Hunting has become too difficult

[Edgecrusher]

Lately people have been criticising me for only podding noobs. Sadly, they're right. I don't target noobs, but they are the only ones that make mistakes and do not run for cover when I am on cpl. Hunting has become too difficult.

First of all there's a quazillion tricks you can use as a trader to stay safe. Check cpl, check the news, move on local, mine/scout your route, alternate routes, shoot scouts you trade over, etc. etc. Really, if you are a decent trader in a PSF you CAN'T BE PODDED. Only those that do not use these tactics get podded. Sure, everyone will make a mistake once in a while, but mostly these mistakes are made by noobs and that is why they are the most frequently killed. Hunting has become too difficult.

Second, the player base is growing old. Especially for SMR at the moment, but it will do so for every game in general. Everyone in this game knows not to trade when an experienced hunter (like myself) is online. Hunting has become too difficult.

So I propose a very simple measure, that will have no side-effects on game-play: Make scouts invisible. This will take away the fact that people know where I hunt, but it does not take away all the other safety tools. You can still drop scouts on a route (and the hunter can't even see them), drop mines on your route, check cpl etc.

This game is leaning toward trading and fighting more and more over the years (as have other space-trading games) and if we don't fix it, I (and other hunters) will lose interest.

[Blade]

Every hunter will get critised for killing newbies, I got it, Gheng, Mar all the hunters have been there.
In fact Bodakar an old player came back the other day and the first thing they said to me was

"Yes I remember bad boy Blade, took much fun out of killing newbies"

[Page]

I actually thought about invisible scouts not long ago, then dismissed it because I expected it to get shot down instantly

[Edgecrusher]

Every hunter will get critised for killing newbies, I got it, Gheng, Mar all the hunters have been there.

It's not about the criticism. It's about the fact that the criticism is right. When was the last time you hunted down and killed an old time vet?

[Page]

Every hunter will get critised for killing newbies, I got it, Gheng, Mar all the hunters have been there.

It's not about the criticism. It's about the fact that the criticism is right. When was the last time you hunted down and killed an old time vet?

Well I hunted down and killed Baalzamon in the middle of his minefield.. But I don't think that counts ;)

[Infinity]

In addition to that, we've come to pretty similar conclusion in our alliance chat, most guys in classic game atm are in a way vets that are hard to be hunted down.

[Freon22]

"Make scouts invisible" If you made scouts invisible you would have so many players mad. I think this is the dumbest idea yet, if you can't see scouts how can anyone destroy them? You could put them around banks no one would know, you could put them around fed. Make it nice to know when someone is moving out to trade. You make scout invisible would be putting the last nail in SMRs coffin.

If you want to do something that make hunting easyer. lol Maybe make scouts No-Name so the owners of scouts do not show. This way they can still be destroyed you just would not know who owned it.

Invisible scouts

[Page]

"Make scouts invisible" :lol: :lol: If you made scouts invisible you would have so many players mad.

ANY change makes so many people mad..

I think this is the dumbest idea yet, if you can't see scouts how can anyone destroy them?

This I agree is a little dodgy but on other points I make later then maybe it's not really a problem.

You could put them around banks no one would know, you could put them around fed. Make it nice to know when someone is moving out to trade. You make scout invisible would be putting the last nail in SMRs coffin.

Sure, knowing where people are would help hunting, it would also mean people go after each other more, meaning more interaction (with something other than singles..).
It would also make trading a lot more fun (for me it would at least), you'd get the fear of not knowing if someone knows where you're trading, maybe they'll come for you, maybe not. Either way the MOST fun part about trading is avoiding a hunter, although admittedly dying is generally a bit of a come down.

If you want to do something that make hunting easyer. lol Maybe make scouts No-Name so the owners of scouts do not show. This way they can still be destroyed you just would not know who owned it.

People would just destroy them all still, which would decrease interaction again because the hunter wouldn't know it was there.


The idea also has the other side that a hunter has no idea if they've been seen coming by the trader or not, so I'm not sure it makes hunting any easier (well maybe if combined with JD, or if cloaked ships have some chance to sneak past scouts).

I know this idea will almost certainly never make it in (people will be too worried that the game might be too hard for them, and they're no longer able to just follow the formula to survive easily as a trader), but we do need things to encourage more interaction, especially with the smaller playerbase. If we get good interaction going then it will grow, but it's hard to get interaction with low numbers of players so it will likely take some unorthodox changes.

I would also like to mention I like this idea as a trader, I've never been a hunter, trading/oping is all I've really done (hunting is fun but takes way too much patience for me)

[JettJackson]

hunting isnt easy like before because of 2 reasons, before there was alot more players, and before those players werent as good, gotta face facts here people less players and the ones we have know alot about the game now.

[B.O.B.]

Make scouts visible in all racials.

Make scouts next to any location (1 sector adjacent only) also visible due to "radiation interference".

Make 2 types of scouts, the normal ones that are cheap that are always visible used for minefields and trading. Make the other invisible ones much more expensive.

Or make it so evil players can buy cloaked scouts, so they use the same rules as a cloak on the ship: higher lvl you can see the scouts. Just no cloak shadow as the scouts are much smaller than ships thus no shadow.

To counter balance this, make it so fed players can peak through cloaks (ships and scouts) at a lower level than normal, like say 3 levels below. Then make it so that fed ships get an additional 3 levels (6 levels total).

This would also add an additional aspect to hunting with evil, and possible going good to track down that aloof high lvl cloaker.