[Release] In System Trader OXP 1.40!

[Dr.Tripsa]

In System Trader OXP

Version 1.40
(req 1.77+)

Oolite has lacked a certain capability, that is to cater to the less wanderlust-full In System Trader. After all, a single system typically has loads of opportunity.

All those ships flying in and out of the main station all day and yet none of the stock or prices change to reflect this unless one braves witchspace...? What's an In System Trader to do?

Well, install this OXP for one!

What it does:

One item type is cycled randomly, amount and price, while you are in system and not docked, this happens periodically based on how active the system is (More traders = more often). Prices will always fall within system averages so don't go expecting to find 0.1cr computers and impossible deals like that!
The more you trade in system the more your in system reputation grows, beware though, knowing more people also means being known!
What it does not do:

Illegal and or otherwise controlled goods will not be refreshed, Vinnie the Blue Rodent is good... but not that good.

Install this OXP as you would any other.

Notes:

Yes, this makes it possible to make a (meager) living without witching out to other systems, however, all main station prices will stay well within system average so the real credits remain deeper out in the black.

It is advised to use this OXP with other OXP's that provide other trade station/locations in system, Such as Y.A.H., HOopyCasinos, etc.

(as of 1.30)
About the Tripsa Tel-com Autonomous Market Watch (A.M.W.) Unit
While GalCop heavily encrypts Market Data to prevent price manipulation, the AMW carefully applies bitshifts and Fourier transforms to inform its user of changes in the local system main market. It can identify the commodity which has had a change in price and or availability and prompts the user to view their Market Datascreen.
Price: 500cr
Availability: Tech level 9 and above systems.

Code: Select all

Changes 
1.0  
     First release
1.01 
     Gold, platinum, liqour/wines, and alien items added to rotation.
     restock capped at 64 units.
     Moved Readme.
1.05 
     Repeatedly redocking now increases the chance you will get the attention of a pirate ambush!
     Well meaning but nosy friends now will try to set you up with good parcel deals to get you out more!
1.10
     Moved Chatter to external plist
     Stock now only cycled if it has been more than one hour (game time) since your last debark with a fresh market!
     Pirates make crude, and embarrasing, threats!
1.11 
     Minor Corrections	
1.20
     Ambush and greetings (when they make no sense) fixed
     Code cleanup and timer use (as suggested by spara)
     Debark timer remover, in favor of 1.77 timer function!
     cycleMarket now explicitly mainStation
1.21
     Very minor code fix
1.22
     1.21 broke it! 1.22 fixed it
1.30 
     Added Autonomous Market Watch Unit
1.35 
     Bugfixes as well as balancing refactored
     Pirates now harrass spacelanes instead of furballing, slowing traffic and impeading Market
     Pirates no longer taunt.
     Station greetings probability reduced and refactored for more random chatter. 
1.40
     Trade at any station will boost System Reputation!
     Pirate ambushes and taunts returned!
     Number of pirates in ambush, and chances of an ambush, tied to system reputation!
     Ambushes can happen at any time... anywhere in system!
     over 5,880 randomly set chatters!

Get it! => http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9855374/In_Syst ... .4.oxp.zip

[Rorschachhamster]

As it was told me not to long ago: You should put your readme not into the OXP folder, but alongside it into the zip-file, as Mac users can't read it otherwise.

One Question: Does the avaiable stock return to full (systemdependent)?
Because if the OXP would allow to restock slowly (like 1 t per hour), that would feel nore reasonable, or maybe a random number of tons in random intervalls (to reproduce the arrival of worms or shuttles from the planet or traders from elsewhere)? I'll take a look at it now after spilling out my two cents.

[Dr.Tripsa]

As it was told me not to long ago: You should put your readme not into the OXP folder, but alongside it into the zip-file, as Mac users can't read it otherwise.

One Question: Does the avaiable stock return to full (systemdependent)?
Because if the OXP would allow to restock slowly (like 1 t per hour), that would feel nore reasonable, or maybe a random number of tons in random intervalls (to reproduce the arrival of worms or shuttles from the planet or traders from elsewhere)? I'll take a look at it now after spilling out my two cents.

\

I'll remember that, about mac not being able to read a text file in a folder in a .zip, in the next update.. thanks for the tip!

Currently it's a full refresh ( as if you had just witched in to the system ) when leaving the station. The idea being that there are literally mega tonnes of goods at a station but only a small menu of them is made available to each pilot on arrival.

I admit I'm forcing a bit of back-story with that, the idea being that this way a fully loaded bigtrader could not hyjack the market with a single load, a Galcop regulation.

Side note:
Mac: I'm a Mac!
PC : And I'm a PC!
M : I'm user friendly, aimed at single user tasks and creativity.
P : And I can let my users read files contained in .zip archives!
M : Oh, you dirty...

