Spies and Cargo

These ideas are for Traffic and later releases. I am putting them out here to start a discussion. (Good things happened on the wingmen and loadout discussions).

We would like to have a spy career. And we want that career to tie into the current fleet based meta game. Here are some ideas on creating an information economy that would bring about the existence of a spy (and scout) career.

First thing, what does our spy do?
1. The spy tracks the movements of enemy fleets.
2. The spy finds hidden enemy bases.
3. The spy hacks into station data nets and steals information.
4. The spy intercepts communications between enemies.
5. The spy earns funds and reputation by doing the above.

We have fleets. We have hidden bases. We have methods for the player to find them. All we really need is a way for the player to “take a picture� of the opponent, and then return with that information to create the first half of the spy career. It would also be nice if the player could get paid for returning the data.

How this could be done is we create “datascans�. These are tiny cargo pods. They start empty, and you can “take a picture� (scan) using the correct kind of sensors. Each pod has only one scan at a time. You can overwrite and old one.

So a spy would pick up an empty datascan, fly to a hidden base, and take a scan. The job can be made more challenging by requiring the player to get close and scan for a few moments.

The cargo pod is changed from an “empty� pod to a “hidden base� type pod. Our economy already supports selling cargo pods, so the player can now be paid for this job. All that needs to be done is create a trade ship willing to purchase this kind of pod.

Hacking

If we allow the player to locate and purchase hacking tools, then the player can steal data from stations. Again, this just fills and empty datascan with “stolen data� pod. We can make several kinds of stolen data. Corporate secrets, Military data, etc. Each one pays a different rate.

Intercepting

Once these datascans are in the game, the NPC ships can carry them. Couriers can ferry data around the cluster. These couriers can be attacked, and vital data stolen. Or stolen back, like in the intro scene of Star Wars. The player could also be paid to run courier datascans (much like the old Elite).

Why Cargo

Why use cargo pods to represent something virtual, like data. A good question, and I don’t know if the choice is a good one or not until it is tried. The main reason is to push something imaginary into a physical form. The player can watch and see these pods moving around. It will be clear what is going on. That kind of feedback does not happen with virtual data. And we already have mechanisms for purchasing cargo, stealing cargo, smuggling cargo, police patrolling for cargo, and so on. So the spy career can be made more challenging for less work than building an information economy from scratch.

New Cargo Features

There are a bunch of new cargo features that come to mind when creating the information economy.

Cargo Source Changes Price

The value of information changes depending on who is buying. Warship plans are going to be worth much more to a factions enemies than it’s allies. A faction may also be willing to buy back it’s own stolen data.

Cargo Expires

Cargo should have an expiration date. Information is only valuable for a short amount of time. Fleets move. Hidden bases are relocated after discovery. Corporations change stolen passwords. Battle station reactors are modified. By attaching a short life time to some cargo pods, it creates a sense of urgency to get the data to the buyer before the cargo expires and becomes worthless.

Adding this feature also gives us the possibility of new kinds of standard cargo, such as hauling passengers. Passengers are high paying, but they demand delivery in a short time frame. We could also allow ugent medical supplies or other items that a high speed courier could transport and deliver.

Cargo Destination

Some cargo comes with a built in destination. That destination is the only place the cargo can be sold. Courier runs may go between specific entities. Same with passenger cargo pods. They don’t want to be delivered to any habitat, they have one planned.

Putting in this feature opens up major changes in the economy. Our current system has the player behave as a speculator. But that requires having lots of cash tied up in cargo. A trader player may start by hauling goods between specific stations for a haul fee. Most transport companies do not own the cargo they haul.

I will comment first on the 'Cargo Destination' idea. This reminds me of things we discussed some time back, concerning how trade might actually take place between space stations/systems. I advocated going the radical step of having the players work as mere cargo haulers, rather than traders. They simply move cargo for the companies who actual own the cargo. The player is paid on a contract or haul by haul basis. This is exactly what you are saying here, and I definitely think it is work exploring (although it could be a major and painful change to our economy. Would we want to go that route?)

