assorted issues with Random Hits

[Commander McLane]

I just came across this extermination contract via Random Hits 1.4.10:



Seems that two different personal pronouns are chosen in different parts of the code. This should be avoided, I think.

[fronclynne]

If frogs can change sex, why can't tree[oid]s?

[snork]

but as a Treeoid, it's possible it is a Hermaphrodite, or at least a monoicous treeoid.

I am not sure about Insects, and then there are those rumours about some of them Lobsteroids.

[cim]

There is a passing reference in The Dark Wheel to Galcop recognising 17 sexes "at this time". Given that, the idea that someone hiring an assassin might not sufficiently respect their target to look up the correct pronoun isn't that surprising. Though guessing two different ones is...

PS. It also provides a fascinating insight into Galcop bureaucracy that they'd managed to get a list of 17, with the clear expectation that it would need to be expanded further, and hadn't yet decided to switch to a write-in box like they use for name, or just abandon entirely the idea of officially recognising the existence of particular sexes.

PPS. Actually, it wouldn't surprise me if the Galcop forms for name had:
[ ] Jameson
[ ] Other, please state ____________

[Eric Walch]

Seems that two different personal pronouns are chosen in different parts of the code. This should be avoided, I think.

Little Bear was very exact with the pronouns and it is stored in a special variable to keep it the same. It worked correct in the version with only 3 different pages, but around line 1025 I forgot to update an index when adding more pages:

Code: Select all

            this.pages[nr].mark_gender = expandDescription("[mark_gender]");
            missionVariables.random_hits_mark_gender = this.pages[i].mark_gender;// must be known later on.

The i in the second line shoud be a nr. Now it used the gender created for the fists page also on some places of the 4th and 7th page. So the first 3 pages are consistent but after that hermaphrodite creatures may appear.
A similar mistake is found a few lines lower.

[Commander McLane]

Just downloaded 1.4.12, 'cause I still had 1.4.10.

The error is in line 1006, and the second one is in line 1013, I suppose:

Code: Select all

            missionVariables.random_hits_assassination_board_poster_system = this.pages[i].assassination_board_poster_system; // needed below

[SandJ]

Now it used the gender created for the fists page

I do hope that's just another typo.

[Queex]

Now it used the gender created for the fists page

I do hope that's just another typo.

It's not called 'random hits' for nothing...

[pagroove]

Always loved Random Hits for all its gr8 descriptions!

[Commander McLane]

I was just flying in an Anarchy minding my own business, when suddenly in the distance I saw blue spheres flashing up. Not just one of them, but a, well..., cascade.

It seems a Seedy Space Bar was annihilated. No idea how that happened with all the sentinel droids.

Anyway, at the same time I got this error message:

Code: Select all

Exception: TypeError: this.ship.comssMessage is not a function
    Active script: oolite-random-hits-spacebar 2.1
    oolite-random-hits-spacebar.js, line 85:
                this.ship.comssMessage(expandDescription("Quirium detected"));

Should be commsMessage (double m, not s).

[Fatleaf]

I am finding that the distance that the hits are stated to be wrong. They would be nearly always are understated. The last one I took out stated it was about 27 ly away but when I went to the map and looked at the actual distance you had to take to get to it it turned out to be 41 ly away

Is there anyway to have the correct distance the player would have to take displayed, not just the straight line "as the crow flies" distance. Because, like, crows don't fly in space!

[Switeck]

...And the distance to random hits is pretty brutal -- you never seem to get a hard one that's just a system away.
If a Cobra 3 has to cover 41 LY and back, it could probably have made over 10k credits in that time just doing regular trading.
Something like a Boa 2 or Anaconda might even make as much as 100k credits in that same amount of time.
I don't recall ever seeing a random hit that paid that well, though I've not bothered to become a full-time assassin to find out how much they're worth after you do 100+.

[Fatleaf]

...And the distance to random hits is pretty brutal -- you never seem to get a hard one that's just a system away.
If a Cobra 3 has to cover 41 LY and back, it could probably have made over 10k credits in that time just doing regular trading.
Something like a Boa 2 or Anaconda might even make as much as 100k credits in that same amount of time.
I don't recall ever seeing a random hit that paid that well, though I've not bothered to become a full-time assassin to find out how much they're worth after you do 100+.

You don't have to go back to the Seedy Space Bar that you got the hit. Once completed any main station will do. But 41ly for 8300 credits is a bit disappointing. I am considering cancelling the hit and taking another. What I should do is have two windows of Oolite open and check from one to the other where the actual hit is. But it is really annoying that it can be so far off.

[Greyth]

I was just flying in an Anarchy minding my own business, when suddenly in the distance I saw blue spheres flashing up. Not just one of them, but a, well..., cascade.

It seems a Seedy Space Bar was annihilated. No idea how that happened with all the sentinel droids.

I turned up at a bar top take a contract and there was a gang war going on? Loadsa ships attacking the space bar. It was like being at a Jean Michel Jarre concert. I dived in and we won but I was sweating!

[cim]

If a Cobra 3 has to cover 41 LY and back, it could probably have made over 10k credits in that time just doing regular trading.

Well, true, but you can also do regular trading while you're on the way there. Unless you have something like the Qucedi Bottleneck or the Steel Halo to traverse, you can probably get a reasonable route that mostly switches Ind/Agri.

I tend to pick the random hit contracts so that they're roughly in the direction I was going anyway, which helps.