[ZeroZ95]

I wrote this a little while back. I know some of it won't actually fly with the way we've been told Jumpgate Evolution will work. But I think it would work in Jumpgate Classic and many of the concepts can be translated to Jumpgate Evolution.

Also, I'm not claiming originality for all ideas contained below, just preference for them.

--------

Tags to match the style of play. But since Tags affect so many areas of play, a couple of quick points first...

The new nature of TRI: once a governing body of the 3 factions, now it is the most powerful corporation and remains totally non-factional and devoted to profits, influence, and behind the scenes power rather than overt governance. Though the factions asserted their independence long ago, they still do rely heavily on TRI contracts for certain services such as bookkeeping for currency, experience, kills, as well as non-military insurance coverage, universal communications, translation matrices, the mission computer network, etc. However, in the case of mission computers and insurance offered to less than reputable pilots, TRI's focus on the bottom line does tend to work against the factions from time to time. TRI is also a type of merchants' guild where pilots may temporarily join for TRI protection, for TRI guaranteed mission payouts, for access to TRI equipment and of course initially for the TRI nugget protection program.

Repair, refuel, and rearm need to be optional upon docking, and take 2-3 times as long as it did in Jumpgate Classic. Death turnaround time needs to be longer also while they are thawing your latest clone and updating him with your current skill set (which was saved the last time you paid TRI a nominal fee to save it). Otherwise, we need to manually pilot the escape pods back home (or better yet, get tractored by a friend or tractored and held for ransom by an enemy). No more magical escape pods teleporting infinite distances instantly!

I'm also assuming the mission system will be totally reworked, and it will behave intelligently. Multiple simultaneous missions also is desirable, but not required for the following systems.

So on to Tags, the short version (next post will be the long version):

• MTs are mostly the same, but without war-state restrictions. MTs are limited to MT mission computers. No Black Market access. Foreign equipment is black market, so MT's must fly homegrown fighters or trade with Indies for foreign, uninsured gear. But all homegrown gear is free to MTs and MT insurance is free and full. (Soldiers don't buy their own boots and guns, nor do US soldiers use AK47's.) This is for the "launch, die, re-launch, re-die" PvPers who don't want to be forced into PvE just to fund their PvP. You can join the MT of another faction. MTs cannot give/trade their own faction's gear to non-MTs. MTs pay no Faction tax on commods (typically a 1% savings).

• Pirates are renamed to Outlaws and have access to the Black Markets at every station. Outlaws are limited to Indie and Outlaw mission computers. This is for the bad boy PvPers. Hopefully they can self fund via loot, Black Market items, missions, PoD muggings and burglar piracy. Black Market has no tax, but Outlaws pay Factional taxes on other items.

• TRI is a highly protected class. TRI tagged pilots are limited to the TRI mission computer (works for the good of the global econ). TRI may not launch with any equipment in cargo (beyond a very small personal use allowance). No Black Market access. This is for those who hate non-consensual PvP and want to be left alone to PvE. TRI pays both Factional taxes and a 1% TRI fee to cover membership fees and insurance, which is full for gear and 75% on cargo. TRI gear (I'm thinking Guardian+ shields) is only for TRI pilots. Drop your TRI tags, and you are not allowed to launch with TRI gear installed.

• Independent pilots are truly without affiliation (No Tags). They get the Indie mission computer which aims for the best profit and higher payouts than TRI and offers inter-factional gear missions as well as some Black Market missions (but not the whole Outlaw mission computer). This is for the "space is dangerous" group of PvEers who will take big risks for big pay. They pay Factional taxes, but no TRI fee. They get no official protection at all, and pay for insurance a-la-carte. They can easily customize their ships with gear from every faction, so this is also for the PvPers who want the top gear and are willing to self-fund.

[ZeroZ95]

And Tags, the long version:

Military Tags

• Target play style: traditional factionalist "launch, die, repeat" PvPer. "Death should be somewhat meaningless" crowd.

• Duration: 10 missions, then back to Independent or re-enlist

• Mission types: similar to current MT missions.

