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Re: Resources

#16
Hyperion wrote:
Kambalo wrote:You forgot contrabands and illegal goods. :mrgreen:
Well I would like for there to be illegal goods too, but as cornflakes points out, how would they be illegal?


The idea of some universally defined contraband substance is really not appealing to me; I don't want to get a "drugs are bad m'kay" lecture and get chased by the space police everywhere I go because I sell people crystal methalite...
I agree, and this is was my issue the last time this came up.

The player and the various AI factions that populate the universe ARE the government. What possible reason would I care if someone is smuggling in "space drugs" or even "procedurally generated ore # 127". Other than some rare occurrence where a rival faction has control of "X" resource, and I want to starve this faction of money by not allowing them to move their resource through my controlled areas? I can't see that occurring in practice THAT often. (and they would just take it else were in the forever big universe and stimulate someone else's economy anyways)
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Re: Resources

#17
One possibility: when Josh showed off his new personality model, there was a "Lawless" trait. Presumably if one end of that spectrum is Lawless (anything goes), the other end would be Lawful (all behavior is subject to strict rules).

Josh also mentioned that colonies (and, I will guess, factions) can have their own personality trait vector.

Well, then, determining the legality of an action can be calculated by knowing what faction controls the space you're in, looking up their Lawful/Lawless trait value, and comparing that to each action you take within that space. For a Trade Item action, the legality would depend on the item being traded -- maybe every object gets a "Illegal" tag that can have a value from 0 - 100.

If you're landed at a colony with a Lawless value of 90 out of 100 (meaning it's highly Lawless), and you're observed buying or selling an object that is tagged as some form of contraband with an Illegal value of 70, the worst that might happen would be that you'd pay a small fine.

If you're docked at a space station owned by a faction with a Lawless value of 10 out of 100 (meaning it's highly Lawful), and you are seen buying or selling something tagged as contraband, you might get hit with a large fine, ejected from the space station, and marked as a wanted criminal. (Ditto for the other party to the transaction.)

Other actions would have their own Illegal tag values. Shooting a civilian ship might be a 70; pirating a ship might be 85; destroying a ship might be 90, all of course with special checks to see if you were defending yourself from an aggressor. (Well, except for that "piracy" one.)

Obviously this isn't a perfect solution as I've described it. It still depends on someone tagging every action type and object with an "Illegal" value. But at least it also factors in the lawfulness personality trait of the faction that controls the space where you are.

There's also an implied question of whether someone has to "see" you perform that action. Maybe trades in open space are up to the Lawless traits of both parties; maybe there's a way to mask some actions even if you're docked at a colony or space station.

At any rate, I offer this as a starting point for suggesting something better.
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Re: Resources

#18
Flatfingers wrote:Other actions would have their own Illegal tag values. Shooting a civilian ship might be a 70; pirating a ship might be 85; destroying a ship might be 90, all of course with special checks to see if you were defending yourself from an aggressor. (Well, except for that "piracy" one.)
Checks are easy to do. All you need to do is take a peak at the ships log. :ghost:
Image The results of logic, of natural progression? Boring! An expected result? Dull! An obvious next step? Pfui! Where is the fun in that? A dream may soothe, but our nightmares make us run!
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Re: Resources

#19
When it comes to defining what is legal or illegal, concerning goods at least, it is usually the province of governments or at least local authorities. So what is legal or illegal will vary depending on the authority making the determination, and their ability to enforce it. So it becomes a matter of who's zone of territory you are in, and their ability to enforce whatever rules they make up about stuff.
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
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Re: Resources

#20
Would be interesting to see primary resources distributed a bit like they are in the real universe - hydrogen and helium abundant, and heavier elements rarer. Giving certain regions or constellations more of a specific resource is justifiable by associating heavier elements/rare materials with supernova gas clouds or black holes - stars that have had enough time to go through all the furnace stages and shed off lots of elements into the surrounding galaxy!
Spacecredentials: looks at stars sometimes, cheated at X-Wing vs TIE Fighter, killed a titan once.

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