Forums » Suggestions
'The Tattletale'
I've been thinking for a while on some sort of reasonable defense for us peaceful moth pilots who periodically run into pirates, but are unwilling to support their life of crime with monies and/or our precious cargo. Now obviously, pirating is a big part of the game, so you can't expect any sort of super-weapon that mounts on the back of ur moth or anything like that, just something to give you a fighting chance while you turn tale and jump outta the area.
What about some sort of 'mine' that essentially makes an un-monitored system monitored for a short time? Basically, the 'Tattletale,' once launched, would transmit a subspace signal to the authorities of the current goings-on within a certain area of the 'mine' (I'm thinking 3000-5000 meters, but whatever). If the pirate fires upon you in the monitored area around the 'mine,' they would suffer the same faction loss as they would if they had fired upon you in whatever space you (or maybe they, depending on what people think would work the best) have the highest faction in. In the interest of not making this *too* much of a discouragement against a very popular aspect of the game, perhaps the mine could be destructible (without faction loss, of course). If the mine were given some sort of rudimentary maneuvering thrusters (and a healthy sense of self preservation :P), I think it might make for an interesting addition to pirating (and a useful addition to avoiding it :P).
I could also see it acting more as a rocket. Simply firing it in a direction (either away from where you want to go, or toward your destination, depending on which the firer thinks would be most advantageous) would dictate which direction the pirate would have to chase it and kill it before they could deal with you (assuming they actually care about the faction loss, of course).
Regardless of whether its a 'mine,' acts more as a rocket, or is more like a small bot, I'd say it would take up a large weapon slot, with very limited ammo (1-3), and would be pretty heavy.
Anyway, it's just a thought I had, that sounds to me like it could be a lot of fun, and wouldn't necessarily have a big impact on game play (but then again, I havn't got into ratting yet :P), so lemme know what ya'll think!
-Billy the Scarred
ps- I couldn't find a good place to post this on another thread, so I made my own. If anyone wants to direct me to a more suitable thread to simply add this one too, I'll see what I can do.
What about some sort of 'mine' that essentially makes an un-monitored system monitored for a short time? Basically, the 'Tattletale,' once launched, would transmit a subspace signal to the authorities of the current goings-on within a certain area of the 'mine' (I'm thinking 3000-5000 meters, but whatever). If the pirate fires upon you in the monitored area around the 'mine,' they would suffer the same faction loss as they would if they had fired upon you in whatever space you (or maybe they, depending on what people think would work the best) have the highest faction in. In the interest of not making this *too* much of a discouragement against a very popular aspect of the game, perhaps the mine could be destructible (without faction loss, of course). If the mine were given some sort of rudimentary maneuvering thrusters (and a healthy sense of self preservation :P), I think it might make for an interesting addition to pirating (and a useful addition to avoiding it :P).
I could also see it acting more as a rocket. Simply firing it in a direction (either away from where you want to go, or toward your destination, depending on which the firer thinks would be most advantageous) would dictate which direction the pirate would have to chase it and kill it before they could deal with you (assuming they actually care about the faction loss, of course).
Regardless of whether its a 'mine,' acts more as a rocket, or is more like a small bot, I'd say it would take up a large weapon slot, with very limited ammo (1-3), and would be pretty heavy.
Anyway, it's just a thought I had, that sounds to me like it could be a lot of fun, and wouldn't necessarily have a big impact on game play (but then again, I havn't got into ratting yet :P), so lemme know what ya'll think!
-Billy the Scarred
ps- I couldn't find a good place to post this on another thread, so I made my own. If anyone wants to direct me to a more suitable thread to simply add this one too, I'll see what I can do.
Interesting idea, with one caveat: the ship launching the device must be at or below 50 m/s to deploy it. After that, they can lock the turbo back on.
Also, it should have no effect in grey space.
would be weird to have UIT or Serco or Itani SF show up to help deep in Odia .
I think this only makes a Grey sector monitored by the deploying pilot's faction for purposes of faction points loss--not for SF.