[another_commander]

Side note:
Mac: I'm a Mac!
PC : And I'm a PC!
M : I'm user friendly, aimed at single user tasks and creativity.
P : And I can let my users read files contained in .zip archives!
M : Oh, you dirty...

I understand that you are saying the above in a humorous manner, but the fact that the readme is not visible on Macs is because of the way the .oxp file type is set to work and has absolutely nothing to do with the ability of the Mac to read files contained in zip archives (by the way, it can read such files just fine).

With that, let's leave the Mac/PC flames out of it. Thanks.

[Dr.Tripsa]

It really was just a joke, for the sake of any Mac users who were offended by it, I apologize.

[Dr.Tripsa]

Almost ready on 1.01 ,
Reducing maximum stock generated to 63 units
Gold, platinum, gems, alien items and liquors to be added to refresh

Needed:
station.market.???? keys for
Liquor, Gems and Alien items
If anyone knows these please share!!

the others are just lowercase versions of the Commodity name, but those three include spaces and or other characters not usable as a property name

[Svengali]

Try alien_items, gem_stones and liquor_wines. The keys have been changed for v1.77.

[Dr.Tripsa]

Try alien_items, gem_stones and liquor_wines. The keys have been changed for v1.77.

BLESS YOU!

[JeX]

I really like this idea.
However, will I not be able to exploit it heavily if I want to restock my Boa with 175 tonnes of computers for an easy buck by simply launching and redocking 4-5 times at the main station?
If so, it really should be made a little more advanced in terms of how much cargo is restocked given a time interval...

[Dr.Tripsa]

I really like this idea.
However, will I not be able to exploit it heavily if I want to restock my Boa with 175 tonnes of computers for an easy buck by simply launching and redocking 4-5 times at the main station?
If so, it really should be made a little more advanced in terms of how much cargo is restocked given a time interval...

You could, but it would be neither cost effective (as costs stay around system average) or time effective (in game time) to do so, each dock&launch adds 20mins to the game clock.

[Commander McLane]

It really was just a joke, for the sake of any Mac users who were offended by it, I apologize.

It was a stupid joke, because it indicates that you hadn't actually understood what was going on.

What is going on is that on a Mac, a directory whose name ends with ".oxp" is treated as a single file. That's a clever Mac thingy named a "package". Therefore, if you want people to read your readMe, you have to keep it outside of the package.

[Pleb]

...Anyways, moving back to the topic at hand, this OXP could be interesting although I have personally always hated the idea of trading in-system, as it means you wouldn't have to travel much (except in the current system of course) to make money, hence why I always change the markets on stations like the Constore to have no market available in my own game.

However with the right amount of balance it would make some systems more interesting if there were multiple stations in a system, though perhaps by using it the player should attract more attention from pirates? If a ship keeps flying from one station to another, people are going to notice that...

[Dr.Tripsa]

...Anyways, moving back to the topic at hand, this OXP could be interesting although I have personally always hated the idea of trading in-system, as it means you wouldn't have to travel much (except in the current system of course) to make money, hence why I always change the markets on stations like the Constore to have no market available in my own game.

However with the right amount of balance it would make some systems more interesting if there were multiple stations in a system, though perhaps by using it the player should attract more attention from pirates? If a ship keeps flying from one station to another, people are going to notice that...

This is indeed intended for use with other station oxps, and remaining in system has some interesting emergent play in my own testing. One does seem to run across pirates more often (probably because in system play means being in the spacelanes, a lot).

As to making money, you will never get rich in system I've intentionally kept stocking and prices to system averages so the big bucks will always be via witchspace.

I may add some more play effects, such as the police ( and possibly a few pirates) knowing you by name if you've been in system long enough. I may add a few racers in to badger you into a run etc. I'm open to ideas for future updates!

[Pleb]

Racers challenging you to race would be an interesting idea. I like the fact you've made this so you can't get rich in just one system, as it would remove the need to go anywhere else. But having more to do in-system is a great idea!

[spara]

I really like this idea.
However, will I not be able to exploit it heavily if I want to restock my Boa with 175 tonnes of computers for an easy buck by simply launching and redocking 4-5 times at the main station?
If so, it really should be made a little more advanced in terms of how much cargo is restocked given a time interval...

You could, but it would be neither cost effective (as costs stay around system average) or time effective (in game time) to do so, each dock&launch adds 20mins to the game clock.

The point (to my understanding) is that your in-system trader oxp can be exploited in interstellar trading. Without it, you can't easily stock your boa full of computers and jump to another system to sell them. I don't see how game time affects the cost effectiness of that.

Otherwise this in-system trading idea definitely has potential . I'm just not sure that restocking the market on launch is the right way . Maybe some well thought in-system cargo contracts?