Keeping Banditry alive without KOS by adding "robbed" tagging

[LordSolarSteve]

Ok,

 

I play Epoch on the BMRF servers, and so far from what I have seen, it can be a lot of fun and we at BMRF are trying to keep it a RP PVP style server. One of the drawbacks some groups on our servers are seeing, is that there is still a lot of the standard KOS that happens in regular DayZ or other similar mods. 

 

Part of the problem is the risk reward factor for a bandit. When someone has a gun and i want to rob them, what incentives do I have to not just kill them? None really. There are no stats for robbing, I am guaranteed to get ALL the loot when I kill, and I don't have to worry about them turning around and shooting at me if I got the drop on them. So why bother?

 

Well my suggestion for a change to the offical Epoch mod would be to add a new stat called "robberies" which in order to get I would have to rob someone, then walk up to them and "tag" them, just like I tag a person when friendly, and the person I robbed would have to tag back. I would even get the negative humanity from it. If the person I rob refuses to tag me back, just get hostile and kill them, and since i tagged them, it can come up as a different sort of murder like a "killed during a robbery" or something.

 

I am sure the idea can be fleshed out more, but it give people who want to be bad guys, but not douches another way of playing the game in an interesting fashion, and get rewarded for it in a meaningful way. 

[Gimmic]

Still, what advantage would you have as a bandit to participate in that? Tagging them as a robbing victim instead of shooting them is just as likely to get you shot.

[LordSolarSteve]

Agreed Gimmic, but if its a tracked stat that you robbed them, then perhaps you as a bandit might find that you want to be the best robber on the server, or perhaps play a robin hood type character that robs people but gives it to the poor.

 

In order for the robbed tag to be worth something it would have to be a tracked stat.

[Armifer]

So thieves wana run around with everyone knowning they are a thief? I dont get the logic here. Just edit the tags, or add content to make being a bandit or hero really matter. For example, add Melee, and restrict it to a certain kind of player. Maybe hero only or bandit only, or hero and bandit only. If you dont live tags, remove them all together. Epoch is easily modified, so adding a system like you said is possible to do on your own, rather than it being standard. I do however like the idea of a distinction between thieves and murders, I never got the naming convention "bandit" and "hero". Heros still steal, and kill bandits, which is murder. Thieves are not necessarily bandits.

 

So if there was a way to track a if a player removed something from a non friendly tagged players bag, that could be considered "thieving" and have you marked with an orb in a similar way, do you think they wouldnt get shot anyway? As lord said, it would need to be a tracked stat some how in the database, and how do you track all instances of theft? Stealing a car? Taking from a tent that's not yours? Taking from someones bag? Looting the dead? Looting from a car? etc. Sounds complex.

[axeman]

You won't get shot if you steal their gun.. i like it.

[semipr0]

Actually I gave this some thought the other day after looking over the traders tables.

 

Hero's need to get a discount as compared to being charged the same amount that bandits pay at the bandit trader.

 

Bandits can deal in volume cause they kill and steal versus the hero method of play so Bandit pricing should stay the same.

 

But, adding a Robberies stat, with a percentile tracking effect which marginally reduces prices by a percentage of the total robberies number could incentivize more old school banditry as opposed to the murdering that is the common method of banditry today.

 

So in short, give hero's a 30% discount on purchased items. Allow bandits to meet that 30% discount based on how many robberies they have as opposed to murders. Would also need a divisor based on the robbery to murder ratio to affect the final vendor discount.

 

Just an idea I had. We do need to incentivize hero/bandit play correctly I think. Right now with everyone paying the same thing, bandits actually come out, fiscally, on top, because they're moving a lot more gear and money a lot faster simply by taking it off other people. Heros on the other hand have go about it the hard way and simply deal with trading legitimately gained items and vehicles.

[DirtySanchez]

Ok,

 

I play Epoch on the BMRF servers, and so far from what I have seen, it can be a lot of fun and we at BMRF are trying to keep it a RP PVP style server. One of the drawbacks some groups on our servers are seeing, is that there is still a lot of the standard KOS that happens in regular DayZ or other similar mods. 

 

Part of the problem is the risk reward factor for a bandit. When someone has a gun and i want to rob them, what incentives do I have to not just kill them? None really. There are no stats for robbing, I am guaranteed to get ALL the loot when I kill, and I don't have to worry about them turning around and shooting at me if I got the drop on them. So why bother?

 

Well my suggestion for a change to the offical Epoch mod would be to add a new stat called "robberies" which in order to get I would have to rob someone, then walk up to them and "tag" them, just like I tag a person when friendly, and the person I robbed would have to tag back. I would even get the negative humanity from it. If the person I rob refuses to tag me back, just get hostile and kill them, and since i tagged them, it can come up as a different sort of murder like a "killed during a robbery" or something.

 

I am sure the idea can be fleshed out more, but it give people who want to be bad guys, but not douches another way of playing the game in an interesting fashion, and get rewarded for it in a meaningful way.

  

Still, what advantage would you have as a bandit to participate in that? Tagging them as a robbing victim instead of shooting them is just as likely to get you shot.

  

Agreed Gimmic, but if its a tracked stat that you robbed them, then perhaps you as a bandit might find that you want to be the best robber on the server, or perhaps play a robin hood type character that robs people but gives it to the poor.

 

In order for the robbed tag to be worth something it would have to be a tracked stat.

  

So thieves wana run around with everyone knowning they are a thief? I dont get the logic here. Just edit the tags, or add content to make being a bandit or hero really matter. For example, add Melee, and restrict it to a certain kind of player. Maybe hero only or bandit only, or hero and bandit only. If you dont live tags, remove them all together. Epoch is easily modified, so adding a system like you said is possible to do on your own, rather than it being standard. I do however like the idea of a distinction between thieves and murders, I never got the naming convention "bandit" and "hero". Heros still steal, and kill bandits, which is murder. Thieves are not necessarily bandits.

 

So if there was a way to track a if a player removed something from a non friendly tagged players bag, that could be considered "thieving" and have you marked with an orb in a similar way, do you think they wouldnt get shot anyway? As lord said, it would need to be a tracked stat some how in the database, and how do you track all instances of theft? Stealing a car? Taking from a tent that's not yours? Taking from someones bag? Looting the dead? Looting from a car? etc. Sounds complex.

  

You won't get shot if you steal their gun.. i like it.

  

Actually I gave this some thought the other day after looking over the traders tables.

 

Hero's need to get a discount as compared to being charged the same amount that bandits pay at the bandit trader.

 

Bandits can deal in volume cause they kill and steal versus the hero method of play so Bandit pricing should stay the same.

 

But, adding a Robberies stat, with a percentile tracking effect which marginally reduces prices by a percentage of the total robberies number could incentivize more old school banditry as opposed to the murdering that is the common method of banditry today.

 

So in short, give hero's a 30% discount on purchased items. Allow bandits to meet that 30% discount based on how many robberies they have as opposed to murders. Would also need a divisor based on the robbery to murder ratio to affect the final vendor discount.

 

Just an idea I had. We do need to incentivize hero/bandit play correctly I think. Right now with everyone paying the same thing, bandits actually come out, fiscally, on top, because they're moving a lot more gear and money a lot faster simply by taking it off other people. Heros on the other hand have go about it the hard way and simply deal with trading legitimately gained items and vehicles.

Interesting ideas, just got done with the first full week of a new database with the hero and bandit stats tracking.

I have incorporated hero ai and bandit ai missions as well as hero/bandit only Traders.

More work is going to be done this week I regards to pricing and trader stock for the new Traders but it's going over great in the community so far.