Yeah, very interesting. This could also be expanded upon to create a sort of territory war between pirates and nationals. Nationals or UIT keep dropping these things into grey space to make certain areas monitored, pirates keep destroying them to keep it unmonitored.
I don't agree with that. Grey space should stay grey, at all times.
It is an interesting idea. It could be construed as a kind of "distress signal" transmission. By destroying the Tattletale mine.. or whatever it is, before attacking the ship, the pirate could still avoid any consequence. If the transport has to slow down to drop the mine, or suffers some other penalty (like total powercell discharge or some such) it could be balanced out against the advantages.
Dunno. Further feedback welcome.
Dunno. Further feedback welcome.
I don't agree with that. Grey space should stay grey, at all times.
But what effect would this have in Nation space? I think that the fact that Grey Space has zero consequences is a drawback to this game anyway. If we have black boxes in our aircraft today, I can't see how come there wouldn't be some sort of sophisticated event recording device mounted in all Nation ships (legislated inclusion and whatnot, would be a signal to monitors that your are flying a corvus ship by not having one). That's a different thread though...
I think this is a great idea. It would also have interesting effects on other aspects aside from pirating. No longer would players with POS and a chip on their shoulder be able to run down to grey to vent some anger with no fear of consequence. While the chance would still be miniscule that consequences would be rendered, there would still be that chance.
But what effect would this have in Nation space? I think that the fact that Grey Space has zero consequences is a drawback to this game anyway. If we have black boxes in our aircraft today, I can't see how come there wouldn't be some sort of sophisticated event recording device mounted in all Nation ships (legislated inclusion and whatnot, would be a signal to monitors that your are flying a corvus ship by not having one). That's a different thread though...
I think this is a great idea. It would also have interesting effects on other aspects aside from pirating. No longer would players with POS and a chip on their shoulder be able to run down to grey to vent some anger with no fear of consequence. While the chance would still be miniscule that consequences would be rendered, there would still be that chance.
There are also unmonitored sectors in Nation space.
True, but they're far and few between, and see very, very little illegal activity.
You could drop one in nation space if your being chased by a pirate though an ion storm, for instance.
Perhaps if the mine remained active enough, a strike force will warp in to go after the pirate. That would give him a hard choice... kill his prey or risk the mine's transmissions reaching the interested parties.
This sounds rather familiar, if on a smaller scale.
That said, I do like this idea in principle, though it is rather useless for protection in Grey. The SF would have to launch and transverse a lot of space, by which time the Behemoth would have already escaped or exploded. The faction hit is equally useless, as most pirates I see are already KoS with all three nations, instead relying on Corvus and corporate factions to keep up their ship and weapon supply.
Now, if it allowed you to dictate which faction is the 'monitoring' faction, it could generate an actual penalty. However, this strikes me as being easily griefable- load up a bunch and launch them in Sedina B-8 to spoil everyone's fun. As a trader, I find the concept of a factional nut-kick weapon to be a put-off, since it could be very easily turned around and used on me. Ultimately, it would probably wind up about as popular as its namesake: not very.
That said, I do like this idea in principle, though it is rather useless for protection in Grey. The SF would have to launch and transverse a lot of space, by which time the Behemoth would have already escaped or exploded. The faction hit is equally useless, as most pirates I see are already KoS with all three nations, instead relying on Corvus and corporate factions to keep up their ship and weapon supply.
Now, if it allowed you to dictate which faction is the 'monitoring' faction, it could generate an actual penalty. However, this strikes me as being easily griefable- load up a bunch and launch them in Sedina B-8 to spoil everyone's fun. As a trader, I find the concept of a factional nut-kick weapon to be a put-off, since it could be very easily turned around and used on me. Ultimately, it would probably wind up about as popular as its namesake: not very.
I don't see how this would help you against pirates.... I am KOS Serco, Itani and UIT. A lot of my fellow pirates are the same. I'd just ignore it and boom you when you deployed your "weapon"
The easiest way of surviving a pirate attack remains the same. Stop your ship, pay the fee. I know it is hard for a lot of people especially in this "We Do Not Negotiate With Terrorists" age, but piracy is one of the things that makes this game interesting. And it seriously doesn't hurt economically, I mean most pirates want less than can be made on a decent escort.
