[UPDATED RELEASE] - Escort Contracts OXP - 1.5.6 (07/05/12)

[Makara]

Very fond of this OXP - it's a useful income source for my zero-tonnage variant and provides a different style of combat (no more idly heading away & sniping, you have to stay close to the mother). Also gives lots of shouting at the screen moments -"Oh no - pirate cove", "Stop attacking them!", "Gah, can't chase you down" etc. It may be a false memory of mine, but the mothers now seem a bit less injector-happy in combat since I shifted from version 1.3 to 1.5, which is definitely a good thing.

Just a couple of things stand out that may benefit from tweaking if you have the chance (not OXP-breaking, but slightly irritating).

The mothers are still tending to comm-spam with the "Please approach to between 500m and 2500m and match my heading to synchronise Jump Drives." message. Had a look at the code but reluctant to try & recycle your message suppression technique for fear of breaking things - some complicated old logic you've put together for this one.

The other niggle is that the reputation message on the ship manifest seems to be stuck on Poor, despite being pretty successful in my Escorting (okay - the first contact ended up with the trader Python going pop! but since then... ). The frequency & reimbursement seem to be increasing with continuing successes - it's just the message which appears stuck. No idea from the code why this is happening. The (hopefully) relevant lines form my current save:

Code: Select all

	<key>mission_variables</key>
	<dict>
	<key>Escort_Contracts_Rep</key>
	<string>Your I.T.H.A. Escort reputation is poor.</string>
	...
	<key>mission_ec_contractexpiretime</key>
	<string>3001089364</string>
	<key>mission_ec_escortrep</key>
	<string>5</string>
	...
    </dict>

[Capt. Murphy]

The other niggle is that the reputation message on the ship manifest seems to be stuck on Poor, despite being pretty successful in my Escorting (okay - the first contact ended up with the trader Python going pop! but since then... ). The frequency & reimbursement seem to be increasing with continuing successes - it's just the message which appears stuck. No idea from the code why this is happening. The (hopefully) relevant lines form my current save:

Thanks Makara - that is an annoying little bug in Escort_Contracts_Rep.js.

The last line currently reads

mission.setInstructionsKey(escortrepstring, "Escort_Contracts_Rep");

and it should be

mission.setInstructions(escortrepstring, "Escort_Contracts_Rep");

I'll look into reducing frequency of that comms message as-well.

I'll update the release shortly, but I also want to include an amended shipdata.plist with it and before I can do that I need Smivs to release v.4 of his shipset (I suppose I could just ask him for a sneak preview).

Let me know if there are any other niggles/idea for improvement.

[Makara]

The last line currently reads

mission.setInstructionsKey(escortrepstring, "Escort_Contracts_Rep");

and it should be

mission.setInstructions(escortrepstring, "Escort_Contracts_Rep");

Yep - this turned the trick and my ITHA Rep is now displayed as good.

Despite the very next contract waltzing straight into a pack of 10 pirates...
...lead by a Rattle Cutter

At least the last thing Trader Leilrala heard was me saying "Sorry..."

It's a cruel Ooniverse out there


Edit: But the next one survived, demonstrating the rather excellent Jump Exhaust effect in the process

[Wildeblood]

What's wrong with this folder name?

Escort_Contracts_1.5_2012-12-28.oxp

[Capt. Murphy]

It's the time warp baby..posting from after the end of the world...I reuploaded a correctly dated version on the same day.

Makara - that's a lovely screenshot, would you mind if I added it to the collection in the first post and on the escort contracts wiki page (with a credit of course).

[Makara]

Makara - that's a lovely screenshot, would you mind if I added it to the collection in the first post and on the escort contracts wiki page

Be delighted for you to make use of it.

It's good that even with the graphics turned way down Oolite still produces some photogenic moments

[Capt. Murphy]

Thanks Makara,

I've uploaded v1.5.1 mainly for that little bugfix. See first post for full readme and download link. I have updated the shipdata.plist aswell.

