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Distress signals/beacons.
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Jainz
Federal Bureau of Imagination
#1 - 2013-06-24 20:32:59 UTC
I just put this idea forward to some fellow pilots and it was met with approval, so I wanted to share with the wider community.

I was just thinking, it would be pretty cool to have the ability to send out a distress signal, like a beacon that when dropped is visible throughout the local solar system (for say 30 seconds) and can be warped to by anybody. Maybe certain conditions would have to be met before it could be used, maybe not.

The great thing about it would be that people responding to it wouldn’t necessarily be going to help the distressed ship. They might be wanting to get in on a killmail, or to salvage wrecks. They might be out for a big brawl between whoever shows up. It could also be used for traps - somebody pretends to be in distress but they have backup cloaked/nearby. You always see distress signals and these kinds of scenarios in sci-fi, so I thought what the hell. I'd guess this would be used more in empire space than 0.0.

I'm no good at thinking of pros/cons, so feel free to discuss!
Alvatore DiMarco
Capricious Endeavours Ltd
#2 - 2013-06-24 23:34:45 UTC
I'm almost completely certain it will be treated exactly the way a cyno is treated. It may even be universally regarded/used as a trap to lure people in before hotdropping them.
Danika Princip
GoonWaffe
Goonswarm Federation
#3 - 2013-06-24 23:38:18 UTC
Alvatore DiMarco wrote:
I'm almost completely certain it will be treated exactly the way a cyno is treated. It may even be universally regarded/used as a trap to lure people in before hotdropping them.



May? The only thing this will be used for is a trap, or a giant 'GANK ME' sign.
Jeanne-Luise Argenau
Brutor Tribe
Minmatar Republic
#4 - 2013-06-24 23:59:30 UTC
still a +1 as long as u can reduce the distress beacon to ppl with good standings in your corp and so on.
Danika Princip
GoonWaffe
Goonswarm Federation
#5 - 2013-06-25 01:56:18 UTC
Jeanne-Luise Argenau wrote:
still a +1 as long as u can reduce the distress beacon to ppl with good standings in your corp and so on.



And if you're doing that, why don't you just fleet up with them and have them warp to you that way?
Jainz
Federal Bureau of Imagination
#6 - 2013-06-25 06:00:12 UTC
Danika Princip wrote:
Alvatore DiMarco wrote:
I'm almost completely certain it will be treated exactly the way a cyno is treated. It may even be universally regarded/used as a trap to lure people in before hotdropping them.



May? The only thing this will be used for is a trap, or a giant 'GANK ME' sign.


Exactly - if someone's going down, they're going to use this as a last resort for a chance of survival, even though there's a good chance the "rescuers" will just pop them themselves. I know this is EVE and everybody loves the pew pew, but they might actually be saved?
Danika Princip
GoonWaffe
Goonswarm Federation
#7 - 2013-06-25 12:51:20 UTC
Jainz wrote:
Danika Princip wrote:
Alvatore DiMarco wrote:
I'm almost completely certain it will be treated exactly the way a cyno is treated. It may even be universally regarded/used as a trap to lure people in before hotdropping them.



May? The only thing this will be used for is a trap, or a giant 'GANK ME' sign.


Exactly - if someone's going down, they're going to use this as a last resort for a chance of survival, even though there's a good chance the "rescuers" will just pop them themselves. I know this is EVE and everybody loves the pew pew, but they might actually be saved?



There is no chance of survival. If someone shows up in enough force to drive off the attackers before the victim goes down, they're either in a fleet with the guy, or they're going to kill him themselves.
Jeanne-Luise Argenau
Brutor Tribe
Minmatar Republic
#8 - 2013-06-25 13:32:03 UTC  |  Edited by: Jeanne-Luise Argenau
Danika Princip wrote:
Jeanne-Luise Argenau wrote:
still a +1 as long as u can reduce the distress beacon to ppl with good standings in your corp and so on.



And if you're doing that, why don't you just fleet up with them and have them warp to you that way?


normaly i would agree to that statement, i know in low or null u have standard policy to be in a standing fleet. but there r times when u need to tell ppl u need help fast and a shortcut with direct warp to becon might be faster.

ps and the becon is still active after u die so maybe for longer standing fights. and rp like its a wise choice to include
Sir Dragon
Einherjar Yggdrasils
#9 - 2013-06-26 16:39:37 UTC
An automated alternative to calling out in Local / Constellation / Alliance / Corp / *.* chat windows for assistance.
Sure, seams sound.

I would say that the general area of said distress beacon would be somehow transmitted with the beacon, along with [maybe] an category, short short message, ship types in local area. . .

Or..../and.....
Such that a pilot that picks up the transmission, 30 jumps away +-+-+-, would see the bullet points.
Something along the lines of:
ship type of pilot that launched beacon,
ship types in general area.

Maybe a selection of beacon categories:
backup,
PC-incusion in to alliance space,
drunk and lost,
was that a hamster . . .


Well,
just not a simple becon that bleeps,
it would be immediatly feasted upon by the hordes of pvpers.
Yet.... let the beacon be "hackable" such that sending of an "false" distress call is possible and more importantly not an exploit.
Cause the active prevention of "evil" is pure folly.
Pantera Home Videos:    http://pktube.onepakistan.com/video/ck2ykdBrDRM/Pantera-Vulgar-Video-Full-Completo.html  ;  http://pktube.onepakistan.com/video/xpma3u7OjfU/Pantera-Watch-It-Go-Full-Completo-CD1.html ;    http://pktube.onepakistan.com/video/yyO9rAx8eoQ/Pantera-Watch-It-Go-Full-Completo-CD2.html .
Silent Rambo
Orion Positronics
#10 - 2013-06-26 17:02:11 UTC
I kinda like this idea. You could put in some features to make it so this isn't completely abused. Maybe you get one a day, and it can only be done under certain conditions. Maybe you could even add an ISK pay off if someone helped you out and you.

The idea needs to be flushed out a bit, but I like the thought of it. Makes it easier for people to interact with each other. Adds a little more depth to the game. Maybe you take a chance and see if someone is in trouble, maybe you don't. This opens up for more meaningful interaction between players beyond just killing them.

This reminds me a lot of that "Butterfly effect" trailer, where a guy helps out a miner, and in turn rolls with his buddies to a giant fleet battle. It ads to the feeling that your choices could impact someone else in a positive, or potentially negative manor.

+1

You really think someone would do that? Just log into EvE and tell lies?
supernova ranger
The End of Eternity
#11 - 2013-06-26 17:33:27 UTC
Well I think it could be used another way...

Distress signal sent > A message pops up in the system's and systems surrounding's local saying "a capsuleer is under attack and needs assistance in system XXXXX" the system name is then hyper-linked

There is a 5% chance someone is going to come and save you, I'm being generous here, maybe if the ransoming is fixed they'll do that. The other possibility is that you just flagged to all nearby ships that there is a fight here and the ships attacking you will now have to deal with the additional risk of being hunted by nearby roaming fleets.

Just the system name is given and people can use it or abuse it as they like... So either "IT'S A TRAAAAAP" or "New hostiles in sytem, fleet disengage and align"