Traders with good standings with the station faction should be able ot hire a npc escort.Make different prices for different escort sizes. The npcs will protect the ship as they do for voy ships in npc escorts. (should work for groups as well)

one centurion 10k
two centurions 20k
two vultures 50k
one vulture + one WTD 50k
2 vults 2 hogs 2 cents 200k

feel free to revise the prices for balancing

EDIT: On request of Pakettle and Waffle who luv to kill players with turrets : p

Trident 200k
Constellation 500k

How long will stay convoy with you? And how do convoy know who is enemy?

1) ends when you dock with a station.
2) when ye get damaged like pet furies

I detect PvP abuse.

I detect NPCs attacking roids after bad jumps.

pwnin roids yeah that's always fun.

pvp exploit?, i guess ye never used furies with flares nahin

I'd prefer NPC traders over NPC escorts (trading can be tedious... escorting is fun!), but I support the general principal of hiring NPCs.

Don't forget mining! : D

Also already proposed.

Consider this as Hire a Convoy as Trader.

Makes more sense that, when you have a full moth/XC, instead of joining a mission convoy as escort...

By the way, this mission should also, for a small fee, offer GUNNER NPCs if you are riding a moth/atlas.

Alloh, plz go use ye'r own turret thread : p

heh vpr put out of buisness by npc escorts

Since NPCs tend to be better pilots than VPR, I can see it happening. Hell, those WTDs even backstab and gank better than Atice, which is really saying something.

+1 to OP

-alot to Alloh

Stop fucking jumping threads like this, dammit.

/me loves it when facts get ignored. Back on topic!

You'd probably want the escort system to require that players give a flightplan up-front, so that the station could charge you more (or refuse you services) if you wanted to launch an assault into territory where you were hated.

Also, does no one see the potential for PvP abuse? As Lecter pointed out, those WTDs can be quite annoying.

My first post... PvP abuse.

Heh. Nice one then Nahin. Might be time to let this thread die then...

One possible way to avoid abuses:

-Pre-set routes offer. (From here to station X)
-Escorts behave exactly like any convoy. They leave departing station and head to destination, non-stop. But with a speed limit compatible to player's ship. They can slow down, wait for player, but will not leave preset route.

Like this it becomes exactly a normal convoy, but without any cargo ships. Exactly like I proposed the Hire Convoy as Hauler instead of Escort.

At every jump the convoy escort leader sends a message:
-Head direct to (WH,+), do not stop. Possible threats in sector are Ppl1, Ppl2, bot1...

And this does not compete with a real players escorts, who jump ahead and report if it is safe.

BUT it only makes sense if the proposed convoy abuse prevention gets implemented, or else why pay for what you can earn to do?

PVP abuse?

Lol, n00bs, if ye were right everybody would be sitting in b8 with furies by now...

(Should be funny when the poor pvp abuser will hit himself.)

"/me loves it when facts get ignored. Back on topic!"

quoted for "i should think twice before posting"

Just add a timer for the escort and/or a maximum number of jumps.
And of course ye cannot take another mission when being escorted.
sounds familiar? : p

/me thinks we can now let it die : )

Perhaps a limit to how many of each escort you can fund?

Better, make the price you pay the absolute minimum and vary it by station. So, if you hire out an escort from, say, a capitol station it'll cost you a lot but the escorting ships will be loyal even to death. Hire from some out-of-the-way backwater down in Latos and whilst they look impressive on the way out, they either vanish at the first sign of trouble, get lost, or feel the need to prop up the bar of a nearby station; this tendency could be altered by offering a completion bonus as well as the hire cost which ramps up the cost for the player, but improves the quality of the escort, sometimes.

The point I'm trying to make here is, VO at present is very, very predictable. It shouldn't be. Corvus stations should be corrupt backwaters populated by rogues, scum and folk who're brilliant but not quite able to make it in civilised places. Areas of Grey skirting Corvus zones should be hillbilly backwaters where most folk are civilised but outsiders need to beware. Central zones need to be prissy, law-abiding , boring places where not much happens and everything is more expensive.

Money also needs to talk a hell of a lot more than it does now. Stations need to vary prices a lot more based on faction standing, and in the case of Grey how well they know you. If you regularly dock, expect decent prices; if you're a stranger then expect the trade to be a bit stilted and expect to have to lubricate things a bit more. A specific button marked "Bribe" might be useful here, and it needs to have variable results so if you try bribing a central station they get upset and lower your faction standing, whereas if you do it to Corvus you only annoy them if the bribe is too small (and if it's too big, word gets around and the station guards feel the need to ask you for donations). Money is stupidly easy to get in VO, and it desperately needs to have more uses; VO also needs more ways for noobs to get into trouble over in the lawless areas of the universe.