RD-83 wrote:I don't mean this in a passive aggressive way but what kind of things would you guys like adding.
I've made a list like this before and had it shot down, but wtf. I don't know where to start, so this will just be kind of a stream of consciousness. I'm watching a football game, which has a lot of dead time.
Generally, I'd like to see a new player, who plays 1-2 hours a night, need to stay in Sidey for at least a few days, and maybe a week. Upgrading to a Hauler or Adder shouldn't take too much longer, but you should probably need to play a couple weeks before you could get your hands on a Cobra III.
It's been a long time since I was a noob in a Sidey, but back then it was a lot harder to make credits. Now, in a starter Sidey in a HiRes, you can make millions just sniping a shot at a ship the police are already attacking. And missions will pay you big money just to deliver some Tea, not to mention the smuggling missions.
A more realistic way to make credits faster is to stay in a system and get to know the locals, then maybe they will offer you special missions - but still not enough to buy a new ship with one mission.
Shared bounties should be divided based on percentage of damage done. This would encourage new players to give trading and delivery/sourcing missions a go, or maybe some criminal activity. Then after some time and experience, you can afford to move into bigger ships, or try out the military versions and give combat a go.
Insurance should be based on a realistic insurance system, where you pay ahead of time for various coverage levels, including hull, equipment, and cargo. This would be a weekly or monthly fee. If you are a known criminal, you don't get insurance.
There should be station fees. If you get services, or are trading, then landing fees would be waived, but otherwise there is a small fee. And if you live at the station, there will be weekly or monthly rent, or daily for transients.
You should be able to die. You still have an escape pod, and it can even be automatic in combat and you are taking damage. But if you do something really stupid, like boosting into a station w/o shields, then you should die. Any ship with full shields should not be destroyed by one collision. Of course, if you manually eject before you hit, then you can survive. But if you are 50,000 ly from the bubble and need to eject because you do something stupid, then you will probably just have to die - not teleport back to a station. There can still be search & rescue ships, both NPC and player Fuel Rat types, but I don't see how that can work unless you are a lot closer to populated systems - maybe 1000 ly.
I like the idea of escape pod play. The pod wouldn't show up on sensors unless you active a beacon. So if you are destroyed by a pirate, you can try hiding in the wreckage, or maybe maneuver away on reaction thrusters. Hopefully the search & rescue ships will show up soon and scare the pirate away, but there's a chance you can be captured and sold as a slave, and you'd have to work for your freedom (or ransomed).
Crime response in high security, high population, should be swift and effective. This ramps down until you get almost nothing in an anarchy system - no cops, anyway.
If you are an independent miner, you should be able to drop into some random ring and have almost no chance of being bothered by pirates. On the rare occasion you see something appear on your sensors, you can try maneuvering away, or just go silent until they pass. Of course, those blips could be cops or other miners.
If there are corporate mining operations in the area, then you can still have resource extraction sites with security. The chance if a pirate trying to pirate you in front of cops in a high security system would be a big fat zero. In lower security area, if you got too far away, your chance of being bothered increases. HazRes sites would still be possible due to communication failures, but would be rare. I think I'd rather see the normal Res become Haz. Maybe pirates can take out the communication satellites or something.
Interdictions should be rare. Cops or military should first ask you to drop down for security sweeps or whatever. If you ignore them, then they can interdict you, and you can try to evade. If you are wanted, you don't get asked first.
Bounty hunters should require a special license to obtain an FSD interdictor. They are free to pull wanted ships out of SC, but it's a crime for them to pull clean ships and they could lose their license. Of course, you can go bad and become a pirate, but you don't get to keep your interdictor if you get caught. Maybe you can buy one on the black market, but not just anywhere or in any anarchy.
When a player obtains expert rank in combat, they can take jobs as station security and system patrols and search & rescue flying station owned ships. That could also be a way to steal a ship (and an interdictor), but don't expect to ever have your name cleared in that jurisdiction.
Salvage anywhere should not be illegal, unless the cargo is marked with a beacon.