Version 1.5.1 (05/02/12)

Fixed small bug in display of reputation introduced in last release.
Reduced frequency of some other comms messages in response to user feedback.
Expanded shipdata.plist to use ship variants as mothers from the 5 main retexture shipsets if available, and several other OXP ships if available.

More detail about the shipdata.plist changes.

Mothers will normally be an Anaconda, Boa, Boa Cruiser or Python and all come equipped with ECM, injectors, and fore and aft beam lasers as standard.

The shipdata.plist is set up to 'like_ship' to the core versions of these ships (or a retextured version if the core versions have been replaced by a retexture OXP), and if installed any of the versions from retexture OXPs that add variants in addition to core ships. Currently supported are Griff's, DeepSpace, Shady Sungs, and Neolite Core. Entries are include in anticipation of Smiv's version 4 shipset but are commented out currently, and may need revising on release of the shipset.

If you have a retexture pack installed that does not replace the core models and want to suppress usage of the core models in this OXP you can edit the shipdata.plist to reduce the roleweighting of the core ships. Instructions are included in the shipdata.plist as comments.

The shipdata.plist is also set up to use these OXP ships as potential mothers if installed:
From Neolite Companion : Monitor, Python Cruiser, Python ET Special;
From Old Ships 2010 : Monitor, Monitor2;
From Far Arm Ships : Tanker;
From Clippers: Python Clipper, Boa Clipper.

You can use these entries as a template to use ships from your favorite OXP. However be wary of doing this with any OXP ship that normally requires its own shipscript, or is too large to dock at a normal station as the results may be unpredictable.

[Greyth]

Hi, this OXP is available from the Wikki but is not in the categorised breakdown ... so I missed it first time round!

[SandJ]

Hi, this OXP is available from the Wikki but is not in the categorised breakdown ... so I missed it first time round!

It is in the OXP List where it is shown as a Missions OXP, and it is in the list of Missions OXPs. From where is it missing?

[maik]

Hi, this OXP is available from the Wikki but is not in the categorised breakdown ... so I missed it first time round!

It is in the OXP List where it is shown as a Missions OXP, and it is in the list of Missions OXPs. From where is it missing?

It is also in the  Missions Overview, so I really don't know where it is missing.

[Greyth]

You are perfectly correct SandJ, it is not missing at all. It is listed as Escort Contracts under missions - I was looking in activities I think so my apologies...

[cim]

Possible bug: I launched as usual, but before I could get within 5km of the trader, they got attacked by aegis raiders. The trader launched a missile at one of the raiders, and then took off on injectors, leaving me to follow.

...and this was one of the new Boa Clippers, so I was having to go flat out myself to avoid falling further behind; eventually I had to use torus drive to catch up.

After 100+km of chasing the trader, I eventually managed to juggle torus and injectors to be within 5km at the right time, and they began the witchspace sequence, still on injectors...

They had slowed down by the time they got to the new system, fortunately, and when they did the same again when attacked there, they slowed back down to normal speed in the usual way.

[Capt. Murphy]

Thanks cim,

I'll try and recreate the scenario to work out what's going on, I think it's probably just a little tweak to the AI that's needed.
I'll make the escort_contracts 'version' of the Boa Clipper a little slower as well.....

[Capt. Murphy]

Version 1.5.2 is available for download - see first post for full readme and download link.

Version 1/5/2 (05/03/12)

Tweaked AI to stop mother injecting indefinitely if fleeing from attack in starting system.
Reduced max speed of escort contracts variant of Boa Clipper.
Enabled entries for the addition version of Smiv's v4 shipset.

[Greyth]

Hi Capt. Murphy. I'm using 1.5.1 and mother thinks that cargo canisters are hostile - awarding me a kill for each canister and commensurate credits on completion of the mission. [edit] The canisters to which I allude were carried as cargo by a hostile that I took out [/edit]