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Author Topic: Why can't I punish treacherous agents?  (Read 1133 times)

vok3

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Why can't I punish treacherous agents?
« on: November 20, 2022, 05:57:20 AM »

Scenario 1: I stop by a planet.  It's minimally developed, no patrol or military base, so no guard fleets.  I feel like tacbombing it, so I do.  Then I fly off somewhere else, singing Judy Garland songs.

Scenario 2: I get a mission from an agent to tacbomb the exact same planet.  I know the planet has no guard fleets, so I figure it's worth doing.  I go to the planet.  It has a strong guard fleet in orbit - multiple cruisers at least, usually.  To tacbomb it, I will need to distract or fight past this fleet.  The expected cost of the expedition has suddenly skyrocketed and is not at all congruent with the information available at mission briefing.

Obvious conclusion #1: the only reason the guard fleet is there is because I have the mission.

Obvious conclusion #2: the only other person than me who knows that I took the mission is the agent.

Obvious conclusion #3: the agent betrayed me and set me up - or, at BEST, has appalling security breaches in his organization.

Why does the game not recognize this?

Why is it GUARANTEED that a guard fleet shows up in case of a mission, while they NEVER show up if the player depends only on his own resources and initiative?  Why are ALL agents hopelessly corrupt in this regard?

Why is it not possible to have at least some agents who are trustworthy and/or have decent security and no leaks and therefore the attack will come as a surprise the way it should?  Why is it not possible to, upon observing that the details of the operation were very visibly leaked to the enemy, return to the agent, snarl something witty, and shotgun-blast him out a skyscraper window?
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Hatter

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Re: Why can't I punish treacherous agents?
« Reply #1 on: November 20, 2022, 09:42:02 AM »

This is assuming the agent woke up one day and chose tac-bombing, instead of there being something of strategic significance there that both warrants tactical bombardment and a guard fleet.
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CapnHector

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Re: Why can't I punish treacherous agents?
« Reply #2 on: November 20, 2022, 10:47:08 AM »

I mean if you want this feature, and I believe it's a given we all do, couldn't you just write a mod to add it? A special dialogue option to take vengeance on agents who held back some important information - such as, oh, several fleets defending the target - during briefing. Also, if anyone ever does write it, please add an option to court-martial officers who surrendered an objective they were ordered to capture to a single frigate despite possessing overwhelming firepower and numbers, in a display of extraordinary cowardice.
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Jackundor

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Re: Why can't I punish treacherous agents?
« Reply #3 on: November 29, 2022, 12:42:17 AM »

The expected cost of the expedition has suddenly skyrocketed and is not at all congruent with the information available at mission briefing.

was the information wrong or did you merely assume that nothing would have changed

Obvious conclusion #1: the only reason the guard fleet is there is because I have the mission.

Obvious conclusion #2: the only other person than me who knows that I took the mission is the agent.

Obvious conclusion #3: the agent betrayed me and set me up - or, at BEST, has appalling security breaches in his organization.

Why does the game not recognize this?

Why is it GUARANTEED that a guard fleet shows up in case of a mission, while they NEVER show up if the player depends only on his own resources and initiative?  Why are ALL agents hopelessly corrupt in this regard?

Why is it not possible to have at least some agents who are trustworthy and/or have decent security and no leaks and therefore the attack will come as a surprise the way it should?  Why is it not possible to, upon observing that the details of the operation were very visibly leaked to the enemy, return to the agent, snarl something witty, and shotgun-blast him out a skyscraper window?

the game doesn't work like this, you make it sound like the game is deliberately causing this every mission but i have never seen such a thing. It sounds more like you took a mission and then there just happened to be a strong fleet there. Unless the fleet has some special dialogue about the mission i would think that it's simply just coincidence

there are missions where stuff like this happens, the ones where you have to dead drop something into space come to mind, where a fleet can show up and try to intimidate you into giving it to them, but whenever i took tacbomb missions i never encountered such a thing
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gG_pilot

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Re: Why can't I punish treacherous agents?
« Reply #4 on: November 29, 2022, 01:29:59 AM »

I see other types of agents which  need  a  treatment.
For example I sign up wit Tri-Tachyon and I am friend with Independent.  (both factions 100%)
Then  someone offer me a quest against my  friend or employer but my  character is allowed to do nothing.
Loyalty is not just word. you know  ?

I would expect these,  in case some agent offers me attack to a faction which has more than  plus 50% :
1] use marines (10-400 depends his importance of person and  faction, Pirates or  Ludic are more dangerous than Independent) to capture quest-guiver, which  initiates a new leg in a  quest. After successful capture a scripted communication happens so I get message  from my friend/employer where  I can deliver him. For example to Hybrasil-Eochu Bres.  There will  be a quest-fleet on the road contact me  and ask for : free my prisoner or fight.
2] in case agent offer an attack against my  employer (signed faction),  I can use marines simply kill agent and get  reward value of a shot down frigate.
3] make a  call to your  friend/employer to report the threat.
4] do nothing

Option 1  leads to best reward, option 2 lower reward , option 3 lowest reward, option 4 has a potential to harm  your standing with the particular friendly  faction >>> (after few days [random  roll 1-50] there is a chance   [random  roll 1-20%] that your contact with enemy is revealed so your relationship suffer [random  roll 1-10%] hit penalty)
« Last Edit: November 29, 2022, 01:49:18 AM by gG_pilot »
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