Suggestion: Clean Pirates

[Bugbear]

Is it at all possible to have a 'clean' pirate? My initial thoughts would be that these guys would be particularly tricky to dispatch.

They would only fire on you if no GalCops are present within their scanner range, and would immediately cease fire as soon as the cops show up, ensureing that they maintain their clean status. If you're not alert, you could find yourself with an Offender tag even though you were simply defending yourself.

Without RandomShipNames installed, these guys would be a bit tricky to identify. Normally, an Offender or Fugitive is a fair target, but if it's Clean (it's green...sorry ), then I know I'd be hesitant to open fire.

I would suggest that this small change in behaviour would make some pirates more intelligent, and give them some capabilities that the player already has.

[JazHaz]

Yes, I agree that this small change could be good. After all that's how I play.

It could be an OXP I think.

[Rxke]

I need more coffee...

I read the topic title as 'clean privates'

[Smivs]

I read the topic title as 'clean privates'

I wouldn't have them any other way

[Commander McLane]

By the way, it is possible to have the opposite of clean pirates via  OXP.

Also, clean pirates (well, ahem, let me rephrase: personalities who are less than picky about where they get their cargo from ) are in  Personalities.oxp. Although it's still not in working condition with Oolite 1.76, so it probably doesn't count.

[SandJ]

I read the topic title as 'clean privates'

Which prompts the need for a mission "Saving Pirate Ryan".

[Cody]

I read the topic title as 'clean privates'

Which prompts the need for a mission "Saving Pirate Ryan".

Oh dear... it'll be The Privates of Penzance next!

[Rese249er]

I'll never view PMs the same way again...

[Pleb]

As long as it doesn't involve Orlando Bloom it will be fine! But on a serious note, is what Bugbear suggesting possible? Can a ship's AI be coded that it can detect whether a police ship is present or not, and whether or not it is present would then depend on whether it would attack?

[Tricky]

Eric Walch's UPS Courier OXP has a mission (stolen containers) that has something like that. When the player is near the Boa (and escorts) has a bounty on it's head otherwise it is clean so that the Police don't know. I know it is different to the concept you are wanting but I thought it worth a mention for something to look into for ideas.

[Eric Walch]

Eric Walch's UPS Courier OXP has a mission (stolen containers) that has something like that. When the player is near the Boa (and escorts) has a bounty on it's head otherwise it is clean so that the Police don't know.

That was a tricky mission to write originally. Before we had JS (somewhere in the stone age), that mission was in legacy code. I wanted the ship having a bounty, and to prevent police from killing it first, it had a second escort group of very strong asp ships with it. That group went for police, but immediately fled away when they spotted the player. The asps even had military jammers, so they didn't show up at the players scanner.
With JS and script editable bounties, that mission became much more straight forward from code perspective and all those complex features were removed.

My deepSpacePirates.oxp contains clean pirate ships. According to the readme they regroup outside the space lane, put their 'harvested' cargo on clean ships and those bring it to main stations. That last part never happens, but there should be clean ones among a group, and those should release more cargo when shot.

[Pleb]

Having a clean pirate in that manner wouldn't be hard, as you could just assign it the same AI as a normal pirate ship. I would be intreguied if you could do what Bugbear is suggesting though, and have the ship avoid conflicts if in the presence of the police. That would create a more devious side to the pirates!

[Commander McLane]

But on a serious note, is what Bugbear suggesting possible? Can a ship's AI be coded that it can detect whether a police ship is present or not, and whether or not it is present would then depend on whether it would attack?

You wouldn't do that in its AI, but in its ship script. And as I wrote a couple of posts above, it's not only possible, but it already  exists.

[Pleb]

You wouldn't do that in its AI, but in its ship script. And as I wrote a couple of posts above, it's not only possible, but it already  exists.

Ah sorry did not see this. I've never really looked at the Personalities OXP, does anyone know why it doesn't work with the current release? This would be a good starting point to make Bugbear's wish come true! (Jim'll Fix Oolite)

[Bugbear]

But on a serious note, is what Bugbear suggesting possible? Can a ship's AI be coded that it can detect whether a police ship is present or not, and whether or not it is present would then depend on whether it would attack?

You wouldn't do that in its AI, but in its ship script. And as I wrote a couple of posts above, it's not only possible, but it already  exists.

Thanks for the feedback, I'll give it a try.

On another note, it was a close thing but I was half expecting this thread to fall victim to another time -honoured Oolite derailment....