Faction block in hotbar acts as transponder

[apelsinsaft]

This is a pretty simple short suggestion.

Add the ability to bind a faction block to the hotbar from the weapon menu. When it is active, a ship behaves like it does now, where you can see which faction a ship belongs to, the name of the ship, and who is piloting. The ship would also tell them what it is when it jumps into a system somebody else owns ("Ship X of faction Y has been detected in your system!").

When disabled, either via logic or by toggling in the hotbar, the ship no longer displays which faction its a part of or its name or who is piloting it. It would also not tell what it is when it jumps into a different faction's system.("An unknown ship was detected in your system, scan to reveal where it is!")

If the "transponder" is off, the identity of the ship is only revealed by coming into visual range and scanning, or by coming very close. Then the identity is known until visual range is broken and the "transponder" is off.

Ships without faction blocks would behave as they do now.

 

[Sachys]

What exactly would the point of this be?
As it is, you can quickly change the faction / reset it and so on by using the tab wheel.

 

[apelsinsaft]

What exactly would the point of this be?
As it is, you can quickly change the faction / reset it and so on by using the tab wheel.

Ever had the situation where you get the "our scanners picked up a NEUTRAL signature and you're about to get fucking killed better dock your shit up" message and you freak out but it was only some nobody exploring around? Now, with "transponders" if you get the "There's something unknoooown in your system!" message you know for a fact that you're supposed to freak out and dock up! And you don't have to ask in open chat every time a signature appears in your system to figure out who it is. If it's invisible, it's probably out for trouble. If it's not, you know who it is.

 

[Sachys]

Ever had the situation where you get the "our scanners picked up a NEUTRAL signature and you're about to get fucking killed better dock your shit up" message and you freak out but it was only some nobody exploring around? Now, with "transponders" if you get the "There's something unknoooown in your system!" message you know for a fact that you're supposed to freak out and dock up! And you don't have to ask in open chat every time a signature appears in your system to figure out who it is. If it's invisible, it's probably out for trouble. If it's not, you know who it is.

Sorry, but you're not making any sense (to me at least). I dont see how your proposition is any different to now.

Also, you might want to try docking a scanner to your station if neutral signals bother you that much - if its your HB and nothing shows up in scan history, its an AI fleet.

 

[kurosawa]

nice idea, it could also be it own block

 

[apelsinsaft]

Sorry, but you're not making any sense (to me at least). I dont see how your proposition is any different to now.

Also, you might want to try docking a scanner to your station if neutral signals bother you that much - if its your HB and nothing shows up in scan history, its an AI fleet.

You get the option to bind the faction block to your hotbar.

If you do, and turn it off, nobody will know who you are until they are close enough to see you and scan, or get really close. If you leave it on however, when you jump into an owned system, it produces a "Ship X of faction Y piloted by player Z has been detected in your system!" message instead of a "Unknown ship detected in your system!" message.

So basically, with the faction block turned on in your hotbar-

• Ship name, pilot name and faction name visible to everyone
• Jumping into systems lets the owners know who is visiting them

And with it turned off

• Ship name, pilot name and faction name only visible once the ship is in visual range and a scan is done, or gets close enough
• Jumping into systems lets the owners know an unknown ship is visiting them

So transponder off, you're not broadcasting your identity. Transponder on, you are broadcasting your identity.

It's a little like having a name badge, and choosing whether or not to wear it.

Do you understand now?

 

[Sachys]

Do you understand now?

so almost exactly the same as using the tab menu right now. except this just seems to be more griefer friendly.

 

[jayman38]

I like this. Imagine if this were tied into heat-seeker logic, and made it much less likely that you, as a friendly, would be targeted by a heat-seeker?

 

[apelsinsaft]

so almost exactly the same as using the tab menu right now. except this just seems to be more griefer friendly.

I don't know how to explain it to you so you can understand. Sorry.

I like this. Imagine if this were tied into heat-seeker logic, and made it much less likely that you, as a friendly, would be targeted by a heat-seeker?

I pictured it would have more to do with identifying a target rather than finding it. Heatseekers would still go after any ship they would find, transponder or no. Missiles would be able to lock on. Scanners would still find it, and also identify if its in visual range. It'd just be a question of whether you want to fire in the first place.

Then there's the part where maybe there'd be a feature like the current "treat neutral as enemy", where you could check a "treat transponders off as enemy" faction setting so you don't have to deal with griefers sneaking up on you with the transponder off.

 

[Lord_Greyscale]

So, basically, this is a Role-play feature.
One that I actually love the concept of.
One that is (unfortunately) horrifyingly easy for a griefer (asshole, by a "friendly" name) to abuse to their benefit.

Even though I normally campaign for role-play features, the ease with which this can be abused leads me directly to a NO.


Allso, lemme run through a brief scenario, highlighting what is probably the single biggest problem:

Unknown contact enters your system. You have Unknowns treated as Hostile.

Congrats! your turrets just obliterated it!
Only, it wasn't a pirate swarm.
It was a douche-canoe from the douchiest faction on the server you play on.
The game correctly labeled the ship as not-factioned, but the douche that got ejected from the core when it overheated is factioned.
And he died from the bullets/missiles fired before the ship asploded.

You are now at war with the biggest pack of assholes on the server, and that's exactly how the assholes wanted it.

__________________

As with so many other suggestions, this one would need server-options to disable in part/in whole, and a setting to disable auto-war from killing/harming a player.
(to be frank, that bit about the auto-war? that allready needs to be a server setting, there's fairly rampant abuse of "neutral" ships with faction'd pilots causing an auto-war when the pilot gets slagged)

 

[Blodge]

so almost exactly the same as using the tab menu right now. except this just seems to be more griefer friendly.

Does the Tab menu allow you to stop your name and faction name from being displayed to other Players who target/look at your ship?

 

[apelsinsaft]

You are now at war with the biggest pack of assholes on the server, and that's exactly how the assholes wanted it.

What a roundabout way of declaring war.

Couldn't they just, declare war?

 

[Lord_Greyscale]

What a roundabout way of declaring war.

Couldn't they just, declare war?

Ah, but that's the rub, if They (assholes) declare war, then they're "picking on the small fry" and get an admin's attention/intervention.

If, however, They (assholes) get declared war upon, as result of being shot? Then the small fry was begging for a whippin'.


That sort of malicious abuse of the rules happens in every game where PVP is possible, and is rampant in games where PVP is a core component.

 

[apelsinsaft]

Ah, but that's the rub, if They (assholes) declare war, then they're "picking on the small fry" and get an admin's attention/intervention.

If, however, They (assholes) get declared war upon, as result of being shot? Then the small fry was begging for a whippin'.

Because turning off the transponder is a conscious decision (you have to bind the faction block to the hotbar, and then turn it off), they (assholes) committed a hostile action by entering the small fry territory with the transponder off.

I find it likely the kind of interventionist admin you describe would have policies in place for things like these.

 

[Lord_Greyscale]

You would think they would, but most actually don't.

That would allso require the server log to actually log the transponder state, instead of simply using it.

 

[apelsinsaft]

In the end i don't think it changes much for griefers. Griefers gonna grief no matter how well thought out the game is. Especially with this feature, as you mentioned, people can already declare war by trotting into the territory of somebody with the "treat neutral as hostile" box ticked. The transponder system doesn't change that, just gives you another option for what you want to consider hostile.