Just had a thought along these lines. (This wouldn't exclude any of the ideas in this thread and will even supplement them.)
One of the biggest debates going on these days is the discrepancy between veterans and newbies. There is also the PvP issues.
What if we took this Operating System concept and expanded it into the realm of player "levels?" In other words, you upgrade to a different operating system when you reach a certain development level. The new OS speeds things up, but it is incompatible with your old OS, rendering any actions against those of a lower "level" futile. You can still crack, log into, and transfer files between any platform, thereby you can help out those of a lower "level" than you are.
The incentive to upgrade would be faster run and delete times and access to higher program version levels and, perhaps, some software would only be available on certain operating systems. You would be able to break into stronger NPC servers and take missions with greater rewards rather than the current system which seems to punish new players more and more as the game ages and the version requirements increase while the payouts remain relatively flat.
The disadvantage would be that you would be exposed to attacks from players and the missions would be harder.
Let me explain by example.
A simplified version of this would use, let's say, three operating systems which we will call Slimeware OS, Medianware OS, and Eliteware OS.
As a new player you get Slimeware installed on your system for free. This gives you all the basics and you can perform delete and small disinfect missions but you do not have the ability to run things like Malware, Spyware, Fileshare, Robber Baron, Revelation and their related Anti-virus version or Decrypt/Encrypt. You also cannot be part of a faction. You can attack other players who have Slimeware OS installed and can research and run up to V5.0 software. You can, in theory, download and hold versions greater than v5.0 and even hold the unusable programs on your HDD, but you cannot run them. Activating Malware on a remotehost would not work either as the target would either be running Slimeware or would be a higher OS which you cannot interact with and would probably have protects higher than you can crack. Slimeware cannot overload either, and Medianware servers would start out at v5.0 protects.
This would grant newbies and learners an increased level of protection from abusive players of higher level and experience. They could be hacked by these guys but that's all they could really do. You'd only need fear another Slimeware user who can only infect you with adware, kill your tasks, delete or hide your files. Nothing really all that major, especially if they are Gold members and have that FTP server to back things up on. Conversely, they could still be assisted by higher level players because they can still transfer files to and from other OS types.
Now, the player has maxed out their protects and is looking for a greater challenge. They've heard about the advantages of faction membership from their fellow group members, some of which have already moved on to a new OS. They are bored of delete missions and marginal returns from Adware virii. What do they have to do? It's simple, really, upgrading to the new operating system would require that one crack a maxed out faction public server of a new type. This may even be done through the software dealer. The amount of time would be minimal, say an hour per owned server. We'll call these upgrade servers Portal Servers for the purposes of this example. The player must reach a certain power ranking appropriate for their new level and then upgrade their servers through a portal server or the software dealer. This process would cost a bit of cash and AP, but the benefits would be worth it.
The player is now running Medianware OS. This allows access to faction membership, faction missions, Fileshare, Spyware, Encrypt/Decrypt, and a host of new public and secret servers to find and crack. They can now research and run programs up to v20.0 so they can still use all the software they had accumulated under Slimeware (software backwards compatibility) but they cannot cause any harm to Slimeware servers (incompatible file systems, like FAT and NTFS).
They are still protected from the highest echelons of players and can help newbies but they can now play freely among players of approximately equal caliber and enjoy gaining faction skills and faction standing as well as higher payouts from delete and disinfect missions of a higher caliber (larger delete files and virii disinfects) but can start customizing their OS to a certain extent, improving their delete times within a certain range and other things listed in this thread.
This keeps the playing field level while allowing us to delete that v3.5 Encryptor in 4 hours instead of 40, for example. (Numbers obviously not so scale!)
When they get bored of running Medianware, they can find another Portal Server (or go to the software dealer) and gain an upgrade to Eliteware OS. This would take a bit longer, say 2 hours per owned server. The countdown would take place either in the account page and/or on the server run processes page, so they know how much longer they need to wait.
The player now has access to the full spectrum of software and capabilities. They can also become the target of Malware and Revelation attacks! They can use Robber Baron virii to maximize their income while completing only the hardest and best paying missions, gaining more standing as well, so they can afford the occasional malware strike eating away at their hardware.
What do you all think?
Obviously, there is room for improvement and tweaking and I'd like to see at least six actual operating systems if this were implemented but it would probably take quite a bit of retooling of the game engine.
We would want to keep Gold membership out of the requirements for higher level OSes for fairness sake, but there could be a special Gold Eliteware OS, for example, which could be an option only to Gold members which would be functionally the same within the game mechanics but it would allow some visual customization such as colored text in the server descriptions and other basically benign but interesting incentives. A lateral upgrade from standard to Gold Eliteware would not take much time or resources as they are essentially the same.
I think its good but one question
what if someone have 3 server with different OS?
could he have access to attack everyone? noobs and veteran alike?
it could allow to abusive players { like the one who dont leave me alone ever since i started playing } to keep dameging others and destroying the will of playing HP
I'm actually thinking that the upgrade effects all servers--your whole personal intranet, hardware and software--hence the 1 hour or 2 hours per owned server. There is no owning 3 servers with different OS. You upgrade all of them or none of them.
