Player Features and Ideas Discussion

seriously no thoughts?

I like the idea. I could get it so some new players who wanted to pewpew could go out and kill people who annoy me.

Seriously, I like it. Any changes to the bounty system would be a huge improvement at this point.

Again...

- most good mercs, outlaws and such know each other (or know people who know people). Hell, a lot of us often sit in the same intel channels. It is literally a "good old boys club."

- it'd be easier and more profitable (for everyone) to make a deal with the bountied people (especially if they are half decent at PvP).

- there is no way to verify that the mercs didn't make a deal behind your back (see: they can lie).


While the current system is not ideal or conforms to the traditional idea of a bounty, it's the least exploitable form of the system with relatively few arbitrary rules and regulations.
And always assume that players will collude and "blue" each other in the interest of profit.

I just thought of another interesting idea to go along with this . . . protection bounties.

So you can specify an object in space and a length of time. If after the time expires the object still exists, the bounty is paid out. Of course you would have to disable unanchoring for the protected object but still . . .

Thoughts?

Why wouldnt it work outside of corp/alliance?

Private bounties aimed to a specific list of individuals/corps/alliances that have 100% reward compared to damage done, and not 20 % ?

Count me in !


It would be a great way to pay mercenaries btw, even more if you can setup your own ratio (like 200% isk per ship kill, private bounties only occuring above a customizable minimum ship value threshold)

The system could be extended to include all allies to a war. And potential allies, instead of asking for money, could ask for a war bounty placed on the ennemy with a set %age and a set threshold (if any). It would create a much more efficient mercenary system that would favorise actual kills. That is, overall, a VERY GOOD IDEA.

Edit : Protection bounty, good idea too !
Select target structure, select amount, select duration, select private target for the bounty. (Individual, corp, alliance). If the structure hasn't been destroyed after the duration, the target gets the bounty (from a NPC pool that you donated to upon creation of the contract of course).

Destruction bounty, same system but reversed. Select target structure, select amount, select expiration time, select private target for the bounty. If the structure is destroyed before expiration, send money to private target, regardless of who participated in the kill.
Variation possible with open destruction bounty where everyone gets a share of the bounty if you participated, proportional to damage dealt. Gives full reward regardless of % of losses inflicted of course, because a structure can hold a strategical value that an opponent wouldn't be willing to sacrifice to get the bounty anyway.

Yes but that becomes part of the metagame ! After corp thiefs, bounty thiefs ! People infiltrating corps with available private bounties above the head of their mates, and killing them to steal their own bounty.

Thus, mercenary alliances with reliable members would gain in popularity, etc etc... Because you'd know that these corporations can receive private bounties without pirates being able to infiltrate them, for instance.

That's the beauty of private bounties, you can still work around (which is GOOD) sometimes, if you are lucky and/or put effort in it, but it is not automatically broken like the previous mechanism was.

The sucessfulness of the private bounty that you pay for is thus not determined by arbitrary game mechanisms anymore, but by your own decision making. Which fits Eve.

Still no thoughts on how this would be exploited?