Basically, I like what's going on right now. I just want things to feel a bit more Fallout.
Luddic Path1. Luddic Path terrorism, while certainly adding more flavor to the game's setting, seems like it should be a solvable problem, at least at the macro level. Surely, by putting in place restrictions on population movement, etc., a society can largely avoid serious levels of infiltration. The current system, whereby it feels like the only way the Sector stays clear is if the Player directly intervenes (i.e., constantly searching out Pather bases and nuking them) feels a bit overdone. I don't mind the penalties for a successful attack so much as what feels like the constant nature of it, and the Factions' seeming inability to do anything about it.
Suggestions:
A. Free Ports attract more Pather attacks, because they lack adequate import controls and population controls. Conversely, a Faction should be able to set Restricted Access on their locations; for example, a military base could impose a "lockdown" level of security, where Pathers can't really operate at all, simply because of checkpoints, etc.
Obviously, this should come with a significant Access penalty, but maybe that's the tradeoff the player or Faction wants there. There should be tradeoffs, basically; all the way from "Military Base on Lockdown with Planetary Shield" to "Free Port without anything more menacing to infiltrators than a Waystation".
B. Factions shouldn't just passively take Pather terrorism in stride and merely offer Bounties to players. I mean, seriously, you'd think that there'd be a lot more Inspections and "papers, please" in locations that have been attacked recently, and they ought to suffer a lot less after the initial impact. Again, that might impact Access, but it should eventually improve Stability, as the population feels safer and attacks cease.
C. The impact of an attack should scale downwards with population scale. A Pather assault on your tiny Size 3 Colony should be quite damaging, but on a Size 7 world? It's a minor bump in the road, macroeconomically speaking. Pather attacks aren't on the scale of bombardments and it just doesn't make a lot of sense that they're so devastating; one presumes that, in the Far Future, one can't just walk through Customs bearing micro-nukes and that access to AM on planets is probably quite difficult to achieve.
D. Pather attacks, and terrorist attacks in general, should scale according to the total resources of that Faction. It's like real-world terrorism; without significant resources, it's actually quite hard for a terrorist organization to do much damage. People have to be trained to defeat security, buy black-market weapons, build bombs, understand the weaknesses of the technology they're trying to destroy, buy safe houses, etc., etc.- large-scale attacks require a great deal of planning, logistics support, and above all, money.
E. Pather cells shouldn't be attacking us if we've managed to become Neutral or better with the Luddic Path. Really; who bites the hand that feeds you?
F. As a corollary to E and D, it should be possible to "donate" towards Pather activities against your enemies, so long as the Path doesn't like them either. This is a generalization of what I presume is one of the capstones of 1.0; some sort of grand-scale diplomacy system for the late-game interactions between Factions, but it's an interesting idea; that the Path's around and hasn't been exterminated largely because they're useful tools.
PiratesThe Pirates still feel alarmingly one-dimensional. Don't get me wrong; I love the idea that they're kind of "space fungus" that keeps cropping up on the uncivilized fringes to harry the inner Systems; it's their overall lack of depth when interacted with that's still kind of meh. They need character that goes beyond funny-sounding names; they need mechanics that truly distinguish them from civilized societies.
A. Making friends with Pirates should mainly require money. Not doing endless FedEx quests. No Pirate will trust the Player; they don't trust each other. But, like semi-organized criminals everywhere else, they trust money. I don't think that the Pirates should have a traditional like / dislike meter at all; they aren't like other Factions, they have different mechanics and motives. Pirates should let players buy their (temporary) loyalties or gain access to their markets whenever they want; there shouldn't be any concept of Pirates (as a group, not as individuals) who simply won't talk to players or let them do things.
B. Pirates should only have one Market. They should not have a "black" market; by definition, all their markets are black. They shouldn't have a "military" market; all their markets may include military hardware. Pirate markets should be like markets in any nearly-lawless area, say, Somalia; if you've got the money, they've got machineguns, human slaves, or whatever else they can get (i.e., anything short of First World high-tech or a few things even China won't sell them, lol).
C. Pirates should have... character. How can this be expressed, in game-design terms?
Pirates should offer interesting side-missions that present moral dilemmas:
- The player's asked to rescue some Pirate's daughter from a Hegemony jail, because she's being held as "insurance". Turns out she's had her brain removed and is being converted into a walking bomb by Hegemony Black Ops. Hegemony offers Player minor sum to "stay out of it" (but will sic a fleet on you to ensure Security when you try to leave) or a lot more money to "save" the girl and deliver her to her father. Or you can take the mission and expose the project to the Sector and risk Hegemony wrath. What's right here?
- The Player is offered obscene amounts of money on FedEx quests to collect Tech-Stuff used in sequestration nanonics. Turns out it's a Pirate project to zombie-fy Pather bases and use them as slaves. Tri-tach is providing the tech; the Sindrians are providing Security; backing out after hearing the details means probably fighting one or the other's Black Ops fleets, or getting bushwhacked by "pirates" on exiting the System (so tragic, Player, that you were in the Wrong Place at the Wrong Time). Exposing the project to the Knights of Ludd strengthens relationship with Ludd and with the Path, but you'll be helping the Path get stronger. Doing the mission as planned makes the Pirates stronger, plus you've helped put humans (well, Pathers anyhow) into slavery. What's right here?