If you don't want to pay, use mines. They exist and makes our life more, shall we say, interesting.
The easiest way of surviving a pirate attack remains the same. Stop your ship, pay the fee. I know it is hard for a lot of people especially in this "We Do Not Negotiate With Terrorists" age, but piracy is one of the things that makes this game interesting. And it seriously doesn't hurt economically, I mean most pirates want less than can be made on a decent escort.
If you don't want to pay, use mines. They exist and makes our life more, shall we say, interesting.
Expanding on this, what if instead of making it a weapon, make it a built in ability on a certain ship? Maybe the raptor or a completely new ship? It could be put on a new support ship whose role would be to provide sensor information to its group members. In addition to the "tattletale" ability it could have increased sensor range (maybe even detect players located in nearby sectors, or even list the locations of players in the current system!) and automatically forward its radar information to all group members, effectively increasing their range as well. In response, an add on could be created that allowed ships to evade detection by this sensor ship. This also would add another "role" for ships in the game which the game really REALLY needs as there is currently only one, a fighter. And don't tell me the rag is a bomber, cause it's only slightly more effective at bombing things than lighter fighters. Unless there are heavy weapons made that can only be used on a ragnarok, it will never fulfill its role as a bomber, but I digress.
This "tattletale" ship could act kind of like an AWACS plane. Next to useless in combat, but an invaluable forward scout or support ship for hunting parties, especially if it were able to list the locations of players in the system. As for the faction loss incurred from killing one, it should be minimal and always be a loss of the faction that the player flying the ship is a part off (the victim's faction). That seems to make the most sense IMHO.
Even further down the road, this ship could be given the ability to summon NPC reinforcements to a sector. But now I'm getting ahead of myself. All of this could be incorporated into the original idea of a mine as well. Make it a sensor buoy of sorts.
This "tattletale" ship could act kind of like an AWACS plane. Next to useless in combat, but an invaluable forward scout or support ship for hunting parties, especially if it were able to list the locations of players in the system. As for the faction loss incurred from killing one, it should be minimal and always be a loss of the faction that the player flying the ship is a part off (the victim's faction). That seems to make the most sense IMHO.
Even further down the road, this ship could be given the ability to summon NPC reinforcements to a sector. But now I'm getting ahead of myself. All of this could be incorporated into the original idea of a mine as well. Make it a sensor buoy of sorts.
see, this I like.
Heh, I kinda thought I'd get a bunch of "that's stupid, you're an idiot" replies. But awesome :P
And yes, my aim in this is to simply add the threat of faction loss in unmonitored space, not to have SF show up- they seem useless neway...
I'm by no means trying to get rid of piracy, I'd just like some more tactical options for dealing with them, other than 'grit teeth, deploy mines and hit turbo.' The 'sensor net' idea is something I never really thought of for this, and is indeed interesting.
The 'little black box' analogy is a good way of thinking about 'The Tattletale.' I think that in 'this' age of technology, it wouldn't be all that far fetched to have a device that would report illegal activity against a particular ship, and not just in certain areas of space.
Anyway, I'm glad some of ya'll like aspects of the idea. I dunno the mechanics of the game well enough to really propose something that would work or would be easily implemented, but theres my idea. If anything comes from it, then sweet :P
And yes, my aim in this is to simply add the threat of faction loss in unmonitored space, not to have SF show up- they seem useless neway...
I'm by no means trying to get rid of piracy, I'd just like some more tactical options for dealing with them, other than 'grit teeth, deploy mines and hit turbo.' The 'sensor net' idea is something I never really thought of for this, and is indeed interesting.
The 'little black box' analogy is a good way of thinking about 'The Tattletale.' I think that in 'this' age of technology, it wouldn't be all that far fetched to have a device that would report illegal activity against a particular ship, and not just in certain areas of space.
Anyway, I'm glad some of ya'll like aspects of the idea. I dunno the mechanics of the game well enough to really propose something that would work or would be easily implemented, but theres my idea. If anything comes from it, then sweet :P