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Revisiting the Bounty Hunter
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Ma Lody
Church of Russell Coight
#1 - 2017-05-17 05:40:46 UTC
Couple of random thoughts coalesced into an *IDEA* yesterday while mulling over the bounty system. Many thanks in advance for thoughts, tweaks or info / potential exploits I've overlooked.
* * *
Divide bountied individuals into tiers according to their bounty amount (eg: top10, rest of the top 10%, top 10-20%, top 20-50%, bottom 50%).
An individual can pay concorde a scaling fee to access one or more tiers. Such a registered 'bounty hunter' would have the individuals within the nominated tier level show activateable kill rights for a set time period.
A paid-up bounty hunter can activate that kill right (for a moderate fee to concorde, of course)
Assuming a successful assassination, the bounty hunter is rewarded the current 20% of destroyed value (or whatever)... without concorde consequences
**Importantly** The bottom 50% tier continues to use current system -> preventing 5000isk hisec PvP


Primary Objectives achieved
1. Make BH a worthwhile profession
2. Ensure system is not gameable by bounty target
3. Ensure system doesn't overly promote griefing through non-consensual PvP
Secondary
4. Be an ISK sink
5. Ensure heavily bountied characters are still playable

Random thoughts
Payment to Concorde: could be fixed cost, a % of total bounties on that tier level or a % of the top bounty of that tier
If adding kill-rights to the BH system is too complex to code, CCP could 'simply' make relevant bounty targets red in high/low -> similar to war targets
The tier level thing allows interesting things to be done with the wanted banners
Could even add a small concorde standings increase if we want to make things REALLY interesting
Obviously the devil will be in the detail of tweaking payout/purchase balance and tier cut-offs
Danika Princip
GoonWaffe
Goonswarm Federation
#2 - 2017-05-17 06:08:28 UTC
So how much of a bounty would I have to put on every single freighter I see undock from jita to get free kill rights on the lot of them?
Mina Sebiestar
Minmatar Inner Space Conglomerate
#3 - 2017-05-17 06:29:15 UTC
Danika Princip wrote:
So how much of a bounty would I have to put on every single freighter I see undock from jita to get free kill rights on the lot of them?


Price of cats plus whatever drops would work for me.

You choke behind a smile a fake behind the fear

Because >>I is too hard
Ma Lody
Church of Russell Coight
#4 - 2017-05-17 07:14:40 UTC
Danika Princip wrote:
So how much of a bounty would I have to put on every single freighter I see undock from jita to get free kill rights on the lot of them?


Thats kinda the issue the suggestion tries to work around.
For the vast number of low value bounties nothing will change from the current system. However, as a characters bounty accrues they become more likely to tip into a 'huntable' tier... where the sharks are waiting. Additionally trying to game the system as you suggest puts you in a direct ISK war with others doing the same. This ultimately just leads to more ISK been thrown into the sink (a win for everyone), with average schmo been no 'less-safe' then before.

Im not a balance expert so who knows, perhaps the appropriate cut-off for the lowest tier is bottom 75% or more?
Vokan Narkar
Doomheim
#5 - 2017-05-17 11:03:31 UTC  |  Edited by: Vokan Narkar
Wouldn't be appropriate to also change setting bounties? The current system where anyone can put bounty on you without any reason and doesn't even have to be docked is silly.

Also, I don't think that any sum of bounty should grant something like a kill-right. At least under current system where you can put bounty on anybody with no reason. EDIT: no, even then - so if I get this right, if you accumulate enough bounty to become a bounty-hunteable then especially because only 20% of the ship worth is extracted from bounty you could be forever hunted if your bounty is too high and you don't choose to fly ships worth of bilions.
Daichi Yamato
Jabbersnarks and Wonderglass
#6 - 2017-05-17 12:24:43 UTC
Players should be able to put bounties on anyone for anything at anytime. The server cannot fathom human interactions and will not track every slight, imagined or real, between every player. It also allows for paid hits which is also nice.

But you shouldn't become a legal target in hi-sec for your bounty. The current system is by far the best but is still hamstringed by insurance and immortality.

EVE FAQ "7.2 CAN I AVOID PVP COMPLETELY? No; there are no systems or locations in New Eden where PvP may be completely avoided"

Daichi Yamato's version of structure based decs
Donnachadh
United Allegiance of Undesirables
#7 - 2017-05-17 13:35:59 UTC
-1 because the OP idea allows for players to bypass the rules of engagement in high sec and that is a bad idea.

Daichi Yamato wrote:
Players should be able to put bounties on anyone for anything at anytime. The server cannot fathom human interactions and will not track every slight, imagined or real, between every player.

Thank you for expressing in plain English the ONLY reason why we will never have a bounty system that actually allows for real bounty hunting in this game.