Also, there is no going back. Once the upgrade is made, you're stuck. No downgrading to harass lower rank players.
Besides, even if you could have 3 servers with different OS, you would still have to abide by the restrictions of the one currently serving as your active gateway. Go ahead, switch down to a Slimeware OS gateway, lower payout missions and the software cap still apply. You've done nothing but handicap yourself.
Also, who's harassing you? I could maybe amuse myself by tracking them and harassing them in return....
Borrowing from ideas which have been subjected to the highest scrutiny and debate throughout Hacker Project history, I offer the following suggestion in order to facilitate the protection of newbies and allow them to ease into the game more easily while allowing the veterans certain advantages which should help promote PvP and provide capability-relevant missions with appropriate reward.
The first concept I wish to discuss is
Delete Overloading.
Delete Overloading speeds up the delete process. It will be limited based on restrictions to be discussed later on, but it works similar to overloading bypass and breaker software. The resources used are exponentially greater for each delete overload level. For example, a x1 (or normal delete time) would use the standard 100 Mhz, a x2 delete (cutting the time in half) would use 200, a x3 (or one third delete time) would use 400, a x4 would use 800, and so on up multiplying the CPU usage by two for each delete overload level.
Another concept is
patches. We all have various patches attached to our real-world operating systems. These patches will instill certain specialized abilities to an individual server. Only one patch is allowed on any one server, but one may have different patches on different servers. There is an advantage to having an unpatched server as well, as the patches would use additional resources.
The operating system concept has been put forth many times. In this suggestion, there are four operating systems. Each one allows greater capabilities and has a certain number of patches available. Each uses resources and restricts hardware and software, and has requirements for using it. All owned servers must use the same operating system. While transferring software between servers using a different operating system is possible, other interaction is not. In this way one can share software with a newbie but one cannot hide, encrypt, delete, infect their server and even attacks between players are limited to the restrictions of the operating system software version limit. The current active patch advantage is that of the currently selected gateway. Additionally, breaker/bypass software overloading is limited by the operating system.
The operating systems and their patches are described as follows:
EmeraldNewbie operating system offering basic functionality and no PvP capability. It is limited to the use of protects, bypass, breaker, adware, adware AV, deleter, undeleter, and virus breaker. Missions available to Emerald users include delete and adware disinfect. Emerald users cannot do faction missions but may join a faction. Software version is limited to v1.0. Emerald has no available patches and cannot delete overload. No breaker/bypass overloading is allowed.
PelicanPelican is the next step in the progression. In order to advance, one must have maxed out four of the available software for Emerald. Pelican offers the addition of fileshare, fileshare AV, hide, unhide, scan, scan blocker, ip cloaker, and sniffer software. Pelican users are limited to v5.0 software but may complete code recover missions as well as anti-hacker and fileshare disinfect missions in addition to those available to Emerald users (just greater in difficulty and payout). Pelican may use breaker overload up to x5, delete overload up to x3 and has three patches.
EraserBeak Patch: Cuts delete task time by 10% on any delete task started by this server.
TimeFly Patch: Cuts AP use by 10% while this server is the selected gateway.
BirdBrain: Cuts research time by 10% on installed server.
WolfWareGet it? It's a stupid pun, I know, but nevermind that.
WolfWare users gain access to all remaining software except Faith and Revelation. This is where the real fun begins. Players may now complete search and destroy missions for their faction and enjoy delete overloading up to x5 as well as breaker/bypass overloading to x10. WolfWare offers four patches. WolfWare is restricted to v20.0 software.
TimeKiller: Cuts AP usage by 15% when this is the selected gateway.
WhiteWolf: Cuts delete task time by 15% on any delete task started by this server.
NumberCruncher: Cuts research time by 15% on installed server.
HowlingWolf: Sniffer daemon alarm.*
ArtemisArtemis is the ultimate operating system. There are no hardware, software, or overload limited (beyond hardware limit). Artemis may wield the mighty Revelation virus as well as it's counterpart Faith. Artemis offers six patches.
Destroyer: Cuts delete task time by 20% on any delete task started by this server.
Slayer: Allows anti-virus overloading up to x5. (Similar to breaker/bypass overloading)
Cogitator: Cuts research time by 20% on installed server.
Bandit: Cuts AP use by 20% when this is the selected gateway.
Defender: Allows firewall and password protect software to be overloaded up to x5.
Cloyster: Sniffer daemon alarm.*
* "Sniffer Daemon alarm" is an idea I had which highlights the "Software" tab on the left hand side column when a new entry is placed in the logs of an associated installed and owned sniffer daemon virus. It doesn't matter the version or the location of the installed sniffer. The Cloyster or HowlingWolf patched server must be pointed at the sniffer install by logging into the installed system and connecting to the owned completed sniffer virus activation task. After that, the patch is associated with that sniffer daemon until another is selected by the same method or the sniffer is disinfected or otherwise removed. The highlight is shown at the next page refresh and reset when the user clicks the software tab.
Obviously hardware and advancement restrictions need to be fleshed out.
I will now answer any and all questions, comments, flame, and suggestions.