- A Pirate asks the Player to fly Food to one of their bases. Turns out that the base has been put under siege by <Faction> and, instead of humanely arresting them or at least nuking them, they've decided to take the non-mediapathic route and simply starve out thousands of men, women and children, most of whom are civilians. The Player can simply collect the cash for blockade-running, sell out the Pirates to the Faction, gain lots of rep with the Pirates by breaking the siege, or take footage of the siege to the Sector News Service (and get ambushed by a big fleet of Black Ops people on the way) which might gain player rep with all of the (other) "civilized" Factions. What's right here?
- Pirates should be more-likely to accept a bribe to Go Away than other Factions, except when they don't feel like it. Giving them bribes makes them stronger as a Faction. Non-violence with Pirates should be a choice more often than not. What's right here?
- Pirates should challenge the player to duels; their best Frigate vs. the player's best Frigate, for example. Winner gets $5K and everybody leaves peaceably afterwards... unless the Player gets accused of cheating (and taking one's chances on cheating, or letting the Pirates cheat occasionally might add spice).
- Pirates should offer illegal goods for sale if the Player isn't intent on incinerating them. Wanna buy some Organs, donors unknown?
In short... Pirates should be interesting, entertaining, fully human, and not just throw-away redshirts. They are on the outskirts of the Sector because the Sector's kind of a bad place sometimes and sometimes people got caught in the middle, or made bad choices- not every Pirate should be a stupid kamikaze who just wants to die on your guns. The Pirate factions of Freelancer are an excellent example of how to do this right. If you've never picked up Freelancer, Alex, I strongly recommend giving that a whirl and looking at that part of the experience.
MercsMercs are one of those things that are in the game, but again, feel like they can be fleshed out.
Players should be able to hire Merc fleets, both to escort their own (think of players going the Trader route here) and at their Colonies. Merc contracts to guard a Colony should be monthly, and go up steeply with the size of the commitment. Not paying Mercs on time should result in a serious rep hit with the individual in question and a minor (-5, say) with the Mercs in general, and they'll leave.
Players should be able to form a relationship with the Mercs. They shouldn't just be "independents" or "neutrals". But; and this "but" may also apply to Pirates, too-
your personal relationship with any given Merc should matter more than your relationship with them as a "Faction"; they really shouldn't behave like any Faction does.
Players who've formed a good relationship with a Merc or with the Mercs in general should be able to expect aid in return, whether that's a Rescue when they send out a Distress Call or a battle-fleet of high-end ships that shows up when your Capital is about to get steamrollered by a Hegemony... "inspection".
Mercs, unlike Pirates should also not hold grudges, so long as the Player treats them with respect when defeated. Not that that part of the game's really fleshed out, but it should be; with Pirates, you might capture the Captains and some of the crew; with Mercs, their organization will pay their repatriation bond to get them back, and so long as the player treats them reasonably well, no harm done, the Mercs make war for a living and the Player obeyed the rules. On the other hand, Players who give Mercs no quarter... should probably suffer their wrath to a degree that they'll remember.
Mercs should offer missions that are interesting:
A. The Mercs have been hired to A-bomb <planet> by <faction> to damage <industry>. They'd like you to do the run, anonymously. Then you find out that the AM canisters have been rigged by <faction> to setting "decivilize". You report it to the Mercs and they offer you a bonus to do it anyhow, or expose the plotters to higher-ranking members of <faction's> government. Suddenly, you're knee-deep in intrigue and a simple mission looks like a major Diplomatic Event waiting to happen. Now what?
B. Mercs are hiring to do a high-speed run to deliver food to a Pirate base. Turns out that the food's been deliberately sabotaged, and is infected with Holm's Disease; a hard-to-detect prion that causes high fevers in adults, but brain-damages children. Now what?
C. Mercs come to the Player with a desperate plea to defend <place> because they're short on crews right now. Player shows up and discovers that <place> is under siege by a huge <faction> fleet component. <Faction> offers Player reasonably-impressive sum to Go Away and break the contract, or fight them. Mercs will look dimly at Player breaking their contract; <faction> will know who Player is if they accept (darn those Sector bankers; they know everything we do) and might blackmail them. But Player's fleet will probably get wrecked trying to keep word. Now what?
D. Mercs have been asked to take down <fleet> by <faction>. Player takes job, discovers fleet is civilian food aid for poverty-stricken world of <somewhere>. Fleet master pleas for mercy; Player can earn <fleet faction> trust by relenting, but will lose rep with Mercs. Now what?
E. Mercs have been tasked with guarding a Tech Mining operation on the Far Rim. Player is asked to get there and help out. Player gets there, and discovers that the Tech Miners are "resurrecting" a [REDACTED] for <faction> to try and get control over it. Predictably, this goes Horribly Right, and now <faction> has access to [REDACTED] tech, making it the terror of the Sector... unless, say, the Player finds an excuse to wreck it and leave no survivors. Now what?
