Politician Archive

I read through some past threads on this subject, and thought it may be a good idea to give a bounty hunter's perspective.

Let me say first off, I think allowing SpyNet Operatives to be placed in player cities is one of the single most important features that would greatly increase the relevancy and usage of player cities. In fact, given the way the SpyNet network is configured in the NPC cities, it's almost as if they are simply a natural fit for player cities, as explained below.

Here's an explanation of how the SpyNet Operatives relate to bounty hunter missions. In a normal mission taken from a normal mission terminal (general, Rebel, Imp, etc.), a player takes a mission, gets a waypoint, travels to the waypoint, and proceeds to kill the lair. Bounty hunter missions work a little differently. After a bounty hunter accepts a mission from a bounty hunter terminal, he must go talk to a SpyNet Operative to get the biological signature of his target. The "bio-sig" allows the bounty hunter to then determine the location of the target through the use of Arakyd and seeker droids (won't go into the details of how they work, as they're not needed for this discussion).

There are different level SpyNet Ops for the different levels of BH missions. For simplicity, let's say there are three levels: the novice level, the Investigation III level, and the Investigation IV/Master level. These SpyNet Ops are scattered throughout the galaxy's NPC cities in fixed locations. Through trial and error, bounty hunters have determined which level SpyNet Ops are where. Further, SpyNet Ops will only give you the bio-sig for missions in their level (e.g. a novice level SpyNet Op will not give the bio-sig of a master-level target).

Also for reference, bounty hunters can hunt player Jedi starting at the Investigation III skill (must talk to a master-level Operative).

Now the problem with the current SpyNet network is that the Ops/informants are in odd locations which make getting bio-sigs a very time-consuming process, especially when hunting master/Jedi targets. Novice BH's will grind in either Kaadara, Naboo, or Tyrena, Corellia, because all the low-level Ops are in these cities. However, only Kaadara has all levels of informants, but Kaadara can be a pain to work in because of the Imperial Crackdown.

The problem of the Operatives' locations is especially troublesome for Jedi hunting. Only Kaadara and Mos Eisley, Tatooine, have both a master-level informant and a BH mission terminal in the same city (and the Eisley configuration is a pain to use regularly).

Therefore, allowing mayors to place SpyNet Ops in player cities would have two beneficial factors:

1.) Would allow BH grinding in player cities through the use of low-level SpyNet Ops. I'm sure new BH's would much rather grind in their own city than the sterile NPC cities.

2.) It would add an amazing new dynamic to Jedi hunting. Right now Jedi hunting is crippled, not to mention a huge time sink, because of the SpyNet configuration described above.

Number 2 is by far the one with the potentially greatest impact. Many cities may not want master informants in their cities to protect their Jedi. But on the flip side, this would give rise to cities that cater to bounty hunters, or be used by mayors simply to increase traffic in their city.

Hope this information helps in understanding why adding SpyNet Ops in player cities would be beneficial to the game, on so many levels.

Eutock of Radiant
July 5th, 2003 - August 4th, 2005

"I am not a droid engineer, but I used to play one in Star Wars Galaxies."

It would be nice. I've seen a Jedi and grabbed a mission only to find the Jedi gone. I'd like to be on any planet and be able to get a mission and bio signature in one shot. I doubt very seriously this will happen. Personally, I'd rather see the LO bug fixed. Player cities need a lot of work. I really wished the Dev would have given PCs a higher priority.

One would think that incorporating SpyNets would be relatively straightforward, as there is already a template for placing NPC's into player cities, that of course being the trainers. Low complexity change (we'd hope) and high impact on gameplay. Seems like any easy bone to throw at an area of the game which sorely needs some new content.

Eutock of Radiant
July 5th, 2003 - August 4th, 2005

"I am not a droid engineer, but I used to play one in Star Wars Galaxies."