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Taxi service (PC and maybe even NPC)
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FoxFire Ayderan
#1 - 2016-05-03 17:38:22 UTC

It would be great if people could get a taxi service to move their toons from one system to another without having to actively do it themselves.

For this, we could have a Player taxi service. A player taxi service might require skills of some kind, perhaps a licence, monthly fees also. Of course the player or corporation running the taxi service would charge for the service. There could be competion in this realm involving cost, speed of service, safety of service, destinations, regions of operation, reputation, etc....

The passenger would not need to be online to take the taxi service, though they could be. If they are online and in the station where they hailed a taxi (or took one that was listed as ready and available), then the taxi player or the passenger player would send a notification pop-up to the the other, asking if they are ready to go, and after payment is arranged, it's out of the passengers hands until they reach their destination. They can go AFK, log off, whatever. Perhaps they can even watch their journey, and chat with the taxi driver.

If the passenger is offline, then they pay upfront for the taxi service, and can log off. The taxi driver can pick them up when able and make the delivery. I can see this being used often when a player is logging off for the night and wants to be someplace else when they log back in.

Of course taxi's could be ganked. I'm not sure if this service should have ship restrictions. Perhaps shuttles only. Perhaps specialized ships fitted as passenger transports. In any event, a passenger ought to be able to see any taxi service's safety record. Perhaps insurance could be carried (if that can be made non-exploitable).

A passenger could leave the taxi at any time, by ejecting into a pod. In any event their payment was already made.

There are a host of possibilities with this.


Reaver Glitterstim
The Scope
Gallente Federation
#2 - 2016-05-03 18:24:08 UTC
Rather than fussing about when to pay, just make it a type of courier contract. Player A agrees to pay X funds in order to be shipped from {Player A's current location} to Oris. X funds are moved from Player A's wallet into the contract pool. Player B accepts the contract, which pops up a dialog for Player A to accept and start the transfer. Player A cannot move until accepting or declining the dialog. If player A declines, the contract is deleted and Player A gets the money back. Player B gets a message saying Player A deleted their contract.

Assuming Player A accepts, Player A's clone and capsule becomes an inventory item which Player B can mount onto their ship in any available capsule slot. At this point, Player A can break the contract but it will result in the funds being transferred to player B. Should Player B successfully place Player A at the destination and close the contract, Player B collects the funds and Player A can now operate their character as normal.



Player B could decide to act maliciously and take Player A to HED-GP and then dump Player A into space at the gate. Should Player A wise up to this scheme and decide to defend implants, Player A may opt to get out of the ship but at the cost of Player B keeping the contract funds. For this reason, there is a collateral option on the contract. Now if Player A ends the contract early the collateral funds return to Player B, but if Player B fails the contract then collateral funds are paid to Player A and the contract funds are also given back to Player A.

FT Diomedes: "Reaver, sometimes I wonder what you are thinking when you sit down to post."

Frostys Virpio: "We have to give it to him that he does put more effort than the vast majority in his idea but damn does it sometime come out of nowhere."
Reaver Glitterstim
The Scope
Gallente Federation
#3 - 2016-05-03 18:25:41 UTC
In addition to these contracts, ships should have extra capsule slots so you could allow players to get into your ship and then you can fly them around. They could hop out in their capsule wherever you wind up, and if you have a ship maintenance array they may be able to store a ship for the trip.

FT Diomedes: "Reaver, sometimes I wonder what you are thinking when you sit down to post."

Frostys Virpio: "We have to give it to him that he does put more effort than the vast majority in his idea but damn does it sometime come out of nowhere."
FoxFire Ayderan
#4 - 2016-05-03 18:42:35 UTC

Well sure. That's a possibility as well, but I don't think it's nearly as fun (as a new mechanic) to just make it part of the existing contract system.

To me it's not just about ability to have one's character moved between systems, but also the implementation of a new interesting and fun mechanic, that isn't so 'technical' as a courier contract. One that requires any of skills, fees, business licencing, specialty ships, etc...