Remove this idiotic notion that you can bounty anyone at any time and for any reason, or no reason at all and we open up a whole new area for game play and player interactions.
Simple idea here.
The person you committed a crime against has the duration of the criminal flag to post bounty.
If bounty is posted the criminal flag is immediately replace with a bounty flag, yes that makes you a legal target for anyone and everyone in the game.
Bounty flags never expire, they are removed when the bounty is claimed.
When the bounty is placed the total ISK amount of the bounty is removed from the wallet of the character placing the bounty.
When a character with a bounty is killed 100% of the bounty amount is transferred to their account.
Allows for bounty hunting as a viable game play option.
Adds a new wrinkle to the lives of criminals everywhere knowing they can be hunted down and killed by anyone in the game.
Adds the possibility for some unique player versus player interactions.
And best of all there is no way it can be gamed or abused for profit by killing your own characters.
Merin Ryskin
Peregrine Industries
#8 - 2017-05-17 18:55:41 UTC  |  Edited by: Merin Ryskin
Donnachadh wrote:
And best of all there is no way it can be gamed or abused for profit by killing your own characters.


Yes it can. Pirate kills you and gets a criminal flag, you pay to turn it into a bounty flag. Pirate is permanently free to shoot, but immediately swaps into a throwaway ship and has their alt kill them. Now the pirate collects the bounty at no meaningful cost, and makes easy profit. Therefore, like the old bounty system, only stupid people and clueless newbies will ever place a meaningful bounty on someone. The only time it will be used will be placing a 1 ISK bounty on someone to extend their criminal flag a bit. And I think it's obvious that this would not be a reasonable bounty system.

Quote:
Remove this idiotic notion that you can bounty anyone at any time and for any reason, or no reason at all and we open up a whole new area for game play and player interactions.


It's not idiotic, and you managed to completely ignore the reason why while quoting the post containing the explanation. You have to be able to put a bounty on someone for any reason because the game can't track all possible reasons for wanting someone dead. For example, what if someone keeps bumping my ship while I'm trying to mine, taunting me in local the whole time? They aren't ever going to get a criminal flag, but they're sure annoying enough that I might pay to have them killed.
Danika Princip
GoonWaffe
Goonswarm Federation
#9 - 2017-05-17 19:08:59 UTC
Donnachadh wrote:
-1 because the OP idea allows for players to bypass the rules of engagement in high sec and that is a bad idea.

Daichi Yamato wrote:
Players should be able to put bounties on anyone for anything at anytime. The server cannot fathom human interactions and will not track every slight, imagined or real, between every player.

Thank you for expressing in plain English the ONLY reason why we will never have a bounty system that actually allows for real bounty hunting in this game.

Remove this idiotic notion that you can bounty anyone at any time and for any reason, or no reason at all and we open up a whole new area for game play and player interactions.
Simple idea here.
The person you committed a crime against has the duration of the criminal flag to post bounty.
If bounty is posted the criminal flag is immediately replace with a bounty flag, yes that makes you a legal target for anyone and everyone in the game.
Bounty flags never expire, they are removed when the bounty is claimed.
When the bounty is placed the total ISK amount of the bounty is removed from the wallet of the character placing the bounty.
When a character with a bounty is killed 100% of the bounty amount is transferred to their account.
Allows for bounty hunting as a viable game play option.
Adds a new wrinkle to the lives of criminals everywhere knowing they can be hunted down and killed by anyone in the game.
Adds the possibility for some unique player versus player interactions.
And best of all there is no way it can be gamed or abused for profit by killing your own characters.


Please explain why ONLY highsec players should be allowed to play with the bounty system.

Please explain why I should not be able to bounty you for your posting.

Please explain why bobby miner should not be able to bounty the guy bumping him, the guys stealing his rocks, or the guy flipping his can. Or why little timmy facwar should not be able to bounty the opposing militia guy smacking in local. or why ratty mc ratcafe should not be able to bounty the local blops group.
Old Pervert
Perkone
Caldari State
#10 - 2017-05-17 22:01:58 UTC
Donnachadh wrote:


Remove this idiotic notion that you can bounty anyone at any time and for any reason, or no reason at all and we open up a whole new area for game play and player interactions.


-1 to that. I don't waste my isk on bounties, but if I ever want to put a bounty on someone, I'm sure as s... not going to wait for a criminal engagement timer.

Heck, a month ago Fifty Three put a bounty out on this character because I was mean to him in the forums. It was gold, I hadn't had a laugh that good in forever. And by his perspective I had wronged him, so why shouldn't he be able to put a bounty on me? I mean, other than the fact that it was a complete waste of isk.
Alderson Point
Federal Navy Academy
Gallente Federation
#11 - 2017-05-18 15:02:07 UTC
Frankly, is there ANY value in the bounty system at all?

Would anything be lost by just eliminating it altogether?

Sure, Bounty hunting SOUNDS fun, but is it possible to actually create a system that is fun and cannot be exploited?

Probably best to cut out the code, and spend their efforts on something that actually adds value.