Assembly Hall

Booster Mechanics Proposal

Boosters should move further from a % chance of negative effects as the main negative effect towards a gradual and increasing dependancy on the use of the drug.

Although they should keep a % chance of bad effects, the current % chance should be reduced by 50% to 0.15%. This would allow the skills pertaining to boosters to stay unchanged.

Boosters by their nature boost certain performance aspects of your characters PVP skills. Creating a dependancy mechanic from this is as easy as incurring a small but cumulative persistent penalty on the same areas that the booster gives bonuses to.

That way consistent long term use means that a character carries a persistent incurred penalty to the areas the booster would normally affect. The character would eventually consume boosters to negate this incurred cumulative penalty, thereby creating a dependancy. That dependancy would drive use of stronger drugs for performance enhancement incentivising the higher tiers of booster use.

Even at the highest level of booster use when performance enhancing effects are totally negated, drug use will continue purely to negate the persistent negative effects.

The addictive nature of boosters would allow for ultra rare items equivalent to detoxification medicines, or NPC services akin to a Drug Rehabilitation Course. The latter of these would only be available in high security space and would restrict players to staying docked for a set period of days to complete a rehabilitation course. Detoxification medicines would not nearly be as effective as a Rehabilitation course but would be available through players seeding markets in low and null security space.


Drug Usage

Approximating recreational use vs a strong addictive use of a drug is vital to getting balancing correct.
These are my approximations and are subject to change depending on feedback.

typically:

• less than 3 per week would be considered recreational ( < 156 pa )
• between 3 and 6 per week would be considered consistent ( 156 > < 312 pa )
• more than 6 per week would be considered excessive ( 312 > pa )

The approximate values 150, 300 and 500 will be used in calculations to approximate usage levels and simplify calculations.


Overview of current booster strengths:

Current strengths:

• Synth - 5% (proposed change - 5%)
• Standard - 20% (proposed change - 10%)
• Improved - 25% (proposed change - 20%)
• Strong - 30% (proposed change - 30%)

Proposed cumulative negative effect per use (%):

• Synth - 0.01% - cumulative effect after 150 uses - 1.5% ; 500 uses - 5%
• Standard - 0.02% - cumulative effect after 150 uses - 3% ; 500 uses - 10%
• Improved - 0.04% - cumulative effect after 150 uses - 6% ; 500 uses - 20%
• Strong - 0.06% - cumulative effect after 150 uses - 9% ; 500 uses - 30%

Recreational use of a synth booster would in 150 uses negate only 1.5% of the bonus it gives, Where as excessive use of a booster will negate all its bonus after 500 uses. A pilot would after such use be less effective without boosters in the area that booster would enhance.

With the boosters effectiveness practically halved in 6 months, users would increasingly look to using a higher strength to achieve/excel the previously achieved enhancement.

Skills could negate the negative effects as much as 25%
Racial immunity could also reduce the negative effects of some boosters by 25%
Implants could negate the negative effects as much as 5%

Maximum cumulative immunity to boosters negative effects would be 55%


Treatments

The addictive nature of boosters would allow for ultra rare items equivalent to detoxification medicines, or NPC services akin to a Drug Rehabilitation Course.

This can either be bought off the market and created by players out of ultra rare materials, or an Aurum or ISK based in-station service where you enroll your character into drug rehabilitation for ‘X’ period of days for a percentage reduction in accumulated booster effects.
This percentage should be limited to a maximum of 50% per session, with sessions lasting up to 5 days. During these days you’ll be unable to undock but you can partake in all the station amenities and normal communications.
The severity of a characters accumulated negative effects of boosters should only be viewable in stations with medical services and should come under a new tab “bloodwork”.

The idea that if u do take a booster, you’re never truely clean should be encouraged.


Smuggling and flying under the Influence

Drug use should be controlled in high security space both by NPC Customs Officers performing random cargo scan screenings but also stop and search drug intoxication screenings.

These intoxication screenings would occur at a much lower chance rate compared to cargo scans but would immobilise a characters ship for a small period of time on gate when jumping into a 0.7 or higher system.
If found to be under the effects of Boosters a player would be asked to relinquish their ship or if not in charge of a ship, pay a fine.
Either option would possibly incur a standings hit. Relinquishing your ship would allow social skills to positively affect the chance that you’d gain your ship back at a station in system without incurring a fine and reduce any standing hit. The characters ship would not be available until the booster has worn off.

NPC Customs Drug Inspection ships doing the tackling on gate would be relatively weak allowing a possibility for characters to remove the tackling ship and escape. This course of action would cause global criminal status, a significant standings hit and characters doing so would become a temporary enemy of the NPC faction they aggressed.



so what do u think guys??? :) feedback always appreciated!

Oh CHRIST even more tears on this

Why dont we remove everything except a ibis and a civi railgun from the game so you wingers have nothing to complain about