And perhaps with a dialog window during transport that brings up the face of your driver on one side, you and any other passengers on the other side, and a chat dialog (in the event you want to talk with the driver).

A system that is enjoyable for the taxi service and passenger to use. Just another type of contract in the contract system would be boring and unoriginal.

Plus it needs to be something a player could use while offline and unable to respond to a contract being accepted. So the passenger might want to only accept services from known, trusted, and reputable taxi services. This could be a selection option for the passenger, to either choose specific companies or say only those with a safety rating above a certain value. Or if they are daring and want the cheapest or quickest transport they could stay open to any registered taxi service.

By-the-way, a taxi driver shouldn't be able to simply drop you off in space somewhere. The only way you'd end up in space is if the taxi was destroyed. Not sure what to do about the pod at that point. That's debatable on how to handle.
FoxFire Ayderan
#5 - 2016-05-03 18:51:53 UTC  |  Edited by: FoxFire Ayderan
Some ideas on how to handle a passenger's pod if the taxi is blown up.

* If the passnger is logged on they can manually fly it.

* If the passenger is not logged on, the pod remains in space, if left unmolested it logs off at the end of a timeout clock.

* The taxi service can outfit their taxi with increasingly expensive escape pods that automatically fly to the nearest station. From after a few seconds for the cheapest escape pod, to instantaneously for the most expensive escape pods.

In the event of the last idea. The taxi driver could then pick you up again in a new ship at that station and complete the journey.
Danika Princip
GoonWaffe
Goonswarm Federation
#6 - 2016-05-04 00:30:48 UTC
Or, you could just...not be lazy?
Reaver Glitterstim
The Scope
Gallente Federation
#7 - 2016-05-04 00:36:09 UTC
Danika Princip wrote:
Or, you could just...not be lazy?

I am in favor of adding tools to allow players to be more lazy as long as they add room for punishments from other players.

FT Diomedes: "Reaver, sometimes I wonder what you are thinking when you sit down to post."

Frostys Virpio: "We have to give it to him that he does put more effort than the vast majority in his idea but damn does it sometime come out of nowhere."
Petrified
Old and Petrified Syndication
#8 - 2016-05-04 00:42:08 UTC
Imagine the kill mails for the Pods being blown up.

Cloaking is the closest thing to a "Pause Game" button one can get while in space.

Support better localization for the Japanese Community.
Danika Princip
GoonWaffe
Goonswarm Federation
#9 - 2016-05-04 00:48:49 UTC
Reaver Glitterstim wrote:
Danika Princip wrote:
Or, you could just...not be lazy?

I am in favor of adding tools to allow players to be more lazy as long as they add room for punishments from other players.


I'm in favour of encouraging people to fly in space, not to pay a guy to move their lazy arse for them. If you want to move, just use an interceptor, since CCP refuse to nerf the damn things.
FoxFire Ayderan
#10 - 2016-05-04 00:50:29 UTC
Danika Princip wrote:
Or, you could just...not be lazy?


I was wondreing if I'd hear from the peanut gallery.

Roll
Was going to ignore you, but then I don't often have the opportunity to use the phrase peanut gallery. Lol
Ralph King-Griffin
New Eden Tech Support
#11 - 2016-05-04 01:48:43 UTC
FoxFire Ayderan wrote:
Danika Princip wrote:
Or, you could just...not be lazy?


I was wondreing if I'd hear from the peanut gallery.

Roll
Was going to ignore you, but then I don't often have the opportunity to use the phrase peanut gallery. Lol




You know the saying "every group has that guy, if you dont know who it is in your group ... Its you".

Murderers of Negotiable Motivations

=]|[=
FoxFire Ayderan
#12 - 2016-05-04 02:45:06 UTC
Reaver Glitterstim wrote:
Danika Princip wrote:
Or, you could just...not be lazy?

I am in favor of adding tools to allow players to be more lazy as long as they add room for punishments from other players.


It's more like another business/service provider and customer. One of the very things EVE is built on.

