Player Features and Ideas Discussion

ALRIGHT I KNOW THIS HAS BEEN DONE TO DEATH BUT THERE STILL ISN'T A SOLUTION.

*Edit: There are concerns of freighters not being able to do their job. So ive changed it to not effect high sec pilots. Since it only works in Null or Low sec the activation of the bounty also gives the target an aggression timer.

When I first started I fell in love with the idea of being a bounty hunter. There were even trailers which promoted the profession. The idea of hunting down pilots for other people is such a great concept.

THE PROBLEM:

As we all know the bounty system in Eve is pretty irrelevant. No one tracks down pilots with high bounties, and the only people who place bounties on other players are those who don't understand the system. Its also nigh impossible to make any money as a bounty hunter. Before everyone suggests mercenary work, that is a different aspect. Mercenaries don't use any in game interfaces do to their business and they are more objective based. "Kill this POS. Protect this POS. Station Camp" You aren't hunting down a specific bounty.
A separate problem is the PvE in Eve. Its a repetitive, paint by numbers activity that is only done to gain isk. No one runs missions for "fun". What if we combined the two?

BOUNTY HUNTING MISSIONS:

Imagine a mission structure in Eve that took skill, planning, and was always unpredictable. AI will always be scripted, and even really well scripted AI will become boring. However the most dangerous game, man, will always change.

These missions will be delivered by mission agents. They will be in their own category separate from Security missions. This is how the mechanics would work.

You accept a bounty from the NPC. The level of the bounty (1-4) will determine the difficulty of the bounty you get. The difficulty is determined by two factors.
1) The price of the bounty on the pilot
2) The type of space they were last in. High Sec, Low Sec, Null Sec (Wormhole space will be excluded)

A pilot with a 1 million isk bounty in High sec would be a level 1 mission. A pilot with a 500 million isk bounty in Null sec would be a level 4. A pilot with a 500 million isk bounty in High sec may be a level 3 mission. The numbers aren't concrete and I'm sure an algorithm could be created to determine the level of each bounty.

If you accept the bounty the NPC will then act as a locator agent and tell you where they are. You now have the ability to activate a duel with the target. It would work similiarly to the kill right system, but instead of making the target a suspect it brings up the dueling mechanic. This keeps other pilots from jumping into the fight. Neutral logi could still be used and the logi would turn suspect, just like with the dueling mechanic. The pilot with the bounty will see the bounty hunter appear in local like a war target, allowing those pilots who are on their toes a chance to escape.

You receive payment with the bounty award, plus LP from the NPC. The bounty payout algorithm stays the same. So if you put a billion isk bounty on a pilot it isn't taken away because he was killed in a frigate.

You can accept 3 bounties at a time and there is no punishment for declining a bounty. This stops bounty hunters from hoarding
bounties and camping trade hubs.

Now when you place a bounty on a person you know there will be bounty hunters actively hunting them. The bigger the bounty, the more they will be harassed!

As I see it there are two major problems that must be worked around to make a decent bounty hunting system

1. Cannot be farmed by the alt of the person who got the bounty. For instance, if you get a bounty you can't blow yourself up with an alt and claim it. Your system bypasses this for the most part, assuming you cannot simply pick what bounties you want to hunt.

2. Bounties cannot give kill rights. The problem with this is if they do, then what'll happen is all freighters and stuff will immediately be bountied and shot down. Your solution fails this. What'll happen is if CODE really wants to gank freighter's they'll just put a 1 million bounty on each and every one they see, and have members accept missions and shoot them down.

There are more problems with creating a bounty system, however those are the major two. Try again once you've solved both of those and maybe, just maybe it'll last longer than 10 seconds before being shot down.

So doesn't apply to highsec, but uses highsec mechanics, even in lowsec and nullsec.

Why would activating a limited engagement in nullsec stop someone else from jumping into the fight?

If you are in nullsec, how does a logi joining in make them suspect?

In lowsec, why would a limited engagement necessarily stop others from also joining in?

In nullsec, if you jump onto system as a bounty hunter, you appear as a wartarget in local? Isn't that just telegraphing your intention up front, giving all of the advantage to the target. If someone jumped into system with me and were flashing at me, they wouldn't need to activate anything, I'd be looking for them to shoot them before they even had the chance (and bringing the rest of my Corp into it to whore on the killmail too).

It's fairly simple actually.

If you want bounty hunting to be a profession, then allow people to put up contracts for it. Exactly like we have with hauling contracts. Let people attach killrights to accepting the contract, request podding of the subject, and put potential time limits on it, etc.

Then you have a marketplace for the time-honored profession of killing people for money.

Bingo, problem solved.

Only a weapons timer prevents docking, and the reason why trying to coopt it for bounties is stupid is right in the ******* name, "Weapons Timer".

speaking of snowflake...

Do you have a unique response? Anything of value to add?

I would just scrap the whole thing at this point, and start over.

Except that everyone would make bounty alts, undock their main in an lbis, claim it and pocket the sucker's money.