Dev Update - 30.04.2015

[Colin The Grey]

Dev Update - 30.04.2015
Hi everyone,

This week has seen the release of the latest Mac beta build and an accompanying PC build (it’s 1.2.07, the same as the current released game, but running on a different server setup), so even if you don’t have a Mac, and you have beta access, you can help the beta out as we’re focusing on looking for any issues playing between Mac and PC. This is an important step towards the Mac release and is the first time players from different platforms will interact with each other in the Elite: Dangerous universe. As always thanks for the feedback so far, it had been invaluable.

In last week’s Powerplay AMA David mentioned that I would be doing a crime special covering the changes relating to crime in the Powerplay update. We’ve covered a few in previous dev updates, but I’ll collate them all here in one place for easy reference.

Fines will now take seven days before they mature into bounties, so giving you more time to clear them off.

Active bounties are changing so that they are issued by minor factions only, even for systems owned by one of the three major factions. You won’t be able to pay these bounties for seven days. We’ll tweak the friendly fire to be a bit more forgiving and we can balance this number further if needed. We’ll also apply the friendly fire to hits on players in the same way they are for NPCs.

Whenever you commit a new bounty offence in a jurisdiction where you already have an active bounty then the bounty value is increased and the timer reset to seven days. If you gain a fine in the same jurisdiction then the bounty value is increased, but the timer is not reset.

An active bounty is resolved in one of the following ways: Firstly if a ship detects the bounty and destroys you then the bounty is claimed and removed. Secondly if your ship is destroyed, but the bounty is not detected then the following happens: The bounty becomes dormant and can only be detected by authority scans by agents of that jurisdiction and if detected will become an active bounty with a new seven day timer. If a dormant bounty is not detected within seven days then it is removed. If an active bounty is not claimed or made dormant within seven days then it will be cleared.

Note that when a bounty is removed, for whatever reason, it is added as a legacy fine for the same amount and for the same jurisdiction. Legacy fines never expire and are automatically added to the rebuy cost if you restart in a station or outpost owned by that minor faction.

We recently added caps to bounties per jurisdiction. These caps will remain although they do not apply to fines and legacy fines.

During the Powerplay beta we’ll also trial a new crime of ramming at speed within no fire zones. If travelling at over 100 m/s and you collide with another ship within the no fire zone then it will be considered a crime. There has been some vigorous debate on this so it will be interesting to hear peoples’ thoughts on this once it’s in place.

Something we’re looking at a bit futher down the line, but might not make the Powerplay update is the concept of interstellar bounties. These occur when fines and/or bounties for minor factions within a major faction cross a threshold then they are combined into an interstellar bounty. They work in the same way as normal bounties except that the jurisdiction is counted as the whole of the major faction. There will be legacy interstellar fines in a similar way to the legacy fines already described.

One last piece of news for Powerplay before I sign off for this week and that is an improvement to how we cache shaders, especially for celestial objects like planets and stars, which is one of the causes for stutters that have been identified. We’ll continue to investigate other causes.

Thanks!

Michael


https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthrea ... ost2170003

[Philip Coutts]

Probably the best news there is they have identified one of the causes of the damned stuttering!

[Loriath]

I just read 14 pages and the whole fine/bounty/legacy thing has me totally confused.

If I get a 500Cr fine for loitering across another landing pad as I am landing, I can't pay it off for 7 days? And then its a Bounty? And I can be killed by cops on sight? That's ridiculous. FF fine is 400 cr. And I am NOT allowed to pay it off for 7 days? I am FORCED to wait till it becomes a bounty? I have to be reading it wrong.

I don't understand it. Can someone explain it to me like I am 5?

[uvelius]

Fines will now take seven days before they mature into bounties, so giving you more time to clear them off.

This should mean you can of course pay the fine, but not if it is converted into a bounty (after seven days if unpaid).
Have to look up whether FF earns a bounty or a fine though, bounty would be ridiculous ...

[Colin The Grey]

Hmm wonder if that means System Security in a RES won't go hostile on accidental fire? As it will be a fine not a bounty?

[Feldspar]

I don't understand it. Can someone explain it to me like I am 5?

If you get a fine (eg for loitering) you have 7 days to pay it off, otherwise it gets turned into a bounty.

If you get a bounty (eg for killing someone) you cannot pay it off until 7 days after the last bad thing you did to add to that bounty.

I'm not sure if you have to wait 7 days after earning a bounty from a lapsed fine, though.

[Xebeth]

You don't pay off bounties, you pay off the legacy fine. The legacy fine kicks in after 7 days from the last bad thing you did in that system (not including basic fines, they just add to the value).

