There should be multiple levels of queen/hive kill badges, similar to the levels of pk badges and mentor badges. I would suggest badges at 10, 25, 100, and 500. While we're on the subject, where are the Levi badges? How about 'bot total badges? It seems to me that the law-abiding majority of the VO universe would reward hive 'bot killing behavior.

i want a care bear badge too.

ByteWriter - all the nations and XangXi reward Hive kills in their territory with a faction standing increase. A couple new badges would be nice though.

I'm aware of that. I have earned my levels, and faction standing with the major races, including Xang Xi. There is simply this: 40% of the badges that can be earned, are awarded for killing other players. http://www.vo-wiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Badges

This is not on-line killing fest, ie Quake, UT, etc, it is an MMORPG. While PK'ing is always a part of any MMORPG, it is not rewarded, other than the goods that are dropped by the pk'ed. Because it generally not much fun for those getting PK'ed, it chases off the new users, and erodes the userbase.

OK, so maybe this is a different type of game. After all, there are actual pirate factions in this game. No problem. Still, make the number of pirate type awards and non-pirate type awards proportional to the pirate and non-pirate factions. Depending on how you count it, that would put pirate type awards and somewhere between 10-25%.

With that in mind, my suggestion was what might fill the gap a bit:
Hive Queen Kill Badge: 3-4 levels - perhaps 10, 25, 100, 500
Levi Killer Badge: 3-4 levels - perhaps 5, 15, 50
Hive 'bot killer badge: 3-4 levels - perhaps 500, 5000, 50000

If you are going to award pvp, why not a duel-champion award, again with multiple levels. At least in a duel, non-pvp inclined people and newbies can opt out.

All of the awards should have rewards similar to existing awards, ie reduced cost/increased damage weapons, etc.

Is this mindless badge-chasing? Sure. But how is that different from trying to get your 500 PK badge? Other than one is likly to chase off paying customers, and the other is not?

Well. I'm trying to add more things like.. actual interesting drops for bots, and then have missions to go collect them, which then lead to other things. The game wasn't really supposed to be about badges, at least not the way they're often used at present (which is often mind-numbingly boring). But yes, it's trivial enough for us to just add some more badges.

Incarnate, I can appreciate how you may not want the badges to act as they do for now, but it would be a nice addition for now. If they really are trivial to add, it would be nice to have something [anything] to work at instead of actually truly having completed everything other than mindless faction standing and license levelling.

ByteWriter - I do not think the PK badges, nor player efforts to get them, will chase off players. However, I very much agree with your 3 types of Hive hunting badges and their numbers (especially because I play a Hive hunter!), and would like to add one more new badge suggestion:

Dueling Badges: 25, 100, 500 - duel victories

I agree!
I don't relly like PVP (okay BS is still really fun) so right now I am often bored. And spend most of my time trading... which is boring too, so it's like a perpetul circle! Though I am not sure how I feel about having to kill 50k hivebots either, meh.
Badges are at least fun to have.

What i think would create a better dynamic is that obtaining levels/badges/etc should also have a bearing on charcter stats aside from a Badge.... I.E. evasion rate bonuses, targeting accuracy bonuses, blast recovey speeds, intuitive effects and so on as in more traditional MMO's would be alot of coding on top of what existing but details like this could really expand VO on a interpersonal level

Um... no.

This is a twitch-based game. NOT one of your usual dice-roll-based games. You bring to the computer the skills you will win or lose with, not the other way around.

Yes I don't see a way of adding what you suggest Pappy without completely changing the game. Also badges do give advantages. Queen Killer unlocks the Mega positrong (best damage/energy ration wep ingame), the pvp badges give you diferent PvP weps, like MkII rails (just got em :))

You can't really have an evasion rate bonus since you don't have an evasion rate. And if a 5k PvP badge gave you a 5% dmg bonus then you would be making the strong guys stronger, which is dum.

All those people asking for "bonuses" to "combat stats", please remove yourselves from this game and migrate to WoW or EQ.

As for Hive badges, first off I'd like to see the Queens fight back again!

