Thinking About Law Enforcement.
I think that the effectiveness and activity of law enforcement should not work in stages or levels. instead it should seem more complex and based: on where you are(social economic status of location), how bad was your crime( and if you committing murder, what was the status of the person you killed e.g. homeless? wealthy?) and the state of the precinct(if there are any). your notoriety should increase as you commit further crimes if not addressed.
when I think about bribing your way out of notoriety. I imagine it to be difficult because you need to know or find the right people to bribe, and that can be more or less difficult depending on the level of corruption, or the resilience of corruption in a the precinct. also this brings in some interesting gameplay because the wrong person could talk about you and set you up, so you might need to make background checks before you get yourself in even more trouble. making background checks or just finding the right people and influencing them can be done in a variety of ways and depending on your role it can be more or less difficult:
talking to and helping people in the area who are aware of the goings on of a precinct, your connections have perks and in associating yourself with people with large spheres of influence, you can gain influence and can find or gain the information you need.
hacking! looking in on or manipulating digital information, depending on your skills. you could also higher someone to do this for you, again you have to find them and you have to determine whether they are capable of the job. unlike an individual with influence who has access to that knowledge, the acquisition of that knowledge has a risk associated with it when hacking. Also hacking has the potential to bypass bribing individuals altogether, but digital manipulation comes at greater risk if caught.
black mail! who says you have to look for people who are crooked. make your own opportunities. this also links to another possible opportunity for game play because you can gain some influence by having connections within the police force. and maybe you don't have to be a criminal who need hide from the authorities.
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thinking about this more the city could be divided into precincts or spheres of influence. presuming the world and society is divided between class layers, precincts could likely vary in levels of corruption and their capability to deal with criminal activity depending on where they are. e.g. inner/upper city is less corrupt and more capable, outer/lower city slums are the wild west and emergency services, tools of the state, are less capable.
take a precinct for example, a specifically defined area or district of the city, that has some interaction with the districts around it (can influence and be influenced by other precincts and their state) and has its own section of state apparatus. it has a police force that is not particularly influential, but has some reasonable power in its area. their influence makes your life more difficult when you engage or have engaged with criminal activity within it. depending on the capability of the precinct it can send what resources it has after you, and depending on the criminal act and your notoriety this can very. also depending on your notoriety word can be spread to other precincts about your actions to a certain extent. and make it harder to escape from a chase or escape the consequences of your actions and any department that might be looking for you. however if need be you can also push back against the police by partaking in activities that increase criminal activitty and decrease the capabilities of the police in that area, whatever those activities may be like increasing the corruption of the precinct or stealing potentially destructive information about individuals that control the precinct etc, to reduce their influence.
this could also be interesting if there are other elements like gangs that can act and influence matters within a district and even control them just like police. and your actions could help or hinder them, be for or against them. so it can bring the world together in a way and help determine with reason events within the city and have those interactions mirrored in npc's to make a world that feels more alive.
also with this kind of complexity you could potentially get forced into the slums. it makes the world seem that much more alive when it fights back, and all the more fun when you defeat it and rise to success. its fun to think about.
I realize now after looking at what I have written that I am describing a more complex version of shadow of mordor's orc society. I don't expect this kind of thing to be made but it sounded cool when I was thinking about it. I hope what I have written makes sense, I have rambled allot!!!!!!!!!!
since cyber punk is based on the pen an paper RPG, how does the original game handle the authorities and law enforcement?
I take back the things I said previously, that would be a much better sandbox world to play around in. Thanks Sard.