When a player discharges their weapons inside the nfz where no player or npc are hit, have the station guards follow the player in a watchful manner. If future weapons fire from that player hits something capable of taking damage, the guards should then attack.

+1 At the very least in nation capitols.

Liu's actions prompted this thread? rofl

I often fire my weapons as I undock, just to check that my weapons groups are set correctly.

Having all the station guards rush over and follow a specific pilot not only sounds a little extreme, but could actually be abused.

From an RP perspective, station guards could stand to be smarter, mostly by knowing the history of specific characters. Some characters shoot in the nfz and never hit anything, some characters shoot people in the nfz. Each character should have a rap sheet that tells the station guard how likely a give character is to violate the nfz, and then they should behave accordingly. If I show up at a corvus station, and other characters are in the nfz, the station guards should put a tail on me, just for good measure. If I show up at a TPG station, the station guards should pretty much ignore me. I do not think it will change who shoots who where, but I do think it is good rp.

Lui is nothing more than another name in a long list. I got bored with her antics long ago and said what I had to say not so much about her activities, but my opinion of GS's failure to provide adequate safeguards in the rp forum. So no, I'd actually forgotten about her since I don't track channels 1 or 100 these days and very seldom bother with the rp forum unless someone mentions something to me.

I fire weapons quite frequently in the nfz, whether to make sure they are set up correctly, shoot at the station or asteroids because I'm bored and waiting for an escort to dock or any number of other reasons. It seems a bit silly that I can 'act up' in the nfz and merely get one brief message on my hud.

I may be overlooking something, but I don't see how the op could be abused. The idea is to add a real sense of being watched to players acting suspiciously by firing their weapons in the nfz. To add to the atmosphere of the game in the same way that the increase in escorts entering and leaving stations adds a sense of there actually being 'life' there.

-1

I like the concept in how it would add atmosphere to the game and make the station guards feel a bit more lively. However, there are better things for the devs to spend their time on, and I can't think of any situation where this suggestion would offer any real benefit to dealing with an NFZ violation (except for the case where the aggressor is an idiot). Was there a specific scenario or abuse in which this suggestion is meant to address?

There is also plenty of potential to be exploited as well. First of all, it could be used to lure the station guards away from where the real action is going to be taking place by one's partner-in-crime. Another possible exploit would be get the station guard to follow you, and as soon as you leave the NFZ to drop a mine to destroy the guard without the NFZ penalty. Thirdly, if the player the guard is following comes to a full stop, then if the station guard were to come to a full stop too, it makes the guard an easy target. And those are just a few ways to abuse it that I thought of off the top of my head. Knowing this player base, it wouldn't surprise me if more creative exploits would be devised.

+1, but low priority.

"First of all, it could be used to lure the station guards away from where the real action is going to be taking place by one's partner-in-crime."

That is not an exploit. Causing a diversion is a perfectly legitimate strategy. Just make sure the NPCs are intelligent enough to decide that the guy who is actively damaging somebody is higher priority than the guy who isn't. Also, remember that the station dispatches additional ships upon NFZ violation, and those ships are likely to be closer to the action anyway, since the on-duty guards tend to wander all over the place during their patrols.

"Another possible exploit would be get the station guard to follow you, and as soon as you leave the NFZ to drop a mine to destroy the guard without the NFZ penalty."

This is not a viable tactic at all. Maybe you missed the announcement, but back in 2010 or so the devs made it so that you do take the normal faction penalties for attacking station guards. You won't become temp-kos, but you'll take the normal permanent faction hit for killing somebody. Plus whatever faction hit your human victim will impart.

"Thirdly, if the player the guard is following comes to a full stop, then if the station guard were to come to a full stop too, it makes the guard an easy target."

Easily solved by having the NPCs orbit instead of sit still.


One change I'd make to the OP would be to have one of the guard NPCs send you a PM that you need to stop firing or you'll be penalized. If you do stop firing for a few seconds, they'll go back to what they were doing. If you don't stop, you become temp-kos. If you repeat the process more than twice within a couple minutes or so without docking/leaving, you'd also become temp-kos.

There might need to be an exemption, in that case, for when somebody who has aggressed you is in the sector so that you don't become temp-kos for shooting at them. I don't have a problem with self defense within the NFZ being penalized, but apparently the devs are against that for some strange reason.


That said, I agree that this suggestion would mainly be a fluff change with little impact on people's actual safety.

I could see this potentially working if the number of guards in the sector was based on the importance of the station. However, what we have is 2 guards for every station, making it a lot easier to "fool" them into doing something stupid, regardless of the decision tree created. If we saw something like 16 guards for a capitol station, down to the 2 for commercial stations (or some other criterion used by the hosting nation. e.g. a large number of guards at military stations), then this could work, otherwise it's not going to work as desired.

I agree this is low priority unless it is something quick and easy for GS to do. This isn't meant to solve a problem or make the game safer. It is only mean to be an atmospheric change akin to acting suspicious in a department store leading staff or security following and closely watching a person while not yet having cause to take action against them.

I do like the notion of having the station guard give the nfz notice rather than just a hud message.

In the end this is as described a bit of fluff that might add to the overall feel of the game.