3 September 2012

Podded by Concord

I figured it would be fun to go down a controversial route today. Looking forward to your comments of rage.

Concord should be punishing people who commit crimes in hisec by podding them and issuing a fine.

No, this is not an anti-goon rant against Hulkageddon type activities, or the recent trend to gank freighters en route between Amarr and Jita. While that is not my chosen thing to do I am happy with there being people out there who do that. I'm even happy that those people are able to do it. Let's face it, the main difference between hisec and lowsec is only a perceived feeling of safety. So far in 2012 there has been almost the same number of ships killed in hisec as in lowsec, nullsec and wormhole space combined. That's not particularly safe, is it? Yet people feel safe autopiloting around willy-nilly in untanked haulers and Orcas. Something they would never do in 0.4 but are happy to do in 0.5.

If I don't have a problem with the crime why, then, do I have an issue with the current punishment? On TV there is a vast number of Police car chase programs. While the sequence of events that leads up to each chase will vary, the general recipe is the same: police detect criminal in a vehicle; police try to stop criminal; criminal flees; police chase; criminal crashes.

In my mind the above sequence of events isn't too dissimilar to EVE. In New Eden what we find is: Crime happens which Concord instantly know about; Concord arrive at the scene of the crime; Concord blow up criminal. It's at this point things fall down. Once Concord blows up your ship you are free to go. Sure, players can take pot-shots at your pod but the police are happy for you to do whatever you want. Unless you get another ship too soon, that is.

Consider a scenario where the police are chasing a murderer and in order to stop the criminal they ram his car off the road. The car gets written off due to the resulting damage. Imagine the public outrage if the police then let they guy go provided he doesn't get into another car too soon. Said fellow waits out this period of time, gets a new car and goes off to kill someone else. Make sense?

Here's what I think should happen. Once Concord blow up the criminal they should try to catch his pod and explode that too. This is the equivalent to the police not only stopping a criminal but arresting him as well. Finally, that criminal should be fined in the station for criminal activities. From a gankers point of view all this does is increase the 'operating costs' for their illegal activities. Now, as well as replacing ships they need to replace clones and pay fines.

It is worth making life a little more fun for these hisec pirates though. They should have the ability to warp their pod free from the exploding ship if they are quick enough. The understanding here being that ship destruction is a guaranteed punishment but it may be possible to escape with your pod and without being fined. Simply docking or jumping out of system isn't a route to safety, however. Stations will be aware you are a criminal and won't let you dock. Gates will let you leave but if the next system is also hisec then Concord will start chasing you there too. In fact, the only way to avoid being podded and fined is to get to lowsec or nullsec (or jump through a wormhole).

What gains does this give us in game? Well, carebears get the satisfaction of a more robust penalty against the 'bad guys'. Hisec griefing becomes slightly less interesting due to higher costs. The 'professionals' will still do it as they can work the costs into making sure they only gank the best targets. Finally these criminals can choose the excitement of a 'car chase' across the skies seeking safe haven. Seems like a genius idea to me. What say you?

8 comments:

  1. Hm. Interesting idea - although I am not sure if I like it. As usual, I believe in "small government" and giving Concord greater powers does not help the game to be more interesting. In the end, we would need Concord to fight belt rats? ;-)

    A variation of your theme would be that Concord indeed blows up the ship as present and flags the pilot and its pod for 1 day or even more. Killing this pilot - and podding him - gives a bump in the security rating for the pilot who landed the final blow and possibly Concord LP. This would create an incentive for bounty hunters to specifically look out for these pilots and stalk them. To make it slightly more balanced, the pod could be jammed in place for 15 seconds after the attack and a systems-wide message displays an attack happened?

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    1. So instead of the ganker having to flee to lowsec/nullsec to escape Concord you would suggest flagging them as shootable in hisec for 24 hours. I think that's way too harsh a punishment. System-wide messages would also be a horrible spam-fest in busy systems.

      Stealing from your idea and having the person be a valid target while they are fleeing from Concord would work though. Complete with the Concord LP and sec gain.

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  2. Interesting, but I'm not sure about the Concord podding (right off the bat at least). I know that, back in the day, you smuggled things the customs guys would scan you and tell you that you needed to pay a fine an turn over the contraband. So, how about Concord = ship death, and they will charge you fines. Either pay fines or be outlaw like you described.

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    1. Is your suggestion that Concord blow up your ship and then a pop-up appears with a fine to pay. You can either pay that fine or warp to a gate a jump resulting in a chase to avoid getting podded? That would be an interesting way to trigger my idea as an informed choice.

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    2. That's it exactly. To be honest, the thought process came from the elder scrolls game. If you commit a crime you can either accept the punishment (jail time in those games), a pay a fine, or try to make a run for it.

      Jail time wouldn't work for eve, but fines and/or pod death would work.

      One interesting aspect, is that it would possibly keep pirates from being able to go to high sec more than the system does now. So long as they move fast enough (pod, shuttle, or fast frig) they can still cut through. If the space police still want to kick their head in, that may enforce the rules a bit more.

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    3. My thought wasn't really to stop pirates coming to hisec any less than they do now. It was more to shake things up a bit without too much of a change. After a period of time in lowsec they aren't hunted any more (for that particular crime anyway).

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  3. Ohhh I just had a better idea.... How about we copy RL ways of doing things. If you are rich and with influence, you get protection by the police. If you are poor and insignificant for the next election, you do not. So how about Concord sells - expensively - protection passes. If a bearer of a protection pass is attacked in high-sec, bad things happen to the attacker. If the victim didn't pay, tough cheese. The trick is is to hide from the attacker who has the pass! So, the attacker have to apply some form of brains and run the risk that someone actually pays the protection money. I am stating to like this - and its an ISK sink, something CCP always wanted. Whats not to love?

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    1. um...

      How about you write that up in a blog then.

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