1. Your faction decides what your missions are (in any military I've heard of, soldiers do not set their own mission parameters). An intelligent mission system would help give factionalists something real and dynamic to fight over (i.e. the Oct MT mission computer hands out "Scout Greater Locks" then after a few successes, it gives out "Control Greater Locks beacon for 10 minutes" and the Sol MT computer responds with "Retake GL beac").
2. "Mission Nodes" can be built more toward the front, not requiring flying all the way back to a faction station for a dock. Alternately, your faction's military mission computer is accessed at any station you dock at. Or, alternately, you are automatically/dynamically assigned another mission the instant you complete/fail the last one (with the exception of the final mission where you must dock and be given the chance to re-enlist with the MT so you don't lose your tags in space, unless re-enlisting can be handled in space too).
3. Cargo/Raid missions could be escorting a bot, or taken jointly with a friend willing to fly a cargo ship. But remember that foreign gear is illegal, so MTs won't be able to sell it at their home faction.
4. Official blockade missions can be against other factions, or as a protection of your own faction against illegal imports. Alternately, a "/blockade" command could work similar to the old "/sq claim" only that it makes the sector essentially Unreg after a 5 minute warning period including KTRI text, and requires beacon fly throughs every 5 minutes to maintain. Includes map indicators and new KTRI warnings every time it is extended.

• Pay: fairly low credits/exp for missions and kills, though increasing with MT mission completions. Going Outlaw or joining another faction's MT drops your MT mission completion to 0. Going Indie or TRI for a while does not negatively impact your MT mission completion count.

• Military Benefits: Insurance is full and free. Equipping your ship is free (soldiers typically don't buy their own boots or guns). Deaths do not count against insurance rating, but go into a MT Death column (beside the MT Kills column). Failed missions lower mission payouts and -1 completed missions can get you kicked out of MT into Outlaw tags. MT pays no 1% Faction tax at their faction.

• Military Liabilities: Visible on the MT map. Can only buy your own MT faction's gear (US soldiers don't carry AK47's). Cannot see the black market. If you trade with an Indie/Outlaw, you can acquire/use uninsured foreign gear, but you can never give/trade your faction's gear (free to you) to a non-MT. If there are any "must have" combat items such as FlashFire, then there would need to be exceptions made for those in the "no foreign gear" MT rule.

• Who you can shoot:

1. other faction MTs and Foreign Legions regardless of location and war-state (no one really dies).
2. anyone with Outlaw Tags or a bounty
3. anyone in Unreg
4. Independents

• Who you can't shoot:

1. TRI tags in Reg space. A kill gets you a huge -PR bounty, on the Assassination list, and costs you 5 MT Mission completions. At -1 Missions, you're booted out of the MT and into Outlaw tags.

Foreign Legion Tags

• Let you join the Military of a different faction, though I'm not sure a new tag is really needed to accomplish that. Just dock in that faction and sign up for their MT and you'll show up in space with a blue/green/red MT symbol by your name. But you can't go directly from one faction's MT to another. You have to do a tour with TRI as a symbolic show that you are no longer loyal to the old MT.

• Obviously every faction would need a full set of gear for every ship, and obviously it would have to be balanced (Octs could not produce the best engines, best cap, best shield and best gun for fighters).

Outlaw Tags

• Target play style: bad boy PvPers. "Death should be somewhat meaningful" and "Space should be dangerous; I should make it so" crowd.

• Duration: unlimited, selected in Unreg/Hyperial. Must wear TRI Tags to remove Outlaw tags (to then later become Indie or join MT) as a symbolic show that you are repaying your debt to society.

• Mission types: Transport, Cargo, Patrol (with beacon detuner), etc.

• Pay: no exp, but fairly high credits for missions, increasingly higher pay based on your Outlaw Mission completion counter.

• Outlaw Benefits: Invisible on map. No burglar use penalties. Access to the Assassination List (where pilots can place/collect standing bounties on other pilots, or if things get quiet, the mission computer can intelligently populate the list from vets online). Access to the Black Market located on every station which contains illegal gear (anything from the other factions), illegal commods (expensive contraband), and the Outlaw Mission computer (or better yet, RPC fixers). Black Market has no tax, but Outlaws pay Factional taxes on other items.

• Outlaw Liabilities: Insurance is purchased on a per-launch basis from TRI, based on your deaths, current loadout, current mission risk factor, and completed/failed Outlaw Missions. Anyone can shoot you anytime. To give up Outlaw tags, you must join TRI for a "rehab tour" before you can go Indie or MT.

• Who you can shoot:

1. MTs and Foreign Legion regardless of location and war-state
2. anyone with Outlaw Tags or a bounty
3. anyone in Unreg
4. Independents

• Who you can't shoot:

1. TRI tags in Reg space. A kill gets you a huge -PR bounty, on the Assassination list, and costs you 5 completed Outlaw Missions (an IR and payout hit). But, you can burgle-pirate anyone (even TRIs) anywhere.

