Bounty hunting for ne'er-do-wells

SoloFlyer

Grand Admiral
May 27, 2018
966
3,608
1,000
RSI Handle
housebroken
So I was thinking about the bounty hunting and prison game play loops at work and a thought occurred to me, what about something for those on the wrong side of the law to take advantage of that system. Do we know if K&R is going to be a thing in the game? My thinking is like this: you're fighting another player and destroy their ship but not before they eject. They are awaiting rescue but if you have the right sort of ship to hold a prisoner you can capture them and hold them for ransom. Now in order to avoid abuse there would be a predetermined set time period that a person can be held against their will. During that time, the captured party can either pay their captor directly or put out a rescue beacon so that org-mates or friends can come to either pay to release them or rescue them via main force. Or you wouldn't even need to have fought the person, a team of a cutlass red to scan for lifesigns and blue for the holding cells could go searching for adrift people and scoop them up to hold hostage. The repercussions of engaging in holding someone against their will would be that regardless of whether you are in safe or unsafe space, if the held party is a citizen the captor would get a crime stat with the UEE once you put out a beacon. Doing something similar IRL can mean repercussions/involvement from the home country regardless of where it actually occurs. I dunno, the main downside I see is that captivity which is controlled by the game for criminals (the prison system) is in the hands of other players, but if done right it might make for interesting game play.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Deroth and Scape

Montoya

Administrator
Staff member
Oct 31, 2013
9,918
54,303
3,055
RSI Handle
Montoya
It sounds like fun from a roleplaying angle, but any time a game forces me into something I dont want to be doing, its a quick log out and go do something else.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Vavrik and Scape

SoloFlyer

Grand Admiral
May 27, 2018
966
3,608
1,000
RSI Handle
housebroken
I like the idea but giving that kind of control of one player over another seems like it might be a slippery slope, but now that I think about it this could work for NPCs too as a mission. Shadier quest giver tells you to capture an NPC and hold them while defending against rescuers culminating in a ransom eventually being paid.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Scape

NaffNaffBobFace

Space Marshal
Donor
Jan 5, 2016
11,755
43,210
3,150
RSI Handle
NaffNaffBobFace
They talked about this with Bounty capture - at the time the thinking was once a player is captured it's press X to respawn and go on your way from the last spawn point you passed presumably with the losses incurred while you were trying to evade being locked up, while your avatar turns into an NPC the bountyhunter/kidnapper continues on their way. Dunno if that's changed but that was that line for a while.

I can also imagine with a player to NPC ratio of 10% to 90% there will be a helluva lot of very valuable NPC's kicking about who will get a much higher ransom than Nobody McAnonymous-Player who may have no one out in the 'Verse to pay their ransom in the first place. The UEE may pay a Ransom on the safe return of Admireable Bishop, they may not give a flying fudge about NaffNaffBobFace.
 
Last edited:

Bambooza

Space Marshal
Donor
Sep 25, 2017
5,682
17,881
2,875
RSI Handle
MrBambooza
They talked about this with Bounty capture - at the time the thinking was once a player is captured it's press X to respawn and go on your way from the last spawn point you passed presumably with the losses incurred while you were trying to evade being locked up, while your avatar turns into an NPC the bountyhunter/kidnapper continues on their way. Dunno if that's changed but that was that line for a while.

I can also imagine with a player to NPC ratio of 10% to 90% there will be a helluva lot of very valuable NPC's kicking about who will get a much higher ransom than Nobody McAnonymous-Player who may have no one out in the 'Verse to pay their ransom in the first place. The UEE may pay a Ransom on the safe return of Admireable Bishop, they may not give a flying fudge about NaffNaffBobFace.
As far as I know, this is still the plan the captured player avatar gets replaced by an NPC and the player get sent to prison to play through the prison game loop. And this is why while I like the idea of ransom game element I wonder how it could be done in such a way as to allow a pirate to hold a player for ransom while removing the player from the situation to free them up to do something else. Unless the ransom is purely based on not having to spawn a new char "death of a spaceman"
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Vavrik and Scape

Shadow Reaper

Space Marshal
Jun 3, 2016
4,762
13,889
2,850
RSI Handle
Shadow Reaper
We still don't know what the penalty will be for dying, but we know it will be serious. Chris was all permadeath for years and he is going to make sure we want to avoid dying, so playing an hour in lockup really should be preferable to dying. With all due respect to Toys, odds are good that if you get captured and log, you'll suffer worse consequences when you return. the idea is to make it painful to die or be captured. If you lose that, you lose all the urgency to stay safe, and all the excitement that comes with threatening situations.

