Forums » Suggestions

Patrols and political posturing

Feb 27, 2012 Wyrm link
At the moment, both the Itani and Serco sides are suffering losses whenever their convoys fly through Grey. Losses mean economic loss, and economic loss means people losing money. Assuming that both Itani and Serco political systems are typically human, bribery and patronage is going to play a large role in both. So, when people start losing big money, they start putting the boot behind their politicians to act somehow.

The likeliest response from both nations is going to be massively armed patrols through Greyspace. Any pirate in the way gets squashed immediately, and it would not be beyond the bounds of possibility for such battlegroups to camp wormholes briefly, and to lay siege to Corvus stations to make a point. All of this is pretty much predicted by normal military-political posturing.

Big armed patrols would make Greyspace much more dangerous for anyone that side didn't like. It would also likely lead to UIT running patrols to try to stabilise trade, and most entertaining of all, imagine what would happen if these patrols were to randomly run into each other (or get led into each other by enterprising Corvus decoys)?

All very entertaining, and a nice extension of role play. One to think about, eh?
Feb 27, 2012 TheRedSpy link
Indeed. I think this is what VPR was meant to be, except instead of running organised sweeps through greyspace, they essentially act exactly the same as pirates and hunt voys just as often as them.

Anyway, I'm for more voy diversity, so 1+
Feb 27, 2012 blood.thirsty link
There are no convoys except CTC/bockades from serco / itan toward greyspace.
Trafic is from uit/grey toward serco/itan and is performed by uit subcorp.
Uit doesnt have a military.

-1 cos it is against the spirit of vo and the backstory, and will transform greyspace into a giant deneb system : p
Inter nation Trade is made by some INDEPENDANT greedy UIT corps/traders that recruit privateers (aka YOU!) to defend convoys.
Serco/Itani despise inferior races like UIT, and impur activities such as mining and trading.
As a result proud nation warriors cannot be engaged into defending uit traders corps outside nation space.
Anyway they (itani/serco) pay traders fer delivered goods not fer sendin' voys.
So no money losses for them.
UIT corps is compelled to send all the necessary voys to get the goods through or face invasion
Roleplay justification: that should keep 'em weak enough and avoid becomin' the third nation.

Instead of this, fix the current convoys:
1 ) make the current escort stay with the convoy and defend it efficiently even if the aggressor is a member of the escort.
2 ) if there is an allied station in da system let 'em call for reinforcements aka strike forces
3 ) When ye shoot a voy and some ships finally escape, let 'em make a report on the aggressor and deal with a faction standing loss/bounty with both stations (requires local standing evolution to be more fun).
4 ) when enterin' nation space Serco/Itan uit corps voys could pack and receive a military escort to prevent/discourage pirates from attacking in nation space.

This should keep the 13 golden bars ninnies from shootin' voys : )
Feb 27, 2012 Pizzasgood link
Regarding 3, bounties are fine. A faction penalty not so much - there is no way they can prove it was me. They could just as easily claim it was Ecka. Kind of the point of unmonitored space :) But you shouldn't need proof or really any reason at all when it comes to posting bounties.
Feb 27, 2012 Death Fluffy link
+1 for Blood Buddy
Feb 27, 2012 PaKettle link
aye - +1 for BTs idea
Feb 29, 2012 pirren link
1 ) make the current escort stay with the convoy and defend it efficiently even if the aggressor is a member of the escort.
2 ) if there is an allied station in da system let 'em call for reinforcements aka strike forces
3 ) When ye shoot a voy and some ships finally escape, let 'em make a report on the aggressor and deal with a faction standing loss/bounty with both stations (requires local standing evolution to be more fun).


+1 for all of these.

4 ) when enterin' nation space Serco/Itan uit corps voys could pack and receive a military escort to prevent/discourage pirates from attacking in nation space.

Why so? -1. In the nation space they're already protected by the current standings system.
Feb 29, 2012 greenwall link
There are too itani voys into grey other than CTC or blockades. They aren't very common, but I've definitely seen them.
Feb 29, 2012 abortretryfail link
lol greenwall, your sarcasm is leaking into this post...