Second, I like the numbers ByteWriter puts for the different badge levels, except that he obviously hasn't fought too many Levis or else those numbers would be as high as the Queens (they take more time but they aren't more difficult, at least not compared to the aggressive Queens of old, which, in case I haven't said so enough, NEED TO COME BACK!) We all know a good number of Guilds these days have been harvesting Levis like ripe wheat; it's not hard. So maybe 10,25,50. Hive bot numbers seem a little too high; 50 bots can be killed easily and 500 too, but 50,000? Make it 500, 5000, 15000.

Rewards. Well, all things nowadays drop interesting stuff already (samo, rare ores, Hive tech) so I guess the ruler to measure everything else by would be the megaposi. The megaposi itself is easy, just make MkII, III etc. versions of it, the usual (lighter, slightly better ROF, or autoaim, or less batt drain). For the regular bots, an "uber" version of the phase blaster, different but as good as the Sparrow or XGX, again with Mk's that will make it slightly better than the two above, so they are worth getting. The Levi is whole other beast, though... eventually it's supposed to go against capships (in the last iteration of hive missions it ate HACs for breakfast already) but I am wary of giving out a capship-level weapon; maybe a gauss gun, again modded Hive tech that makes it better than the PlasDev (which is not hard at all, who uses that one in PvP?)

I was suprised to find there was no badge at 500 or 1000 kills. if the hive are such a menace, you'd think that exceptional amounts of kills would be rewarded other than the per-head reward.

Nice bunch you are.....make a simple suggestion to give weight to currently useless "prize" and you go all ape. And aparently some of you have never played other space combat sims twitch or otherwise. Granted, adding appropriate "skills" or "bonuses" is NOT currently coded into the game, but games still in developement aint it?
As of now after only playing for a few weeks ive already accessed all available content, a game cannot have any longetivity without more depth than twitch PK with the same gear as everyone else, now its a matter of who has the most lag and you wonder why pk is in decline. One particularly good model for twitch PK includes said bonuses/gear/skills or attributes that give you the upper hand for puttin the time in to aquire them, you either accel in these areas or you will be outclassed skill aside from somebody who has, this simple fact creates longetivity and interest. Combined with a point based ranking system (WITH BENEFITS TO HAVING HIGH STATUS) further creates competition. A in-depth crafting system would also be a gigantic plus (build yer own ship kinda deal)
flame me some me more plz kthxbyebye

While jex's post could be seen as mildly inflammatory (never, ever head to Roleplaying, you'll combust instantaneously), he does have a point. The idea of the game (and of its developers) clearly is that the better twitch skill should win fights (they even voiced this personally, if I recall correctly... couldn't find the corresponding thread, I'm sorry). I'm fine with that, even though I am by no means a person who could be considered being an ace at PvP.

The problem with upgrades to PvP stuff that can be gained by simple leveling are that basically, you give a new player, or maybe one who's just on the lookout for a new game, a decisive disadvantage because s/he cannot attain the upgrades due to sheer lack of time. But you don't want to piss off the new players first thing they come in, that'd be bad.

As for content, I hear you. And I'm sure the devs do, too. The problem is, they've been working in the red for as long as I can remember playing the game, and if literally anything happens, it has an effect on game development (sometimes a staggering one). Also, other issues, like an intuitive UI, a newbie-friendly introduction and a well-written manual are very important, which is why content had to take a back seat for now. At least that is how I perceive things to be.

Lastly, a crafting system is definitely planned to be implemented, but 4 people can only do so much in 24 hours a day.

Conclusively, I ask that you grant VO an extension of your benevolence, since it is nowhere near being finished (like you said yourself).

We certainly don't need people like this guy who don't bother to read previous threads to get a feel of what the Devs want for this game (read: NO combat bonuses) or what they already intend to do and are working on (read: crafting [NOT BUILDING CUSTOM SHIPS THOUGH], among a bunch of other stuff). Just let him go on his way. I hear AO is free, and it's all about the gear and the die-rolling; I'm sure it's right up his alley.

Jex, relax.

Pappy, one of the good things about this game is that as a newbie I once managed to drive off a veteran PK (I was in my very first rag with loads of spam). If that veteran had had evasion resistance and what ever else advantages, he would have probably killed me. Yes other games successfully use random numbers to add to game play. It is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is not something that works with this game. This game WAS intended to be skill based. As much skill based as possible. And just as I said by getting badges you get cool new equipment.

