Hello,
I would like to propose a change to the interaction between Green Safety, Vorton Projectors, and automatic secondary targets.
This interaction may technically be functioning according to the current Crimewatch rules, but from the player’s perspective it behaves like a safety-system bypass and is very close to being a gameplay bug.
Current behavior
The following situation can occur in high-security space:
- An EDENCOM ship is using a Vorton Projector against NPC targets.
- The pilot has Green Safety enabled.
- Another player takes loot belonging to the EDENCOM pilot and becomes a Suspect.
- The Vorton Projector automatically selects that player as a secondary chain target.
- Damage is applied to the player.
- A Limited Engagement is created between the EDENCOM pilot and the Suspect.
- The Suspect can now legally tackle and destroy the EDENCOM ship without CONCORD intervention.
The EDENCOM pilot did not manually select the player, did not activate the weapon against the player, and may not even notice that the player became a valid secondary target before the Vorton discharge occurred.
The player’s only deliberate action was continuing to fire at an NPC while Green Safety was enabled.
Why this is a problem
I understand the technical explanation: a Suspect is a legal target, attacking a Suspect does not give the attacker a Suspect or Criminal flag, and Green Safety does not prevent Limited Engagements.
However, that explanation does not resolve the underlying design problem.
With conventional weapons, the player must deliberately lock the Suspect and activate a weapon against them. The player is consciously initiating PvP and accepting the resulting Limited Engagement.
With Vorton Projectors, the secondary target is selected automatically by the weapon system. A neutral player can intentionally become Suspect during ongoing PvE combat and use the automatic chain mechanic to force the EDENCOM pilot into a Limited Engagement.
This creates a baiting mechanic in which:
- Green Safety remains enabled;
- the pilot continues attacking only NPCs;
- the weapon automatically applies damage to another player;
- the other player receives legal aggression rights;
- the EDENCOM pilot may lose an expensive ship without knowingly initiating PvP.
At the Crimewatch level, this may be “working as designed.”
At the user-interface and weapon-control level, it behaves like a bug.
Green Safety is generally understood as protection against accidentally entering dangerous aggression states. An automatically selected secondary target should not be able to create a new PvP engagement without a deliberate action or clear confirmation from the player.
Proposed solution
My preferred solution is:
When Green Safety is enabled, Vorton Projectors should exclude player-controlled ships from automatic secondary chain targeting if applying damage to that player would create a new Limited Engagement.
This restriction should apply only to automatic secondary targets. It would not prevent a player from deliberately attacking a legal player target as the primary target.
A pilot who intentionally wants Vorton chains to include Suspects could switch Safety to Yellow.
Possible implementation logic:
- Green Safety: automatic Vorton chains cannot initiate a new Limited Engagement with a player.
- Yellow or Red Safety: current behavior remains unchanged.
- Existing wars, duels, fleet aggression, or already active Limited Engagements could continue to use the normal targeting rules.
Alternative solutions
If changing secondary-target selection is not considered acceptable, there should at least be a clear warning and confirmation mechanic.
For example:
- Stop the Vorton Projector cycle when a player becomes a possible secondary target.
- Display a warning that the next discharge may initiate a Limited Engagement.
- Require confirmation before the weapon can damage that player.
- Add an explicit option such as “Prevent automatic Limited Engagements.”
- Add a prominent warning to the Vorton Projector description and Green Safety interface.
Simply explaining that Green Safety technically allows Limited Engagements is not sufficient. The core problem is that the engagement is initiated through an automatic weapon bounce rather than an intentional attack command.
Why this change would be reasonable
This proposal would not make high-security space completely safe.
It would not prevent:
- suicide ganking;
- legal attacks against Suspects;
- wars;
- duels;
- deliberate PvP;
- players using Yellow Safety to accept the risk.
It would only prevent an automated weapon-selection system from starting a new PvP engagement while the pilot is using the most restrictive Safety setting and deliberately attacking an NPC.
EDENCOM ships already have significant drawbacks associated with uncontrolled chain damage. Those risks are understandable when they affect NPC target selection, standings, or damage application. Automatically granting another player legal aggression rights without a deliberate PvP action is a fundamentally different level of consequence.
Conclusion
The current interaction may be technically consistent with Crimewatch, but it is inconsistent with the practical purpose of Green Safety.
A player should not be able to manufacture a Limited Engagement by placing themselves into an automatically generated Vorton chain while the EDENCOM pilot is intentionally firing only at NPCs.
Please consider changing Green Safety so that Vorton Projectors cannot automatically initiate new Limited Engagements through secondary chain targets.
Thank you.