TRI Tags

• Target play style: people who hate non-consensual PvP...true carebears. "Death should be somewhat rare" crowd.

• Duration: First 3 levels, thereafter each stint is 10 missions.

• Mission types: All current civ mission types, but missions are intelligently generated to benefit the global economy in a meaningful way. Could include fighters escorting cargo bots or joint missions with a friend in a cargo ship. Also will include more interesting Conflux related missions with the new AI system. Could allow cargo pilots to hire escort bots. Could allow multiple Cargo missions for hauling a mixed load to help reduce overall mass (mix 50 Iridium with 650 CPUs).

• Pay: moderate exp, moderate credits for cargo/mining/conflux

• TRI Benefits: Protection (except for Unreg). TRI Insurance is full, includes 75% of cargo, and is paid for by the 1% TRI fee (tax) on items. TRIs also pay 1% factional taxes. TRI equipment (think Guardian+ shield) useable only by TRI pilots (can't launch with it if you don't have TRI tags).

• TRI Liabilities: due to contractual obligations with the factions, TRI pilots may not transport equipment of any kind (beyond a small allowance for personal use). Cannot access the black market.

• Note on stripping: stations need to be intelligent about what they will sell. They should obviously not sell the last 200 units of a commod they really need. Factions should generally produce enough home grown equipment to satisfy MT needs and public markets.

• Who you can shoot:

1. anyone with Outlaw Tags or a bounty. But when you shoot and hit (a.k.a. "aggro") anyone in any space for any reason, you get a temp bounty so they can defend themselves (even if you jump back into Reg space).
2. anyone in Unreg, but you do get a temp so you can't gate hop

No Tags (Independents)

• Target play style: independent PvPers who don't mind PvEing to self-fund, or who have a support squad. Also the "space is dangerous" kind of PvEers. Gunrunners, and gunslingers. "Death should be somewhat meaningful" crowd.

• Duration: unlimited/default

• Mission types: All current mission types, but missions are intelligently generated for maximum profit (best profit runs, factoring time=mass). Could include fighters escorting cargo bots or joint missions with a friend in a cargo ship. Could include the option to hire bots as escorts. Equipment missions to other factions (offered/paid by to them via the Black Market mission computer).

• Pay: higher than TRI pay because TRI isn't protecting/insuring you.

• Indie Benefits: Can access black markets. Can haul gear (which pays very well). Access to Indie mission computer which includes equipment missions.

• Indie Liabilities: Indie Insurance is more expensive, with IR based on deaths, current loadout, current mission risk factor and completed missions. Indies pay 1% factional tax, but no TRI fee.

• Who you can shoot:

1. anyone with Outlaw Tags or a bounty
2. anyone in Unreg
3. other Independents
4. MTs and Foreign Legions

• Who you can't shoot:

1. TRI tags in Reg space. A kill gets you a huge -PR bounty, on the Assassination list, and costs you 5 completed missions (an IR and payout hit).

[Wild_Bill]

Intersting Zero. I'm not clear on the TRI carrying equipment part though. How is equipment going to get from one station to another? If no one faction has the "best" equipment, how is it going to get from one faction to an opposing faction if TRI doesn't haul it? Or is cross-faction equipment hauling, or ANY equipment hauling be limited to Indies? How is equipment going to be produced as well. Sounds really good for the MT, Outlaw and even Indie but seems awful limp for the TRI folks.

Would the flux hunters be Indies? or TRI? I'm guessing mining would be left to TRI folks or perhaps Indies. As for the Outlaws, I don't believe they should be able to dock at Faction stations with a bounty, any more than a MT can currently dock at a foreign station.

Other than those few quibbles it sounds well thought out.

[DLinkOZ]

Very interesting, although I don't see there being a significant enough difference between indie and outlaw. I do find value in "Gunrunners, and gunslingers" playing into the equation. For most of my career in Jumpgate, I flew a tow. And what most don't know, even those in my own squad, was that my tow was almost always full... of MS. I ran guns/missles on the side, especially when there was a huge missle shortage. It would be nice to see some game mechanic play into that role, as it was a relative waste of time other than having fun playing the US in the 80s (sell guns to one side, then sell guns to the other side and tell both sides "hey, they've got guns!").

