I built a Mini Xeno just today. Didn't realise it was getting so popular until I found the NY PvP was turned off.
I few things I learned in making the character:
Hawk light fighter+500K Xeno ID+Xeno guns, CD, mine= about lvl 27 character. There is so little difference in price between the Hawk, starblazer, startracker that you'd have to fly a starflier before you got significantly lower in level. A Heavy Fighter, Falcon for the Xenos, puts you over lvl 30. That simple fact means no one will ever role play with a falcon as the rules stand now because it is too expensive to play as a mini-xeno and too weak to play against 30+. (unless Igiss puts in a Falcon Mk2 with 8s and 9s on it.)
Allowing low level PvP encourages people to role play a greater variety of ships. I don't know about the rest of you...but I haven't flown a Hawk in about 5 years! The fighting is incredibly fast compared with armored VHF battles. People die quickly and the net effect is that more role play gets done for less PvP.
I feel these wonderfully different and fun ways to play are worth saving and it would be a terrible pity if we couldn't do this AND protect new players at the same time. Don't forget that not only does the lvl 30 PvP rule protect new players, it is a check against power gaming. It means people don't have to trade up 30 million credits for a credible role playing VHF. Don't have the time to trade all that much? Simple, make a low level character. Those of us who have money coming out of our ears will make similarly limited ships so we can join in the fun.
Make a new player ID that makes one immune to PvP. Give it ship and level limitations that allow a player to progress far enough to start a real RP character (only takes about 1.3 million total,) but not far enough to abuse their immunity. Do not call this a 'Civilian ID," because civilians are a Terrorist's primary target. Current PvP rules say you must verify a player's ID before firing on them. The scan at the beginning of the fight is the key. Do that, and one can't simply watch the chat screen for something thats lower than lvl 30. They actually have to find that person and scan their ship before doing anything.
Yes, IDs are more complicated than simply looking at HUD color or ship type. But Role playing is complicated. Let me rephrase that. Role playing is rich. Role playing is challenging.
New York is the Hub of Sirius. It should be role playing central. The atmosphere in that system can be the ultimate new player education for Discovery role playing. Let them come in there to watch the show. If they want help, privately tell them to come here to the forums where all manner of players are waiting to help.
My mini-Xeno will sit at Ouray and look for other mini-role players. I'd like to think he has some of this 'common sense' I keep hearing about... but hey, he's a terrorist...so don't hold your breath.
Make New York again a PvP area, concerning these rules:
Players under Level 29 must not be attacked if they have the Civilian ID. And only the Civilian ID. These players are most likely new ones who make their first Discovery experiences. With the civilian ID it is ensured that they make their first steps hassle-free.
If it is obvious that they are experienced players who exploit this rule to evade
being attacked, they should be treated like players above level 29.
Players under Level 29 who already have Tag and ID of a faction are no newbies at
all. They know how to get an ID, how to get a Tag, who are their enemies and how to
handle their ship in a fight - otherwise they would not have made it thus far.
They act like experienced players? Then they should also be treated like experienced
players - above level 29.
I know that it is unfair that light fighters like the Sabre should be cannon fodder
for bigger ships. But hey, it is also unfair (VERY unfair and unsportsmanlike) if a
lowlevel enemy dances up and down your nose and attacks peaceful ships, and all you
can do is sit there and twiddle your thumbs - would that be good RP? The policeman
sits there and watches the civilian freighters burn up before his eyes?
An example :
A police high level character watches a Liberty Rogue under lvl 29 go wild in Manhattan. Now if he changes to a low level character to be able to engage the Rogue, wouldn't that go against the rules, that you must not switch to a "better equipped" character as it would be out of RP?
originally by sjmuup in #trevanian (irc)
<sjmuup> I really need to learn russian
<sjmuup> I want to be able to go like destroyska destroyska kabumschk!
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"Wait... An escape pod within an escape pod? This is like some sort of Escher painting, the eternally ejecting LPI agent." (LPI-Sean.Toronto)
Just reading through the screens Zapp has posted.. My God...
It is really sad to see that NY is as bad as it used to be, maybe made worse by the fact people are trying to Role Play.. They just get "Loled" Or called "Nerds"... Real sad..
