Forums » Suggestions

Distress signal

May 13, 2007 taopai link
Lately i was contemplating an idea of a distress call.

If you need help, you send a distress call which is received in nearby systems. It gives your location, faction and eventually a message, i.e. "Help me! I'm under attack by Serco", so anyone can come to help you (or the attacker :) ).

Of course there can be a random distress calls sent by bots (from small ships to the biggest ones).
That type of mission would:
* increase/decrease your faction standing, depending on your side in conflict;
* give some cargo, when you came too late and ship which sent the distress call was destroyed (of course the attacker can pick up the loot, but you can destroy him/her and take the cargo back)
* some money in reward (but if you refuse to take it, the standing goes up more)

I hope you like the idea :)

Regards,
Tao

P.S. Sorry for my english, it's not my native.
May 13, 2007 upper case link
could make for some fun stuff. but it's a troll & asses magnet though. you're guaranteed a spankfest the moment you'd call out.

might as well make chummy with some guilds or specific pilots and pay them for protection. or insurance.
May 13, 2007 zardos6ix link
To reduce the spanking then only make the distress call go out to same nation and or friendly faction standing players, or maybe even have a strike force sent out to depending on your standing within whatever nations border your in.

Why would u want to send a distress call to all nearby space pierats if your a lonely trader already under attack... although it would be good if you could then get an addon like the storm extender to eves drop on distress calls.

Could even have a one off mission pop up whilst in flight and same sector from NPC convoys.. " quick please help... we're under attack... 10000 credits if u help us get away. Accept mission Yes/NO"

Amount of money dependant on ships and cargo though.... would have to set the tolerance of damage done to ships aswell before call got sent out, wouldnt want one to show every time a moth bumped.
May 14, 2007 toshiro link
This would make reinstating system-wide chat an interesting option. Since players more than 1 system away from the occurrence are unlikely to be there in time, perhaps only players within the same system would hear the distress call.

I was assuming you never meant these messages to go in #100 in the first place.
May 14, 2007 Ghost link
I think if there were to be distress signals they should be sent out to all nations. Or at least have the option of sending it out to either just your own nation or all nearby ships. It makes it a gamble.

To avoid trolls, it would need a timeout. So that after a certain amount of time (5 minutes?) the distress signal stops and you have to wait another 10 minutes before you can send another. Timer could automatically reset on death.

Also, NPC convoys would need to use this sparingly. If they send out distress signals everytime they get touched, it'll be spam city.

Also gives pirates the option to set traps. Have a pilot in a moth posing as a trader in distress, then spring the trap when someone answers the call.
May 14, 2007 Phaserlight link
This sounds like a really cool idea... I'd say make it an undiscriminatory signal that could be picked up by pirates as well as law enforcement/vipers. Having it broadcast your location should be enough to discourage trolling, and if not have an option to ignore distress calls.
May 14, 2007 taopai link
Zardos6ix, i agree with all you said. I also thought about the addition you described, but in wider range, so i will describe it later in new topic.

Toshiro, maybe range of the distress signal should vary, depending on size of the ship, i.e. the capital ship can last longer than a convoy. And in reference to place where the D.S. should be displayed i think i should just flash in your hud - no accept/refuse button, just pure info, "who and where". Although it complicates the accomplishment of the event.

Ghost, you can limit the D.S. "ammo" to three, so you can send the D.S. only three times - you wouldn't use more in critical situation :) . And to avoid the "spam city" you described, i like the tolerance of damage idea of Zardos6ix.

EDIT:
Phaserlight, to increase chance of picking up a D.S. from enemy factions, you would need a special device, but it is material for new topic. I will post my suggestions soon. I agree with you about trolls and i like your "ignore distress calls" option.

Regards,
Tao
May 15, 2007 FatStrat85 link
May 18, 2007 Secret Agent Muska link
Sounds like a good idea.

Perhaps a distress call could appear in the chat bar, to everyone to come and help. You see, as this can be an advantage (so you don't die/get beaten senseless) there should also be a disadvantage, so anyone (including NPC pirates) should be able to get you location. Therefore it is balanced out.