An impossible cargo contract

[ffutures]

Just ran into a problem in Galaxy 4; in the middle of a long cargo run I did the usual "check if there's any cargo going the same way" F4 thing, and found that there was a big load of gold going to a system on the most direct route, with a very big profit.

The snag, of course, was that the system was one that you REALLY do not want to visit after one of the core game missions (the one that starts with a fuel leak) and that I saved the game before I realised what I'd done. It isn't the end of the world, I can sell the gold eventually, but I'm down a good few thousand credits in cargo fees.

What I'm wondering is why the game is throwing up cargo contracts to this particular system, several years in game time after certain events!

[Cody]

Harsh!

[cim]

Thanks - this will be fixed in tonight's nightly build.

[Fatleaf]

<Handwavium> An unscrupulous trader had a contract to deliver the stuffs to the system but (because of obvious events could not deliver) instead of being out of pocket decided to see if a gullible trader, who didn't check the destination before accepting a contract, could be found! </Handwavioum>

[ffutures]

It does seem like some sort of scam, doesn't it - if the gold was some sort of fake or pirates were somehow waiting there it would be rather nasty. The annoying thing is that it will count as a failed contract, but since I'm planning to bail on galaxy 4 after the current flight that isn't a huge problem.

Is there any good reason to visit that system, or is it simply a death trap now?

later thought - this might be an interesting destination for a scientific mission if someone wanted to write it and find a way for ships to survive the experience...

[Cody]

Is there any good reason to visit that system, or is it simply a death trap now?

Depending on its location, it can still be a bridge - and I seem to recall leading a bandit into mine once.

You can tweak a ship's shields etc to withstand it, yes - been there, done that.

[cim]

In the nightly builds with torus speed varying with distance from the nearest object, with heat shielding you can turn about and run, and actually get clear of the dangerously hot zone in time. The problem is that while you could place an object outside the hot zone to visit, you'd have to place it quite a way out - or the player heading for it would end up being slowed down too much by its presence before they were clear of the star - and the compass doesn't work in a nova system so making it possible for the player to find would be difficult. Not impossible, though, with a bit of creativity.

[Cody]

I have an old save at the system next to my nova system, which I just loaded to experiment with the new Torus speeds in trunk. I disabled my sun_distance_modifier, so sun distances were default (I checked that in two systems). However, when I jumped into the frying pan, the sun was at extreme distance (and survivable) - something in the savefile, perhaps? Or something else?

Ah, I see you already mentioned the new Torus speed - there are definitely possibilities in that scenario!


An afterthought: there are one or two systems in G4 that if blown could break any contracts routed through them, yes?

[ffutures]

I was thinking about something like a mission to leave scientific instruments; maybe go in, dump the package (carried as a pod or something) just before things go pear-shaped, and hyper out fast. Add some complications like Thargoids or a pirate base just outside the danger zone, maybe bonus payments based on core temperature at the moment the pod is dropped?

Or possibly a mission to scoop up an instrument pod someone else has dropped - very close to the lethal zone?

Or both, with some scientist passengers on board as a complication?

An afterthought: there are one or two systems in G4 that if blown could break any contracts routed through them, yes?

This wasn't one of them - it's not too hard to route around it.

[cim]

An afterthought: there are one or two systems in G4 that if blown could break any contracts routed through them, yes?

There are. (Well, perhaps not break - you might be able to hitchhike in unusual circumstances even without OXPs - but it would certainly make them considerably more difficult)

Add some complications like Thargoids or a pirate base just outside the danger zone

The danger zone, for a ship with heat resistance 2.0 (the typical player maximum), is approximately 10^7 metres wide (or roughly ten times the sun-planet distance in a typical system), and the witchpoint is relatively near to the centre of it.

[Disembodied]

The danger zone, for a ship with heat resistance 2.0 (the typical player maximum), is approximately 10^7 metres wide (or roughly ten times the sun-planet distance in a typical system), and the witchpoint is relatively near to the centre of it.

A mission could conceivably gift the player some one-off extra heat shielding ... perhaps it could be ablative, so it would degrade quite quickly?