One benefit is that a player could have a little more 'direction' upon entering the game. The economy is daunting enough when your given free reign to pick and trade your routes/cargo as a free trader. Hauling pre-set routes or cargo would simplify things for a new player. Perhaps we could even have a script of some kind that automates generation of hauling contracts, based on the existing economy and the current 'strength' of the faction?

A possible cost of changing to this kind of trade, would be that you wouldn't really be able to sell any cargo anywhere within the 'legit' enconomy, as stations would be buying and selling cargo directly, and would never involve middle men. The middle men would only be moving cargo at the whim of the owning stations/factions. Thus any pirated cargo could only be sold at 'black market' stations of some type. Perhaps not such a big problem after all then.

A benefit might also be that players have a clearer and more obvious link to the importance of allying with the right faction. It is quite obvious already, but when contracts are coming from the factions themselves....
Or perhaps stations would issue contracts not only for the owning station, but other factions as well?

If players were shipping cargo under a 'contract' of some kind, they might make profit based on how 'fast' they could make the delivery...opening up incentive to find shorter (and or more dangerous) routes between stations.

Alternatively, perhaps the player could even 'bid' on a contract, in order to win it. Not sure how something like that could actually work in game. And we might just end up with the player bidding himself into poverty...

Hmm..lots to think about. I need to brainstorm a little more.

I had not thought about destination contracts being easier for a new player, but your right, they would be.

If we simplified the economy drastically, then stations could easily form "chains" where each station tries to find a partner to take the stuff it produces. The stations choose based on distance and faction standing. Every month or so a station would try to find a better partner, allowing the network to shift with time. Such a chain network gives a natural system for destination contracts. Hauling fee would be based on distance and danger.

A player buying his own pods could still make a living. If a station cannot find a buying station to link to, then it has low cost pods for sale to anyone. If a station cannot find a supplier, then it will buy pods at a bonus. Chain links can be limited by faction standing, which will cause a fair number of stations to have a missing buyer or seller link. The player can profit by being a middle man between warring factions. (Like the book Shogun, where the Spanish were the traders between hostile Japan and China). Links could also be broken by military or pirate blockades. Stations that cannot get supply, or make sales, slowly go bankrupt.

I have been considering how to rewrite the economy for a while now. This is the best solution I have thought up so far. It is fast to write. It executes in code quickly (stations search for new partners infrequently). And it implements the meta game of stations growing/dying. While at the same time, events in the world change the economy. It expands the simulation by allowing inventory to also be simulated (based on broken links).

I like your idea about paying a bonus for fast delivery. We could work in more unstable jump routes that overjump systems. Players with the ship and skills to take more risk could earn more profits.

As you say, GrandpaTrout, I don't see why both contract-based AND "standard" IWar/Torn Stars-type cargo hauling can't coexist just fine, whether or not you implement those "chains" directly. If you make the profits lower on pure haulage, that makes sense; you aren't the one taking the main financial risk. An independent trader, however, doesn't have the middleman - the "trucker" - to pay, so it'd be (relatively) easier to make larger profits since they could theoretically sell more cheaply. I'm sure any station wouldn't mind paying 5-20% less for equivalent cargo, no? Even if an independent ended up with higher per-ton costs due to the economies of scale, they wouldn't have the shareholders to please that the large corps have to deal with; they could undercut the big firms' prices anyway by accepting a smaller profit.

The idea of spy, passenger, and medical missions is very tasty indeed. The equivalent time-based missions in Frontier were a big part of the immersive feel of the game... Additionally, there were also deliveries of perishables (whether organics or just data that expires, like the spy missions) and works of art that had to be there "on time" for the buyer. One nice touch that Frontier used was that not all missions were possible to complete in the alotted time! This was quite intentional; it made players THINK a bit more. It's not a good idea to just accept missions willy-nilly, even if your faction standing/overall rep permits 'em.

I think the combination of less tangible supply-chains and more standard haulage is DAMN realistic. I already wanna try it ^^, The "X" series of games used basically this concept (taken to a boring extreme - heh - since the flight model sucked) to generate a very dynamic economy. If you combine that with Fleet operations, the feel of a "living, breathing" universe just shines through!