As for crafting, well we have to wait and see what the devs have in mind right? I don't really think we will be able to craft new ships, not soon anyway. Because if we could the devs would have to come up with a software that would evaluate the ship you bilt and give it properties (collision profile, weight, maneuvrability, acceleration yada yada yada) it is not impossbile but it's not part of Soon(tm).

The feature that I await the most is the dynamic economy, I like pvp but I am more of a trader (I'm AK in the game btw). And quite frankly the game is already well set for a dynamic economy. We already have +/- limited ressources (cristals get hot and you can't mine 'em anymore, maybe a max temp should be set?), and diferent stations produce diferent things.

Oh and one thing 15 000 kills? Way too much!!! I have played for almost 3 months now and only have a total of like 1800 kills.

"15 000 kills? Way too much!!! I have played for almost 3 months now and only have a total of like 1800 kills."
That is exactly the idea, Zed1985. Many players have been playing for much longer than 3 months and would like non-A/B badges to show this. Not everything should be doable in under 3 months, just basically everything to do with equipment (not necessarily all equipment, but any particular equipment). Also, for rewards, I was just looking for a few little pictures saying how I've wasted my time. ;)

Have Veteran Rewards then. Flashy pink ships maybe? :P I think that reaching the top shouldn't be too hard, or too long. but anyway if you think 15k kills is good, who am I to say otherwise, I might reach it in 20 years ;)

Jax read the section title...."suggestions" forum trolls like you are one of the reasons people leave communities, take your narrow minded "get out of MY game" crap and post something productive. You obviuosly dont understand how twitch can be enhanced to reward veteran and harder working players. Twitch PVP is the best combat system so far developed, it can be expanded upon without being intrusive unto itself. PVP is dying cause people are getting bored. the top PKers have done all the quests, have all the badges, etc. Its at the point where all the PKers skill is at it peak and there no other factors other than mistakes or lag as to who wins, everyones gear is the same, everyones levels dun mean squat. In freindly reply to Zed, newbies arent meant to own veterans, skill is always impressive reagrdless of win or lose however the ante must always be upped with earned ability.

Understand i love this game and believe in the developers, i have not been trolling these forums for months. But lemme tell you ive played every MMO in existance, And EVERY space combat game ever developed....I have some bloody insight

If you dun like the idea of mathematical bonuses applied to combat (player level 5 takes one less hit than player lev 4 out of 50 etc...) so be it. But in its place you will need a rewarding ranking system (a "national" point sytem would further increase competion between nations and deepen the "war" angle, "itani kills serco gains x points while serco loses x points"), and vastly more combat related equiptment with special requirements. And gear with far diff effects, slow/blind/freeze weapons etc... Add shields as a special addon, add selectable subsystems to "customise" your vessels, add targetable subsystem damage that effect performance accordingly and a ship salvage/steal system (engines and life support gone, take over the ship blah blah blah)this creates a new job for players as well as salvagers/tow truckers/mechanics, all these things can be done without adversly effecting the twitch style whatsoever, IN FACT will improve it by making combat more interesting and more complicated given your chosen goal in that battle, and will also create far more entertaining and rewarding battles.

These are all just ideas that ive come across in dozens of other great games. When i started playing this the first thought that came to mind was "this is "tachyon, the fringe" with PVP, AWESOME" i would also like a devs input before i get flamed again.

I never said I oned the PK, all I did was drive him off. And quite frankly while I do gree on some points with you I do not see why a player who hs played longer should take less damage. Licence levels do count. You need 9/9/9 to get the best valk right? (or what ever). So why insist that levels count for squat? And ISV valk will kick the basic Valks ass if both pilots are of similar skill. Why do you believe that it is necessary for a pilot with 11/11/11 to take less damage than a 9/9/9 pilot? What I would agree is that more content should be added. So a 11/11/11 player can get a ship slightly better than the 9/9/9 one.

Finally what ever you suggest must to some extent be realistic and agree with the game's history. An evasive bonus makes no sences. And level dependent damage sickens me (like in wow where a level 35 can shoot all he got and the lvl 60 wont even be scratched. Sorrey but that's stupid and not realistic)

You also say that newbies were not meant to own veterans. Well I believe that you are wrong. This game to me sounds like one of the rare where only skill counts not level. Why would you really want to change that?

Also the dialog between Pappi and Jex, I realise that Jex started it, and that I am not a mod or a dev. But please keep it civile? No need to snap at each other it will bring nothing.