Quote:Players under Level 29 must not be attacked if they have the Civilian ID. And only the Civilian ID. These players are most likely new ones who make their first Discovery experiences. With the civilian ID it is ensured that they make their first steps hassle-free.
Just looking at this rule it would work.. But that would be if people actually Followed these rules.. As there is no FL Hook option that allows you to just keep the Civilian ID users save. (As the ID's are tractor beams, Only used as ID on this server)
But, If there was a way to enable PVP to all above lv29 and use exceptions. This would of course take alot of admin time, but if the Liberty Police and Navy Fractions where given the power, like the admins (I believe) are able to kill any player. I see there are a few "Power Groups" in the FL Hook settings, if one group was used solely for this purpose..
Is it atleast a possibility?
___ New Avatar.. Needs a Bit of cleaning (Damn, I forgot the transparent Background again) The Crateria is Unhappy. From now on if you think you can carry on trading after you've faced Death you SHALL Face him again, and again until it Sinks in! Come on, Traders need to Follow the 4 Hours Cool down after death.. So your dead, Whats that? Your going to get me with a Big Bad Cruiser? As long as it is NOT piloted by yourself let it come...
Well, I've set up a noob-like xeno along with Yngen. it's precisely lv 29.
And I must agree with him - the noobish knife fights gave me more fun than most of those 2 hour-long VHF combat. Just that we keep to some STRICT rules.
First off - we don't hit players who ae straight off NY in a starflea. Usually - we target some fellaz who are fresh ingame and still of low level (say... 20 to 39 or so)
Second - LPI is the main target
Thrid - Any player who is above lv 41 is of no concern to us. He may not attack us, so we leave him alone regardless who he is.
Out of these guidelines I'd make a simle rule.
let sirius be split between 2 worlds - that of the newbies and that of the regulars. Greens are to steer clea of regulas and vice versa if they don't withto either die upon their own deathwish or face an admin sanction. within the groups - all sorts of engagement allowed. As such - a mni xeno may freely atack LPI and whatever noobish, trading CSV he encounters. However attackig some higher lv with intentio to kil (counted as drpping the shield to 50%) would be considered as a normal attack and is to be repulsed. (usually 2 shots are enough)
banning PvP kills RP (quite ironicaly) and I never supported it. yesterday a fine knife fight occasion in NY between mini xenos and LPI was missed because of this ban.
i'm still against using a special ID. it just seems harder to police.
one thing that could work to fix this, it has been mentioned before, is having a starting system....something besides NY. i would make it a neutral system with not much in it....maybe a couple of stations, like a freeport..some minable yet not overly proffitable asteroid fields...beginner NPC's.
the system could be a located somewhat off the beaten path and be a free/factionless system so that typical "higher level" players really have no reason to go in there. so the new players will be able to start in a relatively safe enviroment and be able to make some money to progress into the vast discovery universe.
the main benefit to this would be to revamp Liberty. NY could be open for RP and since the low levels wouldn't be there, the NPC's could be made to be on par with the other house home systems.
tons of options come to mind with this. yes, it is a lot more work but in my mind it makes for a better long term solution.
the system could have PVP turned off and it could have everything needed for the new players so that when they do venture into the mainstream of Sirius they would be ready.
On top of what Zap already posted and must of left there was either the same guy or another that created a character that was called JustSayNoToSuicide or something along those lines. I wasn't in NY so did not get screens of the comms but he then regularly spammed the chat with his suicide runs. Not sure who this guy or guys are but it is really annoying and I hope that the admins find out and gives them the boot, they are ruining the game for everyone, especially those that are really trying to do the RP.
I spent the night trading and avoided NY completely because of this nonsense. Not to mention all the corsairs, outcasts, and all the other pirate factions dropping trade lanes all over NY space just to annoy people.
Maybe another solution would be letting peple start their new chars in places OTHER than NY?
Just making the "What system you would like to start in" option a clientside one. Wuld be a good temporary solution intill a lil' kindergarten shows up
O and if anyone wants to see what /basically/ a start system should look like - I suggest a quick visit to NS mod . (No, NOT a permanent stay, the mod only has good features, not good as a wole)
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Oh mu GOD! Jeez, Zap, gratz on the patience. Cuz I'd probably ermaban that guy without a second thought