From Sandro Sammarco (https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=141640&page=11)

Yes, in essence, you will no longer pay off bounties, you will always be paying fines and legacy fines)

So basically if you commit an offence worthy of a bounty, the bounty is 'live' for 7 days, therefore bounty hunters have 7 days in which to claim the bounty, if it's not claimed within those 7 days the bounty disappears and becomes a legacy fine which you can pay off, if you don't pay it off and you die and re-spawn in that system the value of the legacy fine is added to your rebuy cost (if die and re-spawn in a different system your fine just remains with you).

Even if the bounty is claimed, you still get the legacy fine.

If a fine (a standard fine, not a legacy one) elapses then it becomes a bounty and the 7 days start from that point.

I like this, it stops a pirate from quickly nipping back to pay off a bounty, they'll just rack-up a massive fine if they stay in one system, even if they then stay away for 7 days all it will take is one death in that system and their rebuy costs skyrocket.

So basically a 'victim' only has to be lucky once, whereas the pirate has to be lucky every time.

[Loriath]

If you get a fine (eg for loitering) you have 7 days to pay it off, otherwise it gets turned into a bounty.

If you get a bounty (eg for killing someone) you cannot pay it off until 7 days after the last bad thing you did to add to that bounty.

I'm not sure if you have to wait 7 days after earning a bounty from a lapsed fine, though.

You don't pay off bounties, you pay off the legacy fine. The legacy fine kicks in after 7 days from the last bad thing you did in that system (not including basic fines, they just add to the value).

So basically if you commit an offence worthy of a bounty, the bounty is 'live' for 7 days, therefore bounty hunters have 7 days in which to claim the bounty, if it's not claimed within those 7 days the bounty disappears and becomes a legacy fine which you can pay off, if you don't pay it off and you die and re-spawn in that system the value of the legacy fine is added to your rebuy cost (if die and re-spawn in a different system your fine just remains with you).

Even if the bounty is claimed, you still get the legacy fine.

If a fine (a standard fine, not a legacy one) elapses then it becomes a bounty and the 7 days start from that point.

Thanks to both of you. NOW I understand it.

I am not normally quite so dense, but for some reason, the wording that they were using combined with a possible overdose of Blood in my Caffeine system was causing a mental block on understanding.

Now can I ask a question that has bothered me since I started?

Let's say I get a small fine, say 400cr for friendly fire. I immediately get the WANTED status on my screen. My Normal procedure is to panic, rush away and get alone so I can find the closest anarchy system to pay the fine at. With such a small fine, what happens if I were to return to one of the Large Stations in the system I was in when I got the fine?

Would I be scanned and attacked by security? Or by the station? Would my Docking be denied?

I have never tried to return to a large station after getting a fine. Last night in fact, I accidentally pumped two C2 Cannon Rounds into an Anaconda System Security ship with a Viper I was testing as I forgot that my KWS was on another fire Group and not on Trigger 2. Not including the fact it was an Anaconda AND a security Ship AND Clean. I panicked and GTFO'd as fast as I could to find an Independent Outpost to pay the fine.

Since it was just a fine, could I have just hit the nearest station to pay it?

[Flip]

I am not normally quite so dense, but for some reason, the wording that they were using combined with a possible overdose of Blood in my Caffeine system was causing a mental block on understanding.

LOL

Now can I ask a question that has bothered me since I started?

Let's say I get a small fine, say 400cr for friendly fire. I immediately get the WANTED status on my screen. My Normal procedure is to panic, rush away and get alone so I can find the closest anarchy system to pay the fine at. With such a small fine, what happens if I were to return to one of the Large Stations in the system I was in when I got the fine?

Would I be scanned and attacked by security? Or by the station? Would my Docking be denied?

At the moment (maybe it's going to change at some point), stations won't bother you for such small bounties. System security ships might, thought. So the way I do it is by using Silent Running. I make sure to exit SC on the right side of the station, put 4 pips to the engines, and request docking as soon as possible. Then I turn SR on, boost towards the letterbox a few times, watching my temp, and turning SR off for a few seconds before turning it back on when it gets dangerously hot. Since it takes some time to successfully scan a ship, it has always allowed me to escape scanning.

Also, sometimes it's not necessary because you may be wanted in the system but not by the faction on this particular station. And finally, outposts usually have no security at all (although some have, particularly military ones, but in this case SR works too).

The only downside in using SR is that it shuts your shields down. So you gotta be careful not to damage your ship when docking.

[Xebeth]

Let's say I get a small fine, say 400cr for friendly fire. I immediately get the WANTED status on my screen. My Normal procedure is to panic, rush away and get alone so I can find the closest anarchy system to pay the fine at. With such a small fine, what happens if I were to return to one of the Large Stations in the system I was in when I got the fine?

Remember you don't need to go to an anarchy system, any outpost if fine, outposts don't have security