One could just as easily say that the PvP junkie who doesn't mine his own ore, refine his own minerals, and make his own ships ammunition and modules is just being 'lazy'. The person who doesn't buy a transport and fly half-way acoss the cluster to buy things rather than putting in a buy order for someone to deliver it to him, is just being lazy.

Anywho, Danika was just being her usual trolling self.
FT Diomedes
The Graduates
#13 - 2016-05-04 04:50:05 UTC
Reaver Glitterstim wrote:
Danika Princip wrote:
Or, you could just...not be lazy?

I am in favor of adding tools to allow players to be more lazy as long as they add room for punishments from other players.


For once, I completely agree with Reaver. If people want to trust someone else to move their pod, and the pod is at risk while the other person moves it, I have no philosophical objections. Whether it is technically possible is another matter.

CCP should add more NPC 0.0 space to open it up and liven things up: the Stepping Stones project.

Lugh Crow-Slave
#14 - 2016-05-04 04:54:49 UTC
Only if players can only move one other pod at a time and what ever ship used to do so can not take any form of bridge

BLOPS Hauler
The 16.8km Bubble
Rivr Luzade
Coreli Corporation
Pandemic Legion
#15 - 2016-05-04 05:33:24 UTC
FoxFire Ayderan wrote:
They can go AFK

How do you ensure that the taxi driver does not go afk going on a suicide AP trip down to Esoteria while you wanted to go from Badivefi to New Caldari?

UI Improvement Collective

My ridicule, heavy criticism and general pale outlook about your or CCP's ideas is nothing but an encouragement to prove me wrong. Give it a try.
Lugh Crow-Slave
#16 - 2016-05-04 06:51:52 UTC
Rivr Luzade wrote:
FoxFire Ayderan wrote:
They can go AFK

How do you ensure that the taxi driver does not go afk going on a suicide AP trip down to Esoteria while you wanted to go from Badivefi to New Caldari?


You can'tTwisted

BLOPS Hauler
The 16.8km Bubble
Rivr Luzade
Coreli Corporation
Pandemic Legion
#17 - 2016-05-04 08:36:51 UTC
Lugh Crow-Slave wrote:
Rivr Luzade wrote:
FoxFire Ayderan wrote:
They can go AFK

How do you ensure that the taxi driver does not go afk going on a suicide AP trip down to Esoteria while you wanted to go from Badivefi to New Caldari?
You can'tTwisted

Sounds like a great service. Something just as useful as the Loan contracts of the old days.

UI Improvement Collective

My ridicule, heavy criticism and general pale outlook about your or CCP's ideas is nothing but an encouragement to prove me wrong. Give it a try.
Professor Humbert
Project Fruit House
#18 - 2016-05-04 08:40:04 UTC
I'd self-destruct my taxi for lulz
Donnachadh
United Allegiance of Undesirables
#19 - 2016-05-04 13:37:22 UTC
Thinking of the end run this does to the force projection and mobility nerfs of jump range and jump fatigue I say -1.

Thinking of the possibility of exploding a single ship and adding many pod kills to the kill mail at the same time so maybe a +1.

Looking at the comments above about ending up in the wrong place and my mind says who would use this so -1.

Looking back I see two -1 and a single +1 for this idea so the vote goes to the majority.

-1 to your idea.
FoxFire Ayderan
#20 - 2016-05-04 17:53:12 UTC

Yes of course your taxi driver could do something nefarious that gets you killed.

Which is why there would likely be companies set up for the service, and they will have a viewable safety record, either by company, taxi pilot, or both.

If you are that worried, and have expensive implants, you would want to choose a very reputable company.

Companies could also perhaps carry insurance. Though unlike the current insurance system, it would require weekly payments to stay insured, and hopefully be used by enough people to make the insurance company profittable. Too many losses in this taxi business would first increase your insurance rates, and then make you uninsurable.

Then there is the idea of having more expensive escape pods which instantly warp you to the nearest station (if there is one). So if that were included a passenger might stipulate they will only go in transports which are equipped with such pods. I would make such equipment very expensive to obtain, perhaps with a special rig that a pilot would hate to have destroyed (though their passenger would remain safe).
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