comes with real bounty hunting. Here are my ideas;
Hunter Rank & Notoriety
Bounty Data
Tracking Wanted Players
Tracker Limpets
Limpet tracking devices could be new ship modules that can be used like any other limpet device on a ship. The pilot fires one of these limpets at an enemy ship and can then see them marked on the galaxy map. They work for a limited time-frame and then expire. How long they work for can be debatable by the community, it could vary with grade/class. These tracking-limpets would be useful for when you catch up to your target but they then escape;
That's about all for bounty hunting at the moment. Please let me know your thoughts...
Ideas for Improving Bounty Hunting
I've posted some of these ideas before (in the wrong area of the forum) plus I've had some new ideas which are included below. I'm also going to post threads with ideas for other areas of the game (such as piracy and player factions).
The idea is to try and encourage a proper bounty hunting dynamic in the game rather than the current ‘bounty farming’ at RES sites. RES sites should still provide plenty of action and profit for hunters, but RES hunters would not get the large pay-outs and notoriety that comes with real bounty hunting. Here are my ideas;
Hunter Rank & Notoriety
- Introduce bounty hunter ranks;
- The higher the bounty hunter rank, the lower the cost is of bounty data (see below).
- High ranking bounty hunters get offered more lucrative missions in the bulletin board.
- Higher ranks would also give bounty hunters more target tracking slots.
- Ranking up in bounty hunting is dependent on how much bounty profit the hunter has made as well as the combat rank/pirate rank of the targets (wanted RES NPCs’ have a very minimal impact on this bounty hunting rank).
- Hunting wanted players ranks the bounty hunter up 25% faster than NPC’s (100% faster if they occupy a tracking slot - see below).
- Galnet should include the ‘Galaxy’s top 10 bounty hunters (based on total bounty profits, not including profits from NPC kills at RES’s).
- Each star system should also have a list of this months’ top 10 bounty hunters by total bounties claimed (again NPCs’ killed at RES’s do not count, wanted players at RES’s do though).
- Hunting/assassination bulletin board missions do count towards this ranking as long as the targets are wanted.
Bounty Data
- System player bounty data would be more comprehensive per star system - [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]cataloging[/FONT] an index of wanted players and their bounty value.
- This data could be purchased remotely like trade data which lasts for 24 hours then expires.
- Bounty data is price-varied according to the value of bounties in that system, but is generally more expensive than trade data to limit overpowered ‘player tracking spam’.
- When there are lots of bounties in a star system, only players with a ‘murder’ level (5000 cr) amount of credits on their head and above are included in the data.
- If there are a small amount of bounties in a system, this threshold could drop to 1000 cr.
- Data can be filtered to only show players active within a recent time-frame to avoid tracking dormant players.
Tracking Wanted Players
- From the bounty hunters accumulated purchased data, the bounty hunter can select between 3 and 15 (depending on bounty hunter rank) wanted players to track at any one time via bounty tracking slots. If they wish to change targets they have to clear out a tracking slot first.
- Each tracked players data is visible using a galaxy map overlay (only if you have purchased data for a system where they have been active) with their last known locations shown via the overlay, forming a pattern of movement which can be tracked (it’s all about the chase after all!).
- If a tracked player commits a crime in a system that the bounty hunter currently has active data for (24hrs), any new crimes they commit are reported in the bounty hunters info feed (system, crime and bounty amount only, not exact location in system).
- If the player is in the same system as the target player, the info arrives instantly, if they are not, there is a 15 minute delay in the crime reporting.
- You can see a wanted players’ meta-bounty total from systems you have purchased data from. To get the total bounty on a wanted player, you must still perform a kill warrant scan.
- Each available bounty record includes the wanted player’s last known location and when they last visited a station in that system (there are caveats to this below).
- Last known location has a +1 hour delay as to not over-power bounty hunters which gives the wanted player a head start. The bounty hunter must therefore do some ‘detective work’ (This also provides some data-feed-delay realism).
- If a wanted player engages silent running and enters a station without being scanned by the station or security and also does not use the commodities market, their location will not be registered (making the black market more attractive and also adds increased risk to pirates who demand ‘abandoned’ cargo, as when they sell it in the legal market their last location is disclosed to all).
- Unsanctioned outposts would not record player location whatever they do there, making unsanctioned outposts even more attractive to criminal Cmdrs.
- On the flip-side, if a wanted player purchases bounty data from the same system as a bounty hunter who is actively tracking them, the wanted-player can see that someone (anonymous) is actively tracking them via a cockpit panel screen. They also get a notification in the info screen when a player starts tracking them (again anonymous).
- If a bounty hunter kills their tracked target, this is added as a specific stat separate from ‘bounties claimed’ stat called 'tracked bounties claimed'. When you successfully claim a bounty on a tracked target this levels up your bounty hunter ranking x2 faster than normal.
- Killing a tracking slot target would also provide a bounty bonus (which increases in % value as you rank up as a bounty hunter).
Tracker Limpets
Limpet tracking devices could be new ship modules that can be used like any other limpet device on a ship. The pilot fires one of these limpets at an enemy ship and can then see them marked on the galaxy map. They work for a limited time-frame and then expire. How long they work for can be debatable by the community, it could vary with grade/class. These tracking-limpets would be useful for when you catch up to your target but they then escape;
- To attach a limpet to a target, its shields must be down like hatch-breakers.
- If a limpet-tracked player is destroyed, or the tracking player is destroyed, the limpet expires.
- Limpet trackers show a players’ location on the galaxy map much like how a friend or wing member would show up, but with a different colour icon (purple perhaps).
- Using a limpet tracker on a clean ship is a crime (but only when fired, if a player becomes clean after attachment, it is not a crime).
- A player can detect whether they have a limpet on board by running a system scan of their ship using a limpet scanner (see below).
- A limpet scanner is a new ship module. How successful it is at detecting an attached tracking limpet is dependent on the grade of the limpet scanner vs the grade of limpet attached (with a certain amount of random chance).
- If a limpet is found by the scanner the player has the option to destroy it or to leave it running (could be used tactically to set a trap if left running).
That's about all for bounty hunting at the moment. Please let me know your thoughts...