Another interesting idea the X series of games used was that player-owned stations participated fully in the economy, assuming they had the resources (cash/production) to do so, even when the player wasn't around. Friendly freighters would stop and buy product or sell essentials every so often. I'd make it simpler and automate it more than the X games did but you're pretty damn close to that idea already.

Why not make a Fleet operation that represented freighters that you'd designated to service a given station or even several? Then, perhaps, the escorts for said freighter as well... It'd be mad, mad cool to (after much sweat, tribulation, and tears) have your very own freighter hub a'la the megacorps' stations xD don't you think? That'd be one hell of a meta-goal for people who choose the merchant path.

One of the reasons for considering a new economy model was to support fleet operations doing the trading. I am just not sure how feasible that will be. The main issue is the number of operations is increasing quickly. There are 600 right now, and many more to be added. A general rebuild of the cluster will be needed. Maybe fewer stations, but more fully modeled.

Giving destination contracts creates a fun choice for a player. If they deliver the cargo they get the hauling fee. If they sell the cargo to a fence, they take a reputation hit, but get the value of the cargo. A few pods of neutronium go astray?

Or The Han Solo Effect. The player takes the contract to deliver, but gets intercepted by the police. Do you fight? Or drop the cargo and take the reputation penalty? Same with getting intercepted by pirates. Suddenly those pesky pirate tolls are way more annoying. Do you pay the cash on cargo you don't own, or drop the cargo and take the rep penalty. Or shoot up the pirates and hire more guns?

One interesting meta-game effect (which should have showed up in X but didn't) is that pirates will slowly starve a system to death by breaking trade links. A player with a small fleet of trade ships can keep stations alive just by running the blockades and keeping the stations supplied.


Anyone have thoughts on the spy career ideas in general? Suggestions on the main challenges that should face a spy? How the career should progress?

The pod containing the sensor/spy equipment will be disguised as legitimate cargo, of course.

But if you arrive in a ship type that station usually doesn’t see, or your cargo is marked as something they don’t use, you’re going to draw suspicion. A megacorporation doesn’t supply its stations with tugs. The best ship to go spying in, therefore, is a freighter. A freighter filled with legit cargo, with one pod being the scanner, won’t look out of place in a busy manufacturing plant. Even if you do get scanned, all the real cargo would help mask the signature of the fake.

Unless your employer really trusts you, they won’t just give you a freighter for the mission. Those things are expensive and you could just run off with one. So most of the time, you’ll have to provide your own. This makes a trader a prime candidate for spying. “Thanks for the cargo. By the way, want to make a little extra?�

You’ll have to provide the legit cargo, too. Do you fill ‘er up all the way or go cheap and increase the risk of detection? Expensive cargo draws less suspicion as well.

Finally, once you reach the target station, you have to get in close for the scan, but not draw suspicion. Wait in line, maybe even “sell� some cargo (though since your IFF is registered under a fake name, you’re not going to get the money). Or once it’s your turn to dock, dock but don’t sell anything, make the scan, then run for the edge of the LDSi field and try to get away before they realize what happened.

It should go without saying that exceeding port speed will make people suspicious.


For those who want to live life on the edge, we can use the Signal Mask technologies and make a semi-cloaking device. A small, fast ship with a powerful mask and a high-end scanner could shoot by the station at 2-3km/s and be back into LDS before the station could react. But one LDSi missile would really ruin your day. And you have to start the scan at JUST the right time. And maybe the scanner didn’t get enough info the first time and you have to make another run, with the station’s defenses ready for you this time. And a 3km/s flyby from 50k out (far enough to not get detected as you’re getting ready and room to pick up enough speed) needs a heck of an aim.

We could have the uber-mask draw so much power that LDS and the LDA shields don’t work with it on. But it’s a pain in the butt to toggle the thing through Engineering, (not to mention on such a timing-critical operation like that). Shouldn’t be too hard to code in a hotkey to toggle it on and off.