Abandoned Codex

Gareth · Admin 2 Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 525

Vicks has pointed out on the main boards that a possible reaction to having a bounty placed on one's head is to 'donate' it to a friend (and sharing the proceeds) sooner than letting it get into the hands of an enemy.
So, does anyone have any ideas on how to improve this?

Currently the system taking form in my head looks a bit like this:

-Mark places a bounty of 1000qp and 10000gc on Keith's head.
-Derek wants to claim this bounty, and so he approaches Mark online and asks to be allowed to chase it. Mark then types 'bounty approve derek keith'.
-Derek may now kill Keith and claim the bounty.
-If Johann kills Keith, having not been also approved by Mark, nothing happens.
Multiple people may be on the list of people allowed to claim a bounty.

This will be quite a hassle to code, because it involves either changing details in several pfiles, some of whom may not be online at the time, or the creation of a whole new pfile-independent system of storing bounties; so it would only be worth doing if I was sure it would be very widely used.

The other alternative is to hope that once the av qp penalties have been upped as per the vote elsewhere on this board, the amount of qps lost by the victim would still be enough to put them to great inconvenience, even when killed by a friend.

Yet another idea that's crossed my mind is the concept of a 'Hell Bounty' system, which would run alongside the regular bounty system. This would work in much the same way as the current system in terms of setting/claiming bounties, but instead of the normal penalty for dying, the victim would also suffer an additional loss of qps determined as a percentage of the bounty's total. Thus:

Bjorne spends 1,000qps, which puts a 250qp hellbounty on Benny.
Agnetha kills Benny, and receives 250qps for her trouble.
Benny, however, in addition to dying, also _loses_ 500qps - double trouble!

The actual figures/ratios might vary in such a way as to encourage the right kind of behaviour and use of it, so it might only be 800qps to put a 500qp hellbounty, or possibly even 1200qps - but we'll see.

Maybe the ratios could be set by the bounty setter, e.g.
1000 qps: 250 tax + 250 penalty for loser + 500 bonus for hunter, or
1000 qps: 250 tax + 750 penalty for loser + 0 bonus for hunter, or
1000 qps: 250 tax + 400 penalty for loser + 350 bonus for hunter
and so forth... you'd type "hellbounty Benny 1000 33%" for the first, "hellbounty Benny 1000 100%" for the second, and so on.

Nightblade · Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2004 2:10 pm Post subject:

I like the first option, seems like it would help in most cases. Though I'm a little worried over placing qp bounties on people. I personally don't think it would happen often. How many people are going to use their own qps just to place a bounty? I don't think there will be a lot of people willing to place bounties if qps are required. Now, as an optional field, it would definitely be acceptable, but if it's required I don't see bounty being an oft-used command, and thus, probably not worth your time coding.

The second idea I also like, but again I have the same fear of people not wanting to use their own qps, especially if the ratio isn't great enough. Other than that (and the next comment I make), I very much like this idea.

There is one more concern that I have. With the first idea, if qps ARE required, and definitely with the last idea, nonavatar players won't be as likely to place bounties. Since they can't get qps on a regular basis they won't have many qps to spend on bounties. The one thing that may balance this is if avatars place qp bounties on lower levels. This allows the lower players to gain qps, but how many of those low levels will be likely to use those qps for bounties? I personally would spend it on something to help me level. Basically it'll become just the avatars placing bounties. Now, I'm not sure if that's bad or not, since in my mind when I think of bounties I see them as being placed by rich people and/or the government, but I'm afraid it just wouldn't be used as often as I think it should be. Again, not sure if qps are required, so I'm not sure how big of a deal this would be.
_________________
"Eye level for a kender is door-lock height for the same reason a chipmunk has extra cheek space."

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Gareth · Admin 2 Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 525

What if I just substitute 'gold' for 'qps'?
The only real problem is with hellbounties - you can have negative qps, but you can't have negative gold.

Nightblade · Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2004 7:14 pm Post subject:

Hmm very true. I don't think having a qpbounty is a bad idea, just the problem of having ONLY that option. If say, you wanted to implement the first option that uses just gold, but also had the hellbounty idea that uses qps...I don't know, I like the idea of qp bounties, but I just don't think it will be used often. Either idea looks good using just gold tho.
_________________
"Eye level for a kender is door-lock height for the same reason a chipmunk has extra cheek space."

"A kender will take anything that's not nailed down, and a kender with a good claw hammer will get those things too"

Palermo · Joined: 07 Jun 2003 Posts: 87 Location: Conway, AR

I love the idea of using qp in bounties. I think it would make it much more interesting...

Wizzy · Joined: 14 Jun 2004 Posts: 26

i don't like the part about having to be approved...

while it's just a game - i would still assume you're trying to make it more realistic. and that would basically mean whoever gets the person gets the reward... being "approved" just doesn't make much sense really. then certain people might always be denied their chance.

whoever thinks they can take the person should be able to

Palermo · Joined: 07 Jun 2003 Posts: 87 Location: Conway, AR

Hmm, that's a good point wizzy. I never thought of it that way... good thinkin'...

as a side note, I think if you kill someone in the arena you should _not_ be able to get the bounty... that would put a stop to sharing the bounty loot with a friend... as long as the people don't mind having pdeaths.. now, Palermo, really wouldn't care being as he has a crapload of pdeaths anyways, but other people who try hard for as clean a pkill record as possible might care... just an idea

Wedge · Joined: 31 Mar 2003 Posts: 89 Location: Hendrix College

Most people don't anounce bounties to the general public anyway. They're generally made between the person who wants someone dead, and the bounty hunter. If there were some kind of command to do this, it would basically be 'approving'. Some people could go crazy with this rp wise, making themselves professional bounty hunters and what-not.
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-Wedge