Universe Enhancement: Tougher Pirates in Void Space

[jayman38]

The primary thrust of this suggestion is to have the "Alpha" Pirate station spawn only in void space between galaxies, as it produces problems for players that don't want to deal with heavy-hitting pirate threats.

However, in general, it would be better if tougher pirates were spawned in void space. That way, when players looking for a challenge want to reach out to find a harder NPC challenge, they can be sure to find it in void space. The corollary is that tougher pirates will not be found close to spawn, where players cannot defend themselves at the start of their adventure in that universe.

 

[MacThule]

Great idea!

In fact, it would be nice to see less and and easier rats around spawn and all the core systems, with increasing frequency and difficulty the farther out you go. It would allow a sense of progress and reduce random, discouraging catastrophes by new players wandering into range of an alpha station near start - most games don't force noobs to face top mobs at random right off the bat.

It would also force rat farmers to do some footwork to get the most for their work. This would compliment upcoming changes to mining resource distribution well, since those are going to cause miners to do more footwork.

Galactic Core - Eta only and half as many total stations
Outer Core - Eta but more frequent with occasional Gammas
Galactic Arms - Eta & Gamma with occasional Beta
Outer Rim - All types with occasional Alpha
Voidspace - Lots of Alpha and a bit of everything else

The other side of this should be more & better derelicts the further out you go as well. I think this also ties in with the notion of making derelict stations actually DO something (ie make most derelicts have some working function like a shipyard, factory rig, refinery rig, area defense platform, or working warp gate or the like) so that claiming them means free functionality that encourages keeping them intact and garrisoning them with a fleet rather than just melting 100% of them into your factory crucible.

The entire pirate/derelict spawning system needs review and overhaul, really. This suggestion is good input on that.

 

[Lone_Puppy]

Perhaps just remove the existing pirates and move them to an NPC Pirate Faction or perhaps more than one NPC Pirate faction to cover a wider area of the galaxy or galaxies.

 

[sayerulz]

I don't really feel though like that makes any sense. Pirates would seem to logically congregate around resources, so they can raid, pillage, plunder, and otherwise pilfer their weasely black guts out. But there's nothing in void space. What if, instead, some systems had more resources available, perhaps determined by star type (there is a scientific basis for this since some stars produce more of certain elements than others), and these systems have stronger pirates? It adds a risk/reward element, and makes them easily avoidable for people who don't want to deal with them.

 

[kiddan]

There have been many cases of sea-faring pirates stashing their goods and living on remote islands, away from any passerby they would otherwise steal from. I don't see why space pirates should sit in the plain sights of stronger, more organised factions and/or governments. If a player wants to mine in an area rich of resources, it would threaten nearby factions.

 

[sayerulz]

There have been many cases of sea-faring pirates stashing their goods and living on remote islands, away from any passerby they would otherwise steal from. I don't see why space pirates should sit in the plain sights of stronger, more organised factions and/or governments. If a player wants to mine in an area rich of resources, it would threaten nearby factions.

Well, perhaps it would be more accurate to have pirates inhabiting systems surrounding resource rich ones. Or at the edges of them. Your right, pirates don't hang out ten feet from a trade port, but they also don't hang out in antarctica. There has to be wealth to steal within a reasonable distance. Also, if pirates in-game hang out in void space, I don't see much of an incentive for players to go fight them. The loot you get from them is meh at best for the most part, and their stations just break down into worthless scrap.

 

[Blodge]

Simple solution to suit @MacThule's Mob difficulty distribution model and a realistic Pirate motivational model:
Have Pirates as the lower level Mobs you encounter around civilised systems,
Have a new faction which inhabits void spaces as higher level Mobs (e.g. Reapers, Tyranids, or my personal favourite, Void Kraken!)

 

[Shaker]

If only the wave difficulty worked...

Think pirates stations will be gone when the fleshed out npc factions arrive, could still use the pirates as a random space event

 

[nightrune]

We have plans for the void.

 

[sayerulz]

We have plans for the void.

Do they involve the abyss staring back at you?

 

[Blodge]

We have plans for the void.

Ominous!
I like it