Hidden Mic. block - A new way to do recon on someone

[Sunkin351]

Here is my suggestion. I am proposing making a new type of block specifically for recon. It would be similar to a hidden mic in someone's room, but instead of capturing noise, it would capture the chat messages of people near it... Say someone within 1km of the block were talking in a pm or in the faction chat of their faction...

You would be able to capture what they are saying and the responses from others in said chat. This block would have a range limit of course... 1km to capture what they are sending into the chat... Maybe 500m range to be able to capture that they are receiving.

I would also like to have a way to activate a cloaking device via logic, so that these can also be hidden bugs.

I am not sure what your guys' response to this suggestion will be, but i am kinda expecting harsh criticism due to the violation of privacy.

 

[CyberTao]

Considering the game can't filter chats based on distance (else we would have a "local" chat), it would probably be a lot of work to implement, and there isn't really a gain to it. It could easily be found and destroyed since Cloakers do not work without a pilot in the ship, and the only guaranteed place where people would gather is a faction homebase, which normally has a scanner.

In short, it's a shittier spy, and quite honestly, you do not want to know what is going on in someone's PM. If you expected faction secrets or intel of some form, you might be surprised to hear ranting, obsessive swearing, flirting, or good old fashion player bashing. What is kept out of General chat is either something not fit for the ears of the masses, or people trying to ignore the existence of general chat (with probably a bit of the inbetween).

 

[Viridis00]

On top of what CyberTao said, if we did get a feature like that, it would be very easy to bypass and just have a faction VOIP over an out of game application for players coordinating attacks or whatever.

 

[BDLS]

I think it's a great idea. I assume most factions don't constantly use VOIP at this point but they would probably start if this came out. Maybe it could record other information, like nav waypoints saved by nearby players in range. Could be a lot of fun, there isn't anything in-game that is useful for intel or cyber warfare.

I feel like everyone would spam cloaked lock-on or swarm AI mines if you could use logic with them. Although like every balance change and suggestion I'm down for it being tested to see if it's OP in practice.

 

[Viridis00]

Maybe it could record other information, like nav waypoints saved by nearby players in range. Could be a lot of fun, there isn't anything in-game that is useful for intel or cyber warfare.

Now that would be pretty interesting. Like a tiny inconspicuous sprite or block that acts as a homing beacon when placed on a ship that lets you track an enemy if by some chance you could actually get close enough to their ships to plant it in the first place.

 

[Sunkin351]

I think it's a great idea. I assume most factions don't constantly use VOIP at this point but they would probably start if this came out. Maybe it could record other information, like nav waypoints saved by nearby players in range. Could be a lot of fun, there isn't anything in-game that is useful for intel or cyber warfare.

I feel like everyone would spam cloaked lock-on or swarm AI mines if you could use logic with them. Although like every balance change and suggestion I'm down for it being tested to see if it's OP in practice.

I think I like your idea for this block better... the only thing is, i dont know how i should alter my op.