Bounty Hunting in Eve Online is something that has been a dream for literal decades. The current bounty system sucks wiener dog butt and is goofy, stupid, and other words that mean terrible. So what do?
How about a system that not only promotes real bounty hunting, but also magically improves an area of space that desperately needs improved? What if we could make Low Security space more like the wild west it is supposed to be? Would that be something you'd be interested in? I know I would.
The beauty of this idea is just how freaking simple it is. Follow along now.
A Two-Sided Scale
Bad people live in Low Sec. It is a lawless region of space known for Pirates, Hot-Drops, Gate Camps, and other degenerate play choices. These people are scum. I know, I am the worst one. These people not only take insane risks creating content but also have a very difficult time making ends meet. Paying bills. And buying faction mods. They also, insert drum solo, take a heavy hit on the old security status. Many of them are -5 or even worse.
So let's say you happen to be a positive do-gooder pilot with a shiny sec status you've managed to maintain for whatever reason. And let's further suppose you manage to get into a fight with the Pirate Lord who happens to be -10. And you win. The first thing is that you shouldn't take a hit to your gold standard sec status, but depending on your level of sec status and the horrible level of mine - you should be awarded a bounty based on a percentage of the value of the ship you exploded.
So the more horrible the person you explode and the better your own status - the more ISK you make. And vice versa.
Yes, this would work for Pirates also. The worse our sec status and the higher yours - the more bounty we make killing your ship. Up to 10% of its total value. Plus loots if we can. Same for you.
It's a simple sliding scale based on the sec status of the opposing sides in any fight taking place in lawless space. I think 10% value is a good hard-ceiling, but that could be determined by people more smarter than me - but the important thing is that it would be a hard cap. So the more people on the kill, the more you'd have to share the bounty. Because 10% is all you are getting. Solo fighters get all of it. Small Gangs have to share. And blobs would hardly even notice.
It is a lot like what happens now with fleet ratting in mission bounties. Except for people.
Extra incentive to fight. To hunt. To engage. And to potentially make a living doing so. Like all great ideas this doesn't solve everything, but it doesn't have to. This would just make things better. And encourage people to engage with each other, to take chances, and take risk.
Example. Let's take this Vexor that we exploded recently as an example. Total value 62.9m. So 10% of that is 6.29m split two ways between Nihilaus and myself. So a tad over 3m isk bounty for us. In that scenario I'm assuming we're both -10 and get the full 10% benefit. It could also be argued that since Nhilaus did 85% of the damage on the kill that he should get 85% of the bounty. Which is extra complication, but since it is only math, why not? Seems only fair.
And yes, this could get complicated. But it works pretty easily and I'm sure super smart game devs could make it make sense.
Perhaps at some point we could even have special Bounty Hunter ships. Or special Pirate ships that get bonuses based on horrible sec status? (I may have mentioned all of this before.)
So what do you think of the idea?