Oh god... make it stop!
Feb 29, 2012 blood.thirsty link

@ pirren
"Why so? -1. In the nation space they're already protected by the current standings system"

Nope they aint, read more carefully hunny, i am talkin' about a uit corp voy inside serco/itani space.

@pizza
they can get yer identification at close range + they could video yer vessel so why not? But penalty could be minor as fer CtC killing.
That would make room fer jamming signal, mask identification devices addons. : p
Mar 01, 2012 Pizzasgood link
Getting a copy of my ID doesn't prove I did anything, just that they have either met me, or met somebody who has met me, or looked it up, or....

Video is better, though certainly forgeable.

I could live with CtC strength penalties I guess.
Mar 01, 2012 blood.thirsty link
ye still can "kill 'em all" or "let none alive" : p
Mar 01, 2012 pirren link
they can get yer identification at close range + they could video yer vessel so why not? But penalty could be minor as fer CtC killing.
That would make room fer jamming signal, mask identification devices addons. : p


Aye, that's sound amazing!
Mar 11, 2012 Alloh link
This is the best ever Thread Hijack I've seen, grats, BT!

+1 to BT's list of Convoy Improvements. Really required. I would add:

5) When you ABORT a escort mission, you receive a penalty. Something as no more voys for you on next 2h on that station/faction, or a "fine" in credits... and faction penalty if any convoy member survives to destination.

6) Convoy size and base reward shown in job offer (mission description)

Indeed, this deserve an own topic, again...
Mar 12, 2012 ryan reign link
"5) When you ABORT a escort mission, you receive a penalty. Something as no more voys for you on next 2h on that station/faction, or a "fine" in credits... and faction penalty if any convoy member survives to destination."

No. Some of us have jobs where we have to leave unexpectedly at a moments notice. I'm not getting penalized because I have to go to work... this is one of your dumber ideas.

"6) Convoy size and base reward shown in job offer (mission description). "

Yes. It should also show what they are hauling. Also, although it says that payment is based on cargo value... the payment seems arbitrary. All the voys I've taken that pay very well are generally in UIT space. Gray tends to pay exceedingly poorly and Serco voys pay practically nothing.
Mar 12, 2012 Alloh link
@RR:
Wanna go back to RL during a mission?
Then, instead of ABORT mission, simply LOGOFF. No penalties for logoff. But take a voy as escort, abort and attack it seems very stupid to be allowed again and again for same pilot, from same location.

It is like hiring again and again the same security guard that every time steals from his employer... and even NPCs should not be that much stupid, the "Convoy Defense Office" should take note on who is hired and allways abort mission and attack voy.

To face the "emptyness" issue, make convoys leave regularly from capital/major stations, instead of the stupid trick of taking a mission and abort it to have targets to shoot :P
Mar 12, 2012 Pizzasgood link
Pfft, why abort the mission first? There is no penalty for killing them while the mission is active - in fact, if you keep the mission active you can kill them inside the station sector without penalty, other than the moth turrets turning hostile. The NPC escort doesn't even attack you. Though it's only good for the first two kills, after which the mission is failed and the escort aggros. And of course, once the mission fails you can't kill any more of them within the station sector unless you want penalties.

But yeah: take mission, kill two moths, dock and get a moth, and sell the loot right back to the station. No faction penalty.

Pretty messed up, IMO.

Also, as it is now I can equip a cargo scanner, check them as they undock, and immediately abort and take a new escort if they don't have anything good. I can do this until I either run out of missions or get bored. Same goes for if I'm trying to find a convoy with a Trident that I can ride into Nation Space.

So yeah, escorts are messed up. They need to have a minute+ delay after accepting one before you can take a new one, and a limit to how many times you can abort, fail or interrupt one per hour. If this were done, the ability to kill two of them within the station sector wouldn't really matter much.

But, and IMO this is important, if you make those changes you also need to make them haul valuable stuff more often, so that piracy remains a viable source of income. I'm not saying that I should be able to maintain the same level of profit per hour by hunting that I can achieve by grinding them now, but it does need to be made significantly higher than what it is currently, if the ability to grind is removed. That would be a lot more fun anyway.