Even though I wrote it, just a few hours later and I'm still not sure I like the idea that I don't know who's in a ship. It sounds daft, but it's a given in virtually every other space game I know of that you know who's in each ship (perhaps not in X or EVE, but I've not played either). It feels weird to think of a scenario in which you
don't know.
On balance I think I may still prefer something closer to what I was thinking of earlier in this thread, whereby the ship is an extension of the character at that time and characters cannot fly ships that don't belong to them (this is also something that is never really even considered for space games). It's simpler and easier to understand and you get most of the benefits if you have a "privacy" module installed.
Anonymouse wrote:1. When a ship gets close enough, will it be able to identify the ship by its hull markings alone?
Visual hull recognition would be really cool. I was thinking about this on my way home from work: that you could take screen captures and post them as requests for information at space stations/planets ("anyone recognise this ship?"). Don't know how difficult it would be to implement.
Anonymouse wrote:2. If you go out of sight for a few seconds e.g. heading straight towards a star, does this mean that the NPC will assume that you are a different ship to the one they are pursuing, or will they recognise you by the configuration of your ship and continue?
I reckon that would just get annoying, don't you? I think a more realistic concept is that, after handshaking, your UI will keep track of the ship until it passes out of scanner range (which includes docking on a station or planet).
Anonymouse wrote:3. If your communication systems are down, can you still perform a handshake? If you cannot, then will the NPCs still attack on sight?
That would probably also be annoying. It would depend on the granularity of the damage system, however, and I've not really seen what Josh is planning in that part of the game.
Anonymouse wrote:4. Could a cargo ID be required in some systems if illegal goods/smuggling is incorporated into the game?
Interesting. Though Freelancer just had the law enforcement "scan" your hold. That seemed to be a decent mechanic, magic though it probably was. It would mean that for smuggling you probably want shielded cargo holds...
Anonymouse wrote:5. Does disabling a ship extend to self-destruct(an almost completely useless action unless you can force them to give up something in return for it being cancelled) or does it stop at shutting down shields, weapons, life support etc.?
6. Would taking the goods of a ship by taking control of their vessel, then leaving them unharmed damage your reputation more or less than a normal attack?
I really like non-lethal methods of getting stuff, so I'd be in favour of both of these mechanics.
Anonymouse wrote:7. With space stations, could you do things such as locking the docking clamps to prevent ships leaving? This could damage the local economy if left for long enough, but might work better as a surprise attack method.
Don't see why not. Hacking a space station is conceivably possible, though you'd need some serious hacking capabilities.