Forums » Suggestions
Rat Bastard NPC's
So here's an idea that would help out both immersion, the bounty system (both of em), and just plain coolness.
What if NPC's logged all the players they came across (though the sector list) and when. You could then hail an NPC and ask them if they've seen so and so. Some would be super nice about it, for instance if you were a UIT trader with good standing, and you hailed another NPC trader asking if they had seen so and so, they would tell you no questions asked.
But if you were a pirate, and you hailed an unbot, they might say "I may have, what's it worth to you?". Or perhaps demand some small sum.
Then they would recall the information from the database and say, "I saw him bout 10 minutes ago in Sedina O6".
/hail "*Bigus Dikus" Have you seen "Nerde Verde"
What if NPC's logged all the players they came across (though the sector list) and when. You could then hail an NPC and ask them if they've seen so and so. Some would be super nice about it, for instance if you were a UIT trader with good standing, and you hailed another NPC trader asking if they had seen so and so, they would tell you no questions asked.
But if you were a pirate, and you hailed an unbot, they might say "I may have, what's it worth to you?". Or perhaps demand some small sum.
Then they would recall the information from the database and say, "I saw him bout 10 minutes ago in Sedina O6".
/hail "*Bigus Dikus" Have you seen "Nerde Verde"
[Stamp of Apporval] (C)
hmm, not a bad idea at all...
(sorta like my unpublished "folks I've seen in the last week" data cache in the PDA) idea..
(sorta like my unpublished "folks I've seen in the last week" data cache in the PDA) idea..
Yes.
I suggest corollaries to the original idea:
Players with certain standings/stats would not be able to gain any information from bots from certain factions, no matter how much they offer. Pairings should be obvious, and might change if/when the faction alliances become dynamic.
Bots will only offer the information if they actually have come across said player. If money has been paid, there will be no restitutions if the information was not valid/outdated/if they didn't tell you anything.
Players with certain standings/stats would not be able to gain any information from bots from certain factions, no matter how much they offer. Pairings should be obvious, and might change if/when the faction alliances become dynamic.
Bots will only offer the information if they actually have come across said player. If money has been paid, there will be no restitutions if the information was not valid/outdated/if they didn't tell you anything.
I half agree with you, toshiro. A Serco should be able to get info from an Itani npc, but the price should be very high:
Serco Player: Have you seen Itani Player?
Itani NPC: I would rather die than betray my brethren.
Serco Player: How about $10?
Itani NPC: Your paltry bribe offends me. I would not sell out my country.
Serco Player: Not even for 15000?
Itani NPC: Not even for 150000!
Serco Player: 200000, then?
Itani NPC: Yeah, that sounds fine. Itani Player was at <insert location here>
Serco Player: Pleasure doing business with you.
Also, maybe the Itani NPC is lying. They should all have varying degrees of reliability, anyway. Also, if you know someone's looking for you, maybe you can bribe an NPC to NOT give your location, and they only will if they're paid more than you paid them.
Serco Player: Have you seen Itani Player?
Itani NPC: I would rather die than betray my brethren.
Serco Player: How about $10?
Itani NPC: Your paltry bribe offends me. I would not sell out my country.
Serco Player: Not even for 15000?
Itani NPC: Not even for 150000!
Serco Player: 200000, then?
Itani NPC: Yeah, that sounds fine. Itani Player was at <insert location here>
Serco Player: Pleasure doing business with you.
Also, maybe the Itani NPC is lying. They should all have varying degrees of reliability, anyway. Also, if you know someone's looking for you, maybe you can bribe an NPC to NOT give your location, and they only will if they're paid more than you paid them.
Haha, yeah that sounds good. But I think a more cut and dried system like toshiro implied would be more realistic to impliment.
As far as the information being reliable, I don't think that the NPC should ever lie or give false information. First off, again it would probably involve another level of programming. Secondly, I think that the simple fact that people are not NPC's moving from point a to point b in a straight line ALL THE TIME would provide the level of misinformation desired. Sure the NPPC may have seen me in Odia B13 4 or 5 minutes ago, but I definately do not fly in a straight line.
As far as the information being reliable, I don't think that the NPC should ever lie or give false information. First off, again it would probably involve another level of programming. Secondly, I think that the simple fact that people are not NPC's moving from point a to point b in a straight line ALL THE TIME would provide the level of misinformation desired. Sure the NPPC may have seen me in Odia B13 4 or 5 minutes ago, but I definately do not fly in a straight line.
I don't think it would be too hard to implement. There's already limited interaction with NPCs, and I think they plan more in the future. The NPC would just need to understand the "where is <Name>" and "bribe <$$$>." A simple probability calculation based on factions and some randomness would determine both the bribe amount and reliability. Info from a "friendly" would be very reliable (but old, as you pointed out, Snax) and info from an enemy would be much less reliable, but maybe your only choice if you're in enemy territory. It would then be more advantageous to ask a nonaligned NPC in enemy territory. This would mimic player behavior, since if you ask me a question I might lie if I don't like you or just feel like it. An NPC lie would just mean picking a random sector and giving it as information.
It might be a bit much to bribe NPCs to not give your location, especially since you might have to bribe a LOT of NPCs.
It might be a bit much to bribe NPCs to not give your location, especially since you might have to bribe a LOT of NPCs.
I was just thinking, this could be tied into the previously suggested way of dealing with greyspace faction issues. If NPCa is going to log information concerning when they saw so and so, then could the also perhaps log kills they might witness? And if so, then they could automatically report these kills to whicheer faction they next stopped at, resulting in possible action being taken by said faction. Perhaps a bounty might ensue.
It would also make it interesting if say, I, as a pirate, destroy Nerde Verde, a Viper, just as *Chak Lik, a UIT trader passes through. I could then chase down old *Chak, preventing him from reaching his destination and reporting me to the authorities.
It would also make it interesting if say, I, as a pirate, destroy Nerde Verde, a Viper, just as *Chak Lik, a UIT trader passes through. I could then chase down old *Chak, preventing him from reaching his destination and reporting me to the authorities.