I haven't done much ground combat, but what I have done has been stupid. What's the point of armed skimmers if they can't kill anything. And shouldn't ground turrets have strong weapons and shields? They are all too easy to kill. And what's all this silly scanning beacons stuff.
Why are so many skimmers wanted? Is it because they are pirate skimmers? Then taking their loot should be legal, but only to turn over for a reward - not to steal yourself.
The POI system is stupid. I'd rather have wave scanner type systems with stronger signals the closer you get. And the POIs should be persistent. You should be able to drop a private beacon that you can share with wingmates.
Ships in SC should not be super bright stars that washout whole planets. I think this is just an artifact from trying to hide their crappy model draw system.
In high population systems, there should be more ships in SC and more ships around stations. This could require actual ATC and traffic queues - not so good for smugglers, unless they had special shielded compartments.
My stray cat kitten likes Nacho Cheese Doritos - who doesn't? Just little crumbs - don't lecture.
When they introduced power play, I hated it, and I've never even played it. I just know it's wrong and it needs to be fixed.
I wasn't much happier with the RNGineers. First, the roll the dice system is just too stupid. Second, it's both too easy and too much of a grind. Real engineer upgrades should be difficult to get, and just finding the various engineers should be harder, and take longer to find multiple engineers. But you could still express a choice in whom you'd like to meet, like if you want a better FSD or better weapons you'd get a different introduction.
I think their needs to be a roll for PVP. Redesigned conflict zones, or systems at war for sure. Also warring power play factions should be able to attack each other, and maybe even innocent traders supporting the opposing side's war effort (plenty of warnings about what's going on, so it's your choice to take the risk). I could also see blockades and such, but you shouldn't be able to operate freely in your enemy's systems. If you don't want to be attacked, don't visit those systems.
I think I've mentioned crime & punishment before, but if you attack & destroy clean ships you should be severely punished (except for anarchy systems). For habitual offenders, the fines can be exponential, so you are soon back in a Sidey. You can't actually kill another player - just destroy their ships - so no death penalty.
Accidentally firing on cops or clean ships should not result in bounties, unless it is clear you are actually attacking. Stray shots to shields should not even be fines. If you accidentally attack a clean ship or a cop, you should be able to surrender w/o being destroyed. I could see being persona-non-grata in that system for a while if you habitually attack clean ships & cops.
It should be hard to bounty hunt in high security systems because the criminals should stay away and the cops should keep the place clean.
Weapons should be realistic (for 3300). Lasers are ubiquitous in sci-fi, so I'm okay with those, and of course kinetic weapons. Plasma, rail guns, missiles, mines are all good. But some of these RNGineer mods are just stupid, especially the special effects. Just make them stronger, lighter, and etc. Heat damage weapons are particularly stupid, as long as your shields are still up.
If you have a double hangar, two ship launched fighters, and two crew, you should be able to launch both, one after the other. Two should be the maximum (only one single or dual hanger with single launch bay).
I'd still like a military career with carriers - think Wing Commander. This would be a way to muster out with a military grade ship. You shouldn't be able to obtain military ranks & ships w/o serving in the military.
You shouldn't be able to obtain King and Admiral ranks, and etc, without the associated gameplay. The game does not currently have a way to support this, but maybe in time.
Ok, the page is getting blurry so I better wrap this up.
Basically, I want to be able to play the way I want - within reason. If I want to get up and make the donuts - mine or trade in high security systems - then I should be able to do that w/o being molested my NPCs or players. If I want a little more risk for higher profits, I could go into lower security systems or take some risky missions. I can't become King of the World in 1-2 weeks by grinding - promotions will take time. For more excitement I can try bounty hunting or a military career, or maybe risky power play stuff. And if I want to be a PVP pirate, that's also my choice - it's just a lot riskier in higher security systems, and criminal punishment is severe if you get caught destroying your victims.
Oh, and of course things like atmospheric planetary landings, walking around ships and stations, driving your SRV on stations, better interactions with players and NPCs in walk around mode, ship naming, Thargoids, and etc.