If a player attacks an NPC convoy and destroys one of the ships, and one or more members of that convoy make it to the destination, then the attacking player is "reported to authorities" and suffers a minor faction loss.

1+

Because as a newbie I always wondered if this would happen, it makes logical sense that it would.

You'll just have to destroy the ENTIRE CONVOY to get off scott free

+1...

-0.5. If it happens in an unmonitored sector, it boils down to their word against mine. And if they're willing to just take people's word for it, I should be able to take an escort mission, kill all the ships and sell the cargo, and then show up at the destination and blame Ecka for killing the convoy.

But I can accept it giving a small penalty (similar to attacking CTC). One condition though: only the convoy members that are actually in the sector while you are attacking should be able to report you.

It is not your word against mine, it's my sensor log, recordings and sophisticated ship systems that can easily prove that it was you who blew up the ship.

I don't think it goes too far to assume that if a ship survives they can prove that you killed some of their comrades.

Also I'm not sure we should accept just a small penalty, something scaleable ideally based on the importance on the mission, but a fixed faction standing loss at the start is the low hanging fruit.

I mean the absurdity at the moment is every convoy is only respected by every territory they pass through except greyspace (disliked) and their home faction (admired) which means you only take faction loss at the home faction.

+1 as a first step in fixing Convoy system now...

old suggestion, remains a good one... couple that with MEMORY FOR CONVOYS, i.e., they remember an attacker all the way, instead of present "memory wipe on warp"...

So, the better implementation is:

-Convoy NPCs will "remember" any attackers, while they exist:
--NPCs reacts to hostile players across sectors
--Convoy survivors report attackers upon docking on destination, resulting in a small standing loss for attackers.
--Faction penalty is split 5:25 on factions sending:receiving convoy, or 30 if same faction/nation.

I'll admit that framing people could be prevented through the use of cryptographic ID transponders (well, to an extent anyway).

"I don't think it goes too far to assume that if a ship survives they can prove that you killed some of their comrades."

That statement, however, does go to far. The idea that anybody can positively identify me within greyspace if I don't want them to is ludicrous. There is no realistic way to prevent me from disabling my ID transponder ahead of time and killing all the ships I want, with no faction penalties since nobody would have any way to identify me (though obviously I couldn't use that trick on my own convoys, since they'd already know).

No, it doesn't matter what inane measures the various governments take to force ships to have proper ID systems - or do you think that Apple are successful in preventing people from jailbreaking their iCrap? Worst case scenario, groups like Corvus would just build their own un-neutered gear to be used by those of us who aren't pathetic poop-stains upon the fabric of space-time.

Unmonitored means Unmonitored.

-1

Unmonitored is a term with a bit of a double-meaning.

For the purposes of faction standing loss regarding players it's a place where neither party will lose any. However, it also means a sector that is not patrolled or monitored by a faction for the purposes of security.

While I'm fine with applying the first definition across the board to killing PCs or NPCs, it really does make sense that if members of a convoy manage to reach their destination (at the very least) that they report any problems encountered along the way, possibly causing PCs that killed their members to lose standing, especially if the PC signed up for escort duty in the first place.

Except that it makes just as much sense that they wouldn't know who I am in the first place to report me. (Other than my own convoys, which should report me if they survive.)

"Other than my own convoys"

If you attack while a group member, sure. If you leave the mission before opening fire, though, not so much.

If you signed on to escort, they should still be able to remember who they hired, whether you left or stayed. And if you want to play the card that they didn't know who you were, then I'd like to see a transponder spoofer addon added to the game. Just because a sector is unmonitored doesn't mean that transponders magically stop working.

If you wanted your convoy to forget, you'd need to leave the mission, leave the sector, and come back in a different ship.

As for card playing, note that we aren't the ones asking for change here. It already works this way for all non-CTC NPCs, except that your own convoy doesn't remember you.

+1 If ye were part of the convoy ye should take the faction hit if one survives, but fighters should appear in the group list, maybe with sublist between freighters and fighters
+1 No penalties, if ye were never part of the escort and ye've bin in no monitored sector with the convoy
+1 Ye should be able to buy fake ship signature addon @corvus.

First, the Take-Mission_Then-attack-own voy is by far the most exployted BUG in VO. So exployted that most players consider it natural. And it is either a BUG, or completely stupid to expect that NPCs or PCs will forget who attacked them at every sector change...

Everybody is known already, your radar shows up PC/NPCs by name.

So, stop protecting your exployts.

Instead, the game should have more regular convoys crossing the universe, at any given time, and random NPC traders, so we don't have to take a escort mission to find a convoy to attack, but simply standby the regular routes. And NPCs escorts must be grouped up with convoy. And convoys crossing grayspace must have full memory, both across sectors and survivors report any attackers upon docking at destination.

Those are not new features, but required fixes.

Finally, anyone who takes an escort mission and then attack it 2 or 3 times, no matter if cancelled or not, should never more be offered to escort anything for that faction, and get the corresponding faction penalty if anyone survives to destination! Simply cancelling an escort mission should result in a small faction loss, and if repeated should also results in no more escorts for that player, as why would you hire again a guard who allways abandon his post/job?

I like the idea that penalty changes from system to system. For example, there's a UIT station in Ukari - it should be able to deal out faction penalties for convoy kills in Ukari. Also, there's a TPG station in Latos that should be able to tell what's up when a convoy is attacked. And so on. By circa 4000 A.D, we should have accurate system wide monitoring systems. I also like the idea of equipment that blocks monitoring attempts, sold by Corvus or XX or whatever.
And yeah, the group killing thing is kinda ridiculous. You should get more then a kick from the mission, you need serious faction penalties.

Excellent point Rin. I did not consider it from that perspective because we aren't given the option to hide our identities in that manner from fellow players. I assumed it should operate in the same way it does for players to player convoys for instance.

Anyway, I'm against changing it too.