MiddleStates 7.1 discussion

I guess I started out against the idea of captures. But I have swung over to the other side.

I think it is important to code the mechanism for how capture happens in a consistant manner. Then it becomes a predictable hook for stories, or improvements to game play.

The Middle States and Traffic releases assume the player is a freelancer. But I don't think the ship capture mechanism should assume that. The player could be a Navy Officer. Or an Iwar rebel.

And we don't want to force the player into a position where trade is the only way to advance. It should just be one path to fortune. A much less violent path.

I can now see the capture is really dependent on the damage mod changes. And so I think it should be postponed until those are implemented. (not currently slated into a named release yet). The ship breaker feature will need to be postponed as well.

Rethinking this from a generic feature angle. I guess I would change some things:

1. The feature should allow capture attempts on any ship. Some ships will be very difficult.
2. Any ship could self destruct, if you cannot convince the crew to surrender. (and a way to turn this off for stories).
3. A hook out to other story code is needed. The raiding code should be able to tell the ship (or possibly a station) object that it is being raided.
4. We need to track marines (or robots, or cyborgs), so any ship could drop off a boarding party.
5. It should take time to capture a ship. (To give time for distress call responders to arrive).
6. It might take a computer hacking operation to get the captured ship running again. (or some other time consuming operation).

These changes will make the whole operation more risky.

Outside of the actual capture feature, there need to be changes to keep the usage in check. Typically by making it expensive. These would be having to pay part of the capture ship fee to the crew (just lowering profits on the sale). And by making hiring "freelance" crews more expensive.

I will start another thread on reputation and faction standing. The topics that have been brought up here are very interesting.

Might I suggest, in the spirit of fairness, that the player may, at times, have to fight for control of his own ship? Ceratinly he's not the only one out there who can capture ships...

It would be fun if on occasion the player boards a freighter to find it packed with troops! And a boarding action turns into a repel boarders action. Another form of Q ship, I suppose.

I like the idea of a generic system. And yes there will be some form of call back or event system in the Traffic code.

Originally posted by cambragol

How about a 'ship capture' missle or drone?

Interesting idea, but I think it would be more balanced if the missile unlocked rem control for a period of time.