Hacking should be more integrated into other systems. Here are some ideas regarding that.
Currently with hacking, the big ultimate goal is to get through a door and the big proximate goal is to get to the processor. That's fine for a mini-game, but it seems like hacking is supposed to be at least as much of a 'thing' as Captaincy in Starmourn. So why not have more tie-ins to the rest of the game?
1. Junk Data. Just like bashing drops junk and incursions drop space junk, why not have hacking give you junk data? This would give FRAY information brokers an extra use, since you could JUNK SELL DATA at one in order to cash in your mailing lists, security logs, sex holo tapes and grandma's secret waffle recipes for money. It would give another variation for quest design - think a version of the creeper shells quest from Ixsei, but with Windishu ICE dropping quest items instead.
2. Hacking CAC Quest. Same idea as the current 5/5 Incursion Enemies or Obtain Samples quest, but with ICE instead. It could either be hack a certain number of terminals or (more interestingly) to delete a certain number of a specific kind of ICE 20 antivirus, 10 firewalls, 10 scanners, etc. (Antivirus ask for should be more because of how SRA work.) Alternatively, a contract reward which gives you a sliver for 50 FRAY Credits.
3. Crafting/PVP integration! Add special terminal in Tranquility Deepness where people can do HACK TERMINAL PIRATE <skill> [<org>] in order to get five random designs for a particular skill (and optionally from a particular org) added to a temporary shop in the same room at the cost of earning a bounty from that org. Want bootleg Song jumpsuits for some sort of plot? Data piracy is your answer!
1. Junk Data. Just like bashing drops junk and incursions drop space junk, why not have hacking give you junk data? This would give FRAY information brokers an extra use, since you could JUNK SELL DATA at one in order to cash in your mailing lists, security logs, sex holo tapes and grandma's secret waffle recipes for money. It would give another variation for quest design - think a version of the creeper shells quest from Ixsei, but with Windishu ICE dropping quest items instead.
2. Hacking CAC Quest. Same idea as the current 5/5 Incursion Enemies or Obtain Samples quest, but with ICE instead. It could either be hack a certain number of terminals or (more interestingly) to delete a certain number of a specific kind of ICE 20 antivirus, 10 firewalls, 10 scanners, etc. (Antivirus ask for should be more because of how SRA work.) Alternatively, a contract reward which gives you a sliver for 50 FRAY Credits.
3. Crafting/PVP integration! Add special terminal in Tranquility Deepness where people can do HACK TERMINAL PIRATE <skill> [<org>] in order to get five random designs for a particular skill (and optionally from a particular org) added to a temporary shop in the same room at the cost of earning a bounty from that org. Want bootleg Song jumpsuits for some sort of plot? Data piracy is your answer!
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Comments
- Data repositories within grids. Crack them, get data. Could make them into side objectives, and could guard them with ICE.
- Loot pinatas within grids. Targets of opportunity, take them out if you've got ops to spare and want to. Can have a beefy stationary version and a mobile version, if desired. I like the mobile idea better; they'd be like loot goblins, for those of you who have encountered that concept in other games.
- And, gleaning junk data from moving around/exploring rooms within grids. Call it skimming, perhaps. This has the benefit of making a long walk within a grid feel less bad than a fast hack. I'd limit the gain from this by making each room within the grid count only once.
For all three ideas, must complete the password hack to take the junk data home.Marks Skimming:
Baby level embezzling, and passive. Random chance to siphon marks off a non-faction humanoid NPC in the room with you. If it fails you get a notification to move on and that NPC is marked in the system as unskimmable to you for the next 24 hours. This prevents people from just walking back and forth between Cray and Poffy on Omni for example and just raking in cash. Does not incur a bounty cause its a minuscule amount of marks. This should probably be a low amount just to drive home that embezzling is "better". If it isn't, it should be when/if this becomes an option.
Blockchain:
Once per RL day, you can perform a channeled action at any allied terminal to generate a redemption token for any of the factions that accept them. Cryptocurrency math, basically.
Death_and_taxes.exe (tenative name, i can't think of anything funnier than this)
When killing a humanoid hostile NPC, you have a chance to perform an autohack and steal some marks.
When you hack a faction's comms network, instead of just listening in, you can optionally switch it off for everyone currently on it, doesn't give a notification that this happened.
Breach Ship:
This is probably the more controversial idea, but we got embezzling (which only affects NPCs but let me dream a little). With enough skill, and while at the shipyards you can breach someone's ship permissions and enter their ship. If you are caught onboard, you are automatically open to PVP. The owner is notified that their ship has been breached, but not by who. If you are caught doing this before you can enter, you are automatically open to PVP. Basically the scifi equivalent to picking locks, but with a few extras. It's suspicious as hell, and if anyone catches you doing it, you're in for a bad time. Reasons for doing this are left up to the person doing it.
1. Remote hacking.
I think it would be more exciting to have many connection paths to and from every place, to encourage hackers to be persistent and dynamic. For example, a planet can have multiple data connections offworld: One or more dedicated communication towers, the PTP system, surface to ship navigation beacons (so a hacker can park their ship above the actual planet and skip a few hops), or even player deployed communication props used to circumvent established data paths.
2. More types of hacks.
- Locked containers. Hack them open.
3. Alternate hacking minigame.
Trivializing terminals of a certain level would be cool though, cause a level 40 hacker shouldn't/wouldn't waste time with a level 3 door for example. Should just look at it and it hacks itself in fear.
It's why factions protect their CACs as much as they can and why some get so angry with non-citizens who get caught even just standing in the CAC or surveillance control rooms. Even if you're not doing anything at all, as there's really only one or two reasons you'd be in there and everyone is going to jump to the theft reason, not the exploration reason. It doesn't generate those 3 slivers out of thin air, you're actually stealing slotted data slivers from that faction, which is either a marks investment on someone's part or a time investment of some length.