NPC contracting
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Contents |
The concept of NPC Contractors
As suggested in a discussion on LinkedIn, player should have the possibility to control NPCs to some extent. This submission formalized the idea of "control" by reuse of the contract metaphore. Contracts, however, which will eventually (with little to no delay) be picked up by an NPC pilot.
While such a move tends to cater to the solo-player behaviour, two aspect of this proposal shall be honoured:
- the suggestion will embrace and cover with game-mechanics where currently ALTs are used. Solo'ing does happen nowadays: a common situation in high-sec belts is a miner with his ALT hauling. This suggestion shall formalize the apparent need for a "second ship under my control", that is easier to "boss around" than another Capsuleer.
- for legal reasons (war declarations) only Capsuleers being part of a Capsuleer-driven corporation may hand out NPC contracts. This will further strengthen the corporate concept even for the soloist. It will asure that NPC will fly under the corporate flag and can be shot down, when at war.
For details, see the following sections. Generally, this feature shall allow for more world shaping by the individual player in that she can make NPCs "do something". This concept of making the puppets dance will be attractive to many players. In addition, current ALT character use might be reduced and turned into game logic. To further restrict this feature to the "low-end" player, additional cap-off barriers are suggested.
Contract Types
Mining
An NPC miner "assists" the Capsuleer during her mining operation for a limited time, as fixed during contract creation. The NPC miner shall have the ship command skill to deposit ore in a designated container and return to the asteroid belt. The container, identified by its name, has to exist upon contract creation, but may be repositioned (if movable/anchorable) before the contract is picked up. For deposting, the NPC will navigate her ship by impuls, warp, and possibly jump (warp to 10km of the target like the autopilot), as needed to reach the container. It may be placed in a station hangar or anchored in space.
What happens, if the container is full?
Options to be discussed
- the miner jettisons the ore next to the can, or pours the ore into the Capsuleer's hangar, if the container is placed at a station hangar. The jettisonning will allow for pirating (can flipping), which is good for the acceptance of such a feature.
- the miner just stops, because they are not trained for such situations.
Can NPCs mine alone?
That is to be discussed. If not, then it needs to be clarified, what the NPC does with his ship, if the pilot is docked or docks during the course of the contract. It would, on the other hand, limit the reach of NPCs and probably be less exploitable, because the NPC is tied to the Capsuleer.
If they can move alone, the destination area would still need preparation (a deployed can). And it would allow for alternative strategies : have the NPC mine, while the Capsuleer is watching over her with a combat ship.
See also further down the section about skills for NPC range.
Transport
The NPC transports (legal !) items between two designated locations (see discussion below), using impuls, warp, or jumping as needed (warp to 10km just like the autopilot would do). The contract would run for a certain time, where the NPC would finish the tour and return to the start, or would have a completion condition like "until all items are transported", where payment is required for each additonal trip.
What are possible locations ?
To be discussed
- designated containers (only the contents, so container A and container B will be the locations)
- hangars of stations
- a combination of both, where optionally the contents or the full can is moved. The latter would then require an additional destination selection.
Using containers (the contents only) as source and destination would have two distinct advantages: the player would have to go to both places in order to "prepare" the route. The more additional player-involvement is needed for any game feature, the better it is "naturally" restricted in its exploitability. Secondly, the transport contract could optimally be combined with the mining contract, where one NPC mines into a can, and the second takes from it and returns to a station (where the can might be a big enough station container, not an achorable one).
Skills
- NPC Contracting
- Number of NPCs contractable (1-5)
- NPC Operating Range
- comparable to trade skills, it is the range up to which two locations may be apart. Depending on whether the container may be repositioned after contract creation, this could be determined upon contract creation, or the NPC would simply not be able to continue her journey and stop until the contract times out and she returns to the station.
- suggested ranges is one jump per level, where level 5 is the whole region. An action radius beyond the region boundaries bears problematic applicability. Especially, given that jump cloning would allow cross universe routes.
- NPC Fleet Status
- Size of the ship an NPC can use for mining
- Level 1: up to Cruiser size
- Level 2: Procurer
- Level 3: Covetor
- Level 4: Retriever
- Level 5: Hulk
- Transport/Hauling
- Level 1: transport (iteron mark 2)
- Level 2: transport (iteron mark 3)
- Level 3: transport (iteron mark 4)
- Level 4: transport (iteron mark 5)
- Level 5: sub-captital and capital (Orca, Freighter, Rorqual)
- NPC Negotiation
- decreasing the costs (5% per skill level - for example)
- NPC Counseling
- The ability to give "advice" to the NPC contractors - increasing transport speed, increasing mining yield, increasing hauler-speed or loading size or (Cool !!) speed of tranferring goods from the can to the hauler (pirates ;-) )
And perhaps some more...?
Equipment
Ships and modules to be used by NPCs must be bought and maintained by the Capsuleer. The ships need to be present in the hangar of the station, from which the contractor is supposed to take off from.
Legal Constraints
NPCs who pick up the contract shall be freelancers. As soon as they accept a contract (time delay may be minimal) they will fly under the flag of the corporation of the issuer. That means that only Capsuleers in a corporation will be allowed to issue NPC contracts and benefit from this feature.
Hence, it also strengthens the corp concept despite this feature being inherently "solo oriented".
Moreover, NPCs will be attackable by the opponent if the corp is at war. All other legal constraints apply as for Capsuleers, like CONCORD response in high-sec when shot at.
Balance and Applicability
We still need to flesh out, which effects this new contract system might have on the large scale of 0.0 alliances. Can the system be used to heavily influence the New Eden market ?
As a means to "cap off" the use of NPCs for the bigger entities, a restriction could be placed on the number of and the environment for using NPC contracts. For example, Capsuleers might have to be in a Capsuleer-owned corporation to be allowed to issue NPC contracts (RP reason : liability constraints, which are not bearable for freelancers), and in any given alliance, only a limited number of NPC contracts might be allowed - attached to a skill.
Generally, this feature, as the authors see it, shall be an improvement of the options available to "low-end" Capsuleers. A possible side-effect is a discouraging of the use of ALTs to some extent. By limiting the possible effect of this feature, its usability shall be marginal to the high-end Capsuleer / entity.