We should all be scared to die or be locked up. Period.
 

maynard

Space Marshal
May 20, 2014
5,123
20,284
2,995
RSI Handle
mgk
It sounds like fun from a roleplaying angle, but any time a game forces me into something I dont want to be doing, its a quick log out and go do something else.
I can also imagine with a player to NPC ratio of 10% to 90% there will be a helluva lot of very valuable NPC's kicking about who will get a much higher ransom than Nobody McAnonymous-Player who may have no one out in the 'Verse to pay their ransom in the first place.
[WALL O'TEXT]

It sounds like a lot of the gameplay CIG is designing will only work as PVE rather than PVP

Which is a problem - even with good AI, PVE play can eventually be gamed or figured out

at which point it ceases to be immersive and becomes a grind

long-term, CIG will need compelling PVP gameplay to sustain our interest

yet six years into development CIG has shown us no mechanics to drive PVP conflict

and has made it clear that competition for scarce resources won't happen

Eve Online players typically play for a few months, take a break for a few, and then come back

the political struggles are compelling even though much of the gameplay is hopelessly outdated

what is going to bring me back to Star Citizen once the shiny has worn off?

[/WALL O'TEXT]
 
  • Like
Reactions: Shadow Reaper

NaffNaffBobFace

Space Marshal
Donor
Jan 5, 2016
11,755
43,210
3,150
RSI Handle
NaffNaffBobFace
[WALL O'TEXT]

It sounds like a lot of the gameplay CIG is designing will only work as PVE rather than PVP

Which is a problem - even with good AI, PVE play can eventually be gamed or figured out

at which point it ceases to be immersive and becomes a grind

long-term, CIG will need compelling PVP gameplay to sustain our interest

yet six years into development CIG has shown us no mechanics to drive PVP conflict

and has made it clear that competition for scarce resources won't happen

Eve Online players typically play for a few months, take a break for a few, and then come back

the political struggles are compelling even though much of the gameplay is hopelessly outdated

what is going to bring me back to Star Citizen once the shiny has worn off?

[/WALL O'TEXT]
I don't believe it will be a problem finding real players to dick about with. Spectrum exists, all the comms channels of TEST exist, Arena Commander exists if you don't want your PvP effecting your in-game Avatar considering you only get one life.

If you're looking for non-consentual PvP, that shouldn't be hard either. Go to any major space port and tail a ship that doesn't fly like a robot. Go on Spectrum and look for the major asshats and bribe the Comms towers to report when they are in an area so you can go looking for them. Hell, look at certain threads on there like "Trading Tips" or "Where to mine?", drop some false info and lay a trap if you are so inclined. Nothings going to stop you from hot player on player action if that's what you are after, especially non-consensual...

...the thing with non-consensual is a while you may get a rep as a P-Ker and other players come looking for you to PvP you without your consent. I don't doubt there will be entire orgs of knights out there looking to dole out some justice.

As far as conflict is concerned, remember: You are a citizen of the UEE. The clue is in the name of the game "Star Citizen". We'll all start out on the same side by default. If you want to fracture off and find your conflict you can go find it, search for some pirate faction or even apply to the Outsider colony. Pirates can raid players all day long but they are not really large enough for grand scale conflict unless its between factions, and the Outsider colony is only a single colony it could be rolled over at a moments notice by a single wing of UEE frigates.

But I get the feeling your talking strictly about conflict in the pew pew Shooty McBangBang sense. You're looking for grand scale along the lines of Metagame? Would I be right in saying that?

You personally want inter-human conflict on a grand scale in a mature, peaceful union of worlds? You may only be getting that in the UEE with Civil War, and I mean a civil war that divides the loyalties of the UEE Navy. May I suggest in a career in the Senate? That may be the only way to achieve your goal but I don't think it's impossible.

You want to push the UEE over the edge and see the 'Verse on fire look in the Lore. Perhaps start with the movement to shift the capital of the Empire from Earth to Terra. That should stir things up especially if you suggest changing the name of the UEE to the UET. Nothing gets people more divided and excited than changing the header on the official paper.
 

maynard

Space Marshal
May 20, 2014
5,123
20,284
2,995
RSI Handle
mgk
...You personally want inter-human conflict on a grand scale in a mature, peaceful union of worlds? You may only be getting that in the UEE with Civil War, and I mean a civil war that divides the loyalties of the UEE Navy. May I suggest in a career in the Senate? That may be the only way to achieve your goal but I don't think it's impossible.
You want to push the UEE over the edge and see the 'Verse on fire look in the Lore. Perhaps start with the movement to shift the capital of the Empire from Earth to Terra. That should stir things up especially if you suggest changing the name of the UEE to the UET. Nothing gets people more divided and excited than changing the header on the official paper.
I want conflict between orgs and alliances of orgs for control of lawless space

the UEE can keep what they now control

everyone will need neutral space where they can safely go shopping, amirite?

but seriously, we need game mechanics that take human greed, territoriality, and lust for power into account as motivators
 
Last edited:

Bambooza

Space Marshal
Donor
Sep 25, 2017
5,682
17,881
2,875
RSI Handle
MrBambooza
I want conflict between orgs and alliances of orgs for control of lawless space

the UEE can keep what they now control

everyone will need neutral space where they can safely go shopping, amirite?

but seriously, we need game mechanics that take human greed, territoriality, and lust for power into account as motivators
Correct. The game's longevity will be solely based upon these criteria. Even games like WoW utilize raid gear tiers to drive their members to continue to play.
 
Forgot your password?