I posted this before in general but since there is a dedicated category for feedback now I wanted to repost it. I also integrated some of the feedback from the original thread to improve
I think that a good bounty system is going to do two things. It's going to have to empower the peaceful players to seek out and take down aggressive players via information and a gold reward. It's also going to have to be fun for the aggressive player and play into the pirate fantasy. It will also have to deter them in some way without it seeming like an outright punishment.
I'd like something like below;
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Every sunk ship (where you aggressed, not in self defense) increases a bounty against you.
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Contributing damage to a ship that sinks (within a short time of last damage) even if they didn't do all the damage will still increase the bounty.
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Shots in the general direction of a ship do not count as agrression. It may just be a warning shot.
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Killing other players if they have not first attacked you will declare you the aggressor. They could then sink your ship and not face any bounty for that.
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Bounty on a ship cannot be collected when sunk unless it has reached the threshold to be considered a Dread Pirate.
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Reaching the a set threshold of bounty against you sets your status as a "Dread Pirate." Sinking the occasional ship will not make you a Dread Pirate.
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Once you are a Dread Pirate no Reputable Merchant Company will do business with you.
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Add 2 or 3 Dread Havens which will still do business with Dread Pirates. The Dread Havens should be surrounded by different intense weather conditions. Thick Fog to the point where you can barely see, a constant storm with the Dread Haven in the eye, or something along those lines.
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Your bounty slowly diminishes as you play and do not sink others.
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Once your bounty diminishes to a point that you're no longer considered a Dread Pirate you can then turn in any acquistions to their respective merchant companies at any outpost.
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Dread Hunters would be a new faction that provide a list of Dread Pirates, their current Bounty, and their last known whereabouts.
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Bounty and Dread Pirate status is per session and tied to the ship. So once everyone in a crew logs off that Bounty is lost and they are not longer Dread Pirates.
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The higher the bounty the more accurate of a location Dread Hunters will be able to provide.
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If multiple ships assist in taking down a Dread Pirate then the bounty will be split amongst those that participated.
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A ranking for Dread Hunter's based off of the cumulative total of bounty collected by sinking Dread Pirates.
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A ranking for Dread Pirates based off of the cumulative total of bounty they have accrued through aggressive actions.
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Cosmetic rewards for your ship and person tied to both rankings so you can show off what a Dread Pirate or Hunter you really are.
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(I'm on the fence about this) The higher your rank in the Dread Pirate faction the faster you gain bounty and the quick you will achieve Dread Pirate status. I don't know how I feel about this because on one hand you're more notorious so other pirates will be all "Well damn, Beachball Bill is at it again." However on the other hand you may not want to always be closer to being a Dread Pirate cause you may play with different groups of people. Also it creates a weird situation where it's tying the status to the player but also the ship and not everyone may have the same notoriety. I'd default it to whoever had the highest Dread Pirate rank would dictate bounty gain. What do others think?
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Personal and Verbal attacks do not have anything to do with this system. It was mentioned before about someone saying racial slurs is aggressive which it of course is. However with the fact that you can sink a ship or two within a reasonable window of time and not become a Dread Pirate plus reporting the player (which is the better and more permanenet solution) I think it can be managed as is.
The goal with this is not to punish anyone but to put some fun systems in place that allow players to self resolve their own grievances. To add difficulty to being a constant aggressor through notoriety and an inability to hide or turn in treasure. Also to make it rewarding to do both through cosmetic rewards and a ranking system to breed competition among Dread Pirates and Hunters. On both counts I feel it is important that the Dread Pirate and Dread Hunter both feel like they are fulfilling their idea of the pirate experience. It also, I believe, would lead to more targeted PvP as those who wish to engage will actively do so against Dread Pirates who want to harass players who have no interest. In effect setting up a sort of protection economy for PvE players that they don't even need to participate in.