[ZeroZ95]

Indies/Outlaws are the only ones who can carry bulk gear between factions. That would be for the high risk, high reward players. But, Sol MTs can carry Solrain gear from Wake to Cornea...for free (soldiers don't buy M16s).

TRI tags would be for people who want to Flux or mine or haul commods in peace, as long as they stay out of unreg. The TRI Mission computer would emphasize hauling/mining commods for the good of everyone (i.e. that's how general gear gets built, though Indies help with that too).

Indie/Outlaw are similar, but I think Outlaws won't get into tows often. Outlaws can use the burglar w/o penalty (even against TRI in reg space), get paid for killing anyone on the Assassination list, and have a bigger selection of Outlaw+Indie missions.

By nature, Outlaws will probably have more deaths and failed missions, so will have a worse IR. Outlaws Missions don't pay Exp; Indies do. Indies don't automatically have a target painted on their back the way Outlaws would...especially in a tow.

Though I didn't say it cleary, IR impacts your insurance cost at launch not your payback upon death. Payback on death is full for everyone (but 75% cargo, and 0% for brokered gear to MTs or to noobs), assuming they bought insurance (or had it bought for them by MT and TRI tags).

[DLinkOZ]

That sounds good, but I'll that I've liked the idea of a long, drawn out route that's safe, with a trip through unregulated space for the quick flight. Think - wake to hyp. So if you absolutely want to be safe, you take your time and go the back roads. But if you're in a hurry, you take the calculated risk. I can remember the nervous feeling hauling a load of dreams through the two unregulated sectors to take the short cut. I think they should include a lot more of those options, with heavy roid coverage for ambushes.

[Teeleton]

Originally Posted by DLinkOZ

That sounds good, but I'll that I've liked the idea of a long, drawn out route that's safe, with a trip through unregulated space for the quick flight. Think - wake to hyp. So if you absolutely want to be safe, you take your time and go the back roads. But if you're in a hurry, you take the calculated risk. I can remember the nervous feeling hauling a load of dreams through the two unregulated sectors to take the short cut. I think they should include a lot more of those options, with heavy roid coverage for ambushes.

For certain, but they also need to make sure that there are a LOT more choices . There's always going to be one fastest route, but perhaps it should also pass through a dense asteroid field. Screw Emma. Gimmie 100 Emmas in a big slalom course. Other routes through unreg that, while not as short, are equally viable as a faster route. There should be MANY MANY possible routes that could be taken as a short cut, so that you don't have the major choke points all being camped by pirates.

This would totally undermine any risk/reward for passing through unreg, because getting jumped would be almost gaurenteed. The risk would be way larger than any potential reward. Make it really difficult to gate camp by making unreg a dense mesh of many many interconnected sectors.

Sure, there's going to be campers. But with enough choices, it will be less of a sure thing.

Teeleton

[netburnr]

How about...

Civ, HG, and Pirate

Civ, people shoot you they get put into pirate mode.
HG, you can shoot anyone thats HG or Pirate
Pirate, you can shoot anyone, but civs give you a bounty.

Having 2 posts worth of rules for the tag system.....no thanks.

[ZeroZ95]

The old way was a failure on many fronts. And the rather incomplete explanation of the old system does take up a few JOSSH pages.

If you want 1 liners:

TRI : don't shoot them or get a big bounty, no black market, free insurance
MT: join any faction's MT, shoot anyone but TRI, free gear/insurance, no black market
Outlaw: burgle everyone freely, shoot anyone but TRI, use black market, buy insurance
No Tags (Indie): shoot anyone but TRI, use black market, buy insurance

[DLinkOZ]

Originally Posted by ZeroZ95

The old way was a failure on many fronts. And the rather incomplete explanation of the old system does take up a few JOSSH pages.

If you want 1 liners:

TRI : don't shoot them or get a big bounty, no black market, free insurance
MT: join any faction's MT, shoot anyone but TRI, free gear/insurance, no black market
Outlaw: burgle everyone freely, shoot anyone but TRI, use black market, buy insurance
No Tags (Indie): shoot anyone but TRI, use black market, buy insurance

I think there needs to be more definition between Indie and Outlaw. As it stands, the only difference I see is that Outlaw can loot people. So why would you want to go Indie if you're identical to Outlaw, sans looting/burglary? If it were mixed up such that either MT or Outlaw had a block on shooting Indie, that would provide a significant value for not being able to burglarize people. Just something beneficial to differentiate between the two tags.