Random Hits OXP

[Imaginos]

I installed Random Hits last night but after visiting a handful of anarchic systems I was still not able to locate a space bar. What colour are they shown as on the scanner?

[ralph_hh]

Green like normal stations. And you should be able to see them in the small scanner that shows planet, sun, station, witch points, con stores (your add oxp) and space bars. Just cycle through by pressing # (german keyboard version, whatever that may be on your setting.

Press Shift while starting Oolite clears the cache, maybe that will help after installing a new OXP. In case of doubt look at the log file in the save folder. It lists all OXPs in use. Is RH listed?

[ralph_hh]

I think that this looks like great fun and feel tempted to install it.

I think it's a complete gross-out, and a get-rich-quick cheat. But I recommend it anyway for the scenery; you can never have too many of Griff's station models.

Doing a RH job usually requires travelling 3 to 5 systems away and earns me approx. 4000Cr each. (I do not survive the 8000Cr jobs in my Cobby). Thats not nearly as much as you may earn by spending the same time in trading.

The possibility to earn some money in the Space Bar (trading narcotics) is a nice bonus. But the 10 tons or so they have for sale don't make you rich either. Honestly, if you are in the killing business and like to play the game that way, getting rich is usually not your first goal anyway. (One sould better deliver contracts then..)

[Marte]

I think it's a complete gross-out, and a get-rich-quick cheat. But I recommend it anyway for the scenery; you can never have too many of Griff's station models.

In my opinion, the power of this addon is mainly his really great NOSTALGIC impact.

In fact, the first time I've used it, I had the feeling to be again an adolescent that play with "Frontier" back in 1993. And as you can imagine, a rude 40 years old man emotional touched in a videogame contest is a real sign that you are doing it right... You know... Accept a bounty mission, fly for the correct system, locate the target, fight, follow him through his own wormhole to finish him off... In 1993 I wasn't able to do that ('cause "Youtube" wasn't there and no one teach me to find the target in the system map, after the jump... ) but now...

By the way, a game like "Elite" is a sandbox. You can be anything you want to be and is not a question of money. Is question of time.

Quality time spent on a game that let you do literaly what you want.

So, I really would like to have "Imperial Random Hits", "Military Random Hits"... And even "SpaceKGB Random Hits" in communist systems, to build up my rank in multiples directions, playing from now to eternity with a game so nicely expandable.

[ralph_hh]

You'll need to think like a Bounty Hunter. This isn't about a "fair" fight, this is a job you're doing, and you'll need to do everything you can to tip the odds in your favour. Certainly the other side will make full use of every advantage they have, and you, being heavily outnumbered, have to do the same. Fatleaf has already outlined his methodology, and it's fairly similar to my own.

So far I always (when needed) managed to bypass the highly populated speedlane withpoint-planet by the usual method of flying perpendicular to it for a while. After peacefully docking wihtout interference, I went out for the prey with a full tank.

[Marte]

May be I have found a very little issue in the briefing screen.

If you use shaders, a rotating target ship is often colored and marked with a custom logo. If you try to accept the contract, when the text on screen change, the color/mark of the rotating ship changes too!

[Wildeblood]

If you use shaders, a rotating target ship is often colored and marked with a custom logo. If you try to accept the contract, when the text on screen change, the color/mark of the rotating ship changes too!

This has cropped up before with other OXPs. The script should be setting a... personality(?)... number on the ship model so the colours come up the same each time.

[ralph_hh]

When I looked for some interesting kill-contracts lately, I wondered, if it was possible to link the text to the galactic map. Means: Insted of simply accepting the contract, I'd like to see the glactic chart first. It can be nice to see, if it fits into the current cargo contract route. The vague direction (12LY north-east) does not tell you if you need a long time to get there because maybe there is no direct route. I like to combine trading and bounty hunting, as one does not yield much money, the other alone is not very demanding.

[spara]

If you use shaders, a rotating target ship is often colored and marked with a custom logo. If you try to accept the contract, when the text on screen change, the color/mark of the rotating ship changes too!

This has cropped up before with other OXPs. The script should be setting a... personality(?)... number on the ship model so the colours come up the same each time.

Ah. Yes, I'll sort it out. Thanks for the heads up.

When I looked for some interesting kill-contracts lately, I wondered, if it was possible to link the text to the galactic map. Means: Insted of simply accepting the contract, I'd like to see the glactic chart first. It can be nice to see, if it fits into the current cargo contract route. The vague direction (12LY north-east) does not tell you if you need a long time to get there because maybe there is no direct route. I like to combine trading and bounty hunting, as one does not yield much money, the other alone is not very demanding.

Sounds sensible. I'll see what I can do about it.

I have a suggestion for those events too: When I arrive at that Con Store and the attackers a still far away or the first wave has been eliminated, I usually try to dock. I'm kicked out... well politely asked to launch again. It would be a nice option to be able to re-fuel before being sent out. Arriving from far away, low on fuel it is a bit pointless to enter a violent battle whilst you are at a station anyway. The time you need to dock and launch is wasted anyway, so why not waste a few minutes more for re-fuel?

I somehow missed this earlier. This is an interesting idea. Maybe the mission screen could say something like: "Access to the station is limited due to an attack, only re-fueling is allowed." And options could be "Fuel and Launch (3cr)" or "Launch". I'll ponder it a bit.

And for the earlier debate about the market, I think that limiting the capacity of the market (for Oolite 1.81) will solve much of the balance issues while keeping the characteristics intact.

[ralph_hh]

I somehow missed this earlier. This is an interesting idea. Maybe the mission screen could say something like: "Access to the station is limited due to an attack, only re-fueling is allowed." And options could be "Fuel and Launch (3cr)" or "Launch". I'll ponder it a bit.

I vote for "fuel and launch (3cr)" and as a second option "no thanks" - as before. Allow an exhausted hunter to be coward.?! (In real life, there might be times when you have to stop to avoid trouble with your local command authority aka. wife). On the other hand, maybe one should not visit an anarchy system with lack of time and enthusiasm.

[spara]

New version (1.9.10) is up.

* Mission screens remember entity