Looks like a lot of eve is getting balanced, revamped and various mechanics changed to improve the game.
I haven’t heard of any real and doable ideas to improve the bounty system. So I make this post to see if someone has a decent idea to actually make bounty hunting a thing.
And since I made this post it is just reasonable I start with the first idea of this thread, even if it is a ■■■■ idea, maybe it can be improved or have its essence extracted to fuel a new and better idea.
I guess it is safe to say that it won’t be missed the rare but low payout the current bounty system gives us when we kill someone that is wanted. We don’t look for someone with a bounty on their head to determine whether or not we want to pursue the guy.
The extra isk you get today is so minimal and inconsistent, and the current system don’t offer anything but losing a lot of isk and the person you hate probably won’t get anymore heat, it is looked on like something positive, means you harvested enough salt only.
And you don’t want to pay for a kill right (too many other threads have been shut down by a comment like that), I think it is safe to say that you should get blown up by concord if you attack the wanted guy in HS. (if not in war with, or the guy is suspect/criminal)
All that being said, let’s try something that doesn’t fully destroy the current system and its isk already invested to the bounty system.
Have it be an office in a station or a consul on the Neocom menu, shouldn’t matter too much, personally I would prefer the latter.
On it you can “ask for a mission” and you get given one name, you might be able to decline. (depends on the balance aspect of it)
This is where it is very hard for a player like me to understand the complexity of the balance, people might try to roll into their main with their alts, to blow up themselves and get the bounty. So you want the chance for that to happen as low as possible. At the same time you don’t want someone to get stuck on one bounty for x duration.
Maybe having the cooldown(before you can request another bounty contract) be similar to that of jump clones, and even have a skill to make it 5 hours shorter. And you can only skip one contract upon being given a contract every 2 hours. And if you wish to accept the contract, it might last for 48 hours.
Now what determine if you want to accept the contract is, how much isk should you get? I think it is fair to divide the whole “wanted pot” on how many times someone have placed a bounty on the wanted one. However this is where the details is very important, do you need to get both the ship and the pod to get 1 share? It is the “pod” that is the wanted one. So maybe getting 1/10th of the share for the ship he is in, and if you get the pod as well, you get the other 9/10th of the share you signed up for in the bounty contract.
And I was also fooling around with the idea that if the bounty hunter fails the contract by default (time) or by canceling after accepting the contract, share is lost. Meaning the rest of the pod is now divided on 1 less person. I think this deserve a short example.
Donna Juve wronged someone, someone placed a 10m bounty on Donna, then told his corp mates to put a bounty on Donna as well. 3 people did it, and they put 20m, 50m and 100m on Donna’s head.
Bounty hunter is given a contract, Donna. He can earn 45m on this job. But depending on the rules of this, has to both get Donna in a ship and her pod to get the full payout. If bounty hunter sees that Donna is flying in HS only(after used locator agents and researched her activity) and decide to forfeit the contract because the payout isn’t high enough. Bounty hunter nr. 2 will then have the option to accept the contract and have a chance to earn 60m instead of the first 45m.
Doing this over and over, the 4th bounty hunter could get 180m. Tho if he decides to do it, he probably would get concorded in the process. This way the longer someone is on the list, the more lucrative the job gets.
But there is the issue where, the bounty hunter might just convo someone, provide a screenshot of proof(that the other guy is the target). And is asked to meet up to die, and in the process they split some of the isk, it surly is realistic and has been done irl too. Just instead of in-game paper trail, you had someone else’s body irl.
Don’t really know how to fix this issue unless I go back on my previous rules of payout etc.
Someone might argue that this might be too lucrative, but all the isk that is on some pilots is really dead weight, why not make a profession out of it? Having to use diplomacy, detective skills and time, it might be balanced enough.
I don’t think sending back all the isk on everyone’s head to rework the bounty system is the way to do it because then the characters that has been sold on the bashar could be worth a lot more. And just deleting it all-together might be a decent alternative, but reworking it to a actual profession comparable to DED running, Mining or ratting would be at least an very interesting path. Lucrative PvP, that reward the most skilled pilots taking in and using all the tools eve has to offer, to land the heist of the year.
Though I totally agree that killing someone in a ibis and their pod, could pay out trillions, is kinda strange.
Maybe capping it to 1|1 ratio of the ships cost, then you get 9 times that if you successfully get the pod as well.
And in all of this mess, I have no idea if appearing on the kill mail and not getting the killing blow should count or not.
