I like that idea!

This sounds like a good start to me. A couple of questions/thoughts on the subject....

What if Phoenix happened to cross your line of fire but was not specifically targeted? The shots should do damage in this instance since Phoenix was not targeted but strayed into the line of fire. Or if you decided, that with your 1337 skillz, you could take Phoenix on without targeting him at all, just point and shoot or fly up behind him and *FZZZZ-BANG*.

How would it work with rockets or missles? Targeting would cause a no fire condition but in the same situation with a friendly in the line of fire, the ordinance should do damage. Would the ordinance be smart enough to recognize a friendly ship? I guess it could be explained that each ship has a transponder (similar to our existing aircraft) that identifies that ship as a member of a particular nation. This also brings up the possibility of nation spoofing. Install a (HYPER-expensive) black market gizmo and poof, you are now fairly safe from targeted fire.


How about splash damage? Everyone in the radius of the splash should take damage.



*EDIT: Sorry, I should really read the whole thread before replying but lunch was almost over and I was skimming*

I think anyone should be allowed to inflict damage to anybody else... If I wanna go up to my best mate and shoot him in the head, whats to stop me? Ok, I'll probably have to deal with some consequences but I could still do it... It's just artificial bullshit that you can't fire a weapon at a "friendly" ship and it does no damage!

If there is a system that prevents firing at friendlies, I would prefer it to be a warning rather than a ban. I'd like to be able to override it, in other words.

Futureruler:

You can override it. you turn off your targeting computer.

How about using a "complaint" idea here? I mean - when you get attacked/killed by a ship of the same nation you can fill in a complaint. If you do, than the attackers standings are lowered, etc. If you don't, nothing happens. It would make dueling within the nation easy and not troublesome, and in case of some accident, like getting hit by friendly rockets in a large battle, players could "forgive" each other. I guess pirates would like this too.

why not implement it client-side?

Check the box under options : "I do not want to hurt my teammates" and be done with it. People who kill teammates should always take a standings-drop.

okay, this allows ganging up and leaving the killing to somone else, but thats always risky and bound to give you a bad rep.

In this type of game.. client side implementations are typically prone to exploits.

I don't want to be protected by "the system". If people gang up and kill for no reason, they'll get hunted down, no matter what faction they are. On the other hand, if I have my reasons to shoot someone down in same faction, I want to have ability to do it myself, not hire someone from another faction willing to do it.

Filling complaint just sounds... childish. Just lower the standing, sugnificuntly if done in the whatever you are faction space. Neutral space... well.. it IS neutral... deal with it.

Childish? No, I don't think so. In guarded/monitored sectors maybe. Because, you see, if noone has seen you getting killed, on what basis should your opponent's standing decrease? Unless you report it, of course.

And how do the authorities know you aren't lieing? You could just submit a million frivilous reports and ruin someone's character.

Not that I am endorsing this, but the authorities already have knowledge of all kills for making determinations about standings. Reports would be compared to kills. Still room for abuse, but not on the order of millions.

if you wanna see how they judge player standing stuff, see the "News" page over <---.

Nah, you couldn't abuse other players by sending complaints if only server allowed to complain after you got killed by them. And yes, authorities know what to do with standings if someone gets killed. The problem is - what happens in case on an (well, unlikely...) accident?

I thought kills in unmonitored space weren't reported to the authorities. If they are, then I misunderstood what's been said in the interviews to date.