[Jump]

As posted by GM_Istvan on JOSSH forums.

We have always needed a JOSSH page explaining the particulars of the Jumpgate's insurance system. I'll be drafting one in the next few weeks, to be ready around the release of patch 1.0109, but for now I wanted to provide an update to the community about why the insurance system is changing, and what the details are.

I explained in a recent essay for the DarkSpace Dispatch that a big objective for the Military and warfare systems is to do something about the cashflow problems basic to the game that affect PvPers. While PvPers have frequent cash losses due to re-equipping from deaths, haulers and miners who can generally avoid those costs are in a position to amass large sums of cash with little to spend it on beyond a POS. PvPers, of course, depend on the haulers and miners to generate all the equipment needed for the PvP gameplay, unless the PvPers are themselves willing to haul or mine a bit themselves. Haulers and miners, on the other hand, have exhibited no dependency on PvPers for protection despite past attempts to arrange things to build such a social arrangement. Notice that the dependency of one group upon the other is the opposite of the cashflow: that's a design flaw.

The insurance system is therefore being changed as follows:

(1) The default condition is that pilots will have to pay for flight insurance.
(2) Small fees to pay for insurance will be assessed on launch, based on ship value.
(3) Military pilots will benefit by not paying a fee: they will be provided with full coverage by their faction just like TRI has covered everyone in the past.
(4) Non-Military pilots are being given a method of controlling their costs and choosing what they pay for.

While this may sound somewhat grim for the non-Military pilots, and this is one of the changes I expect to upset people most, please rest assured that I'm not trying to take away all your money. I first did a realism-based study of what the real costs would be for a pretend company that actually tried to run pilot insurance as a business. After recovering from the near heart-attack, I made the obvious decision that realistic fees won't work to keep things fun. I knocked "realistic" fees down about two orders of magnitude to make them "feel right", and keep them small. I'm still working with the test team this month to choose a methodology that will be used to set the fee rates. Chances are that the rates will be adjusted again in future patches. I refuse to expect that I will make the best choice with my first try.

Additionally, the quirks of the old insurance system will be wiped away: If you have good home faction PR, you will be covered. Where you launch from will not be a factor. No more, "What do you mean I wasn't covered because I departed from Klatches Hold?"

Furthermore, pilots will be able to update their insurance selections at any TRI station. You may choose not to pay for any insurance if you are feeling confident, or are flying close to home. You will be able to adjust your coverage rate in increments of 25%, with proportional adjustments to your fee. There will be a new button in the left of the station interface, below the Linkup Terminal, for this purpose. Additionally, you will be able to choose to have your cargo insured. All of your cargo. The fee, of course, will also adjust to take the value of your cargo into account. I am certain many people will choose to fly at 100% coverage, plus cargo, all the time, and this is OK.

Lastly, a social benefit is intended as a result of changing the game's cashflow landscape: eventually, as this system operates, the Military pilots will be feeling wealthier, since they aren't scrimping and saving to reequip. In the past, wealthy haulers seldom bothered to pay PvP pilots for escort, so I'm turning the social mechanic around completely, and hoping that someday more Military pilots who need equipment will be willing to pay haulers or miners for deliveries. Jumpgate is supposed to be an online game with considerable social interaction, so if one form of interdependency is shown not to work, I'm willing to try to reorganize things to foster another.

Link To Original Post on JOSSH Forums

[Radi]

How will the insurance work? Will I have to pay everytime I launch or die/crash?

[GrimGriz]

Depending on the cost, it may be cheaper for civilians to fly under military registry and hope they don't get shot down.

[Radi]

I'm sure Barlog would love that. And not only.

[GrimGriz]

Unless the second installment explains how the bounty system is no longer a sad joke, I don't see any reason not to fly military. This:

(3) Military pilots will benefit by not paying a fee: they will be provided with full coverage by their faction just like TRI has covered everyone in the past.

Makes me curious. Will they get full coverage, or will they get it like TRI has covered everyone in the past (based on IR).

How will the insurance work? Will I have to pay everytime I launch or die/crash?

Seems like every launch the way I read it.

[Nohbody]

Military pilots are paid in full for losses from a death, not based on IR.

There are drawbacks to military tags, for non-combatants, but pre-caffeine I'll be danged if I can remember a) what they are, and b) what can be talked about in public.

(This post brought to you by the letters N, D, and A. )

[Ambrosius]

Everyone should keep in mind that the new system will not be fully implemented for several patches. So things that seem awkward early-on, will (hopefully) all work out when the implementation is complete.

[vorlon31]

I like it, I made a post on the mg forums back in 2003 about buying insurance and although slightly diff to how this is looking, its a welcome addition.

[Wild_Bill]

Excuse me, but how does this help anyone except the Pvpers? I don't care if it helps PvPers, but I'm not too crazy about insurance premiums slowly but surely chipping away at my credit pile, depending on exactly how expensive the insurance premiums are.

Grim's idea about flying Military Tags and hoping not to get shot down isn't too far off the current situation, but the question about IR and having cargo (including equipment) fully or partial covered is intersting as well.

[ZeroZ95]

For one thing, a Military Tagged ship will have to do a Tour of Duty. Thus, you'll have to be MT for a long time and it will be an even larger target painted on your ship than current HG tags since other faction's MT ships can accept combat missions to down enemy faction MT ships. As I read it all.

That and I suspect and hope that MT ships or Pirate ships downing Civs will incur much nastier penalties. So you'll want to stay Civ for safety.

[ZeroZ95]

Oh, and to address your question WB about who all this helps... I think if MT pilots are busy shooting other MT pilots, that should help the Civ tagged non-pvper quite a bit. Also, like Istvan said, if PvPers are the ones with money, they may be willing to pay haulers since the reverse has clearly not worked.

But that still shouldn't change the basic ways of accumulating cash for non-pvpers (mining, hauling, fluxing), so I wouldn't expect any non-pvpers to end up at the poorhouse anytime soon.

[GrimGriz]

Originally Posted by ZeroZ95

For one thing, a Military Tagged ship will have to do a Tour of Duty. Thus, you'll have to be MT for a long time and it will be an even larger target painted on your ship than current HG tags since other faction's MT ships can accept combat missions to down enemy faction MT ships. As I read it all.

That and I suspect and hope that MT ships or Pirate ships downing Civs will incur much nastier penalties. So you'll want to stay Civ for safety.

That's why I said "until the second installment says that the bounty system is no longer a sad joke". Remember that the change that let you keep your insurance when you civ another faction member was "in preparation for the military system".

Being rewarded for downing a Military tagged ship may be a slight preventative to non-pvpers wearing the tag for insurance, we'll see. Unless systems are put in place to facilitate the credit exchange between pvpers and non-pvpers, I don't suspect the military system to accomplish much of the 'military hiring non-pvpers'. Just like non-pvpers having money didn't result in the hiring of escorts, why would pvpers pay non-pvpers to do what they were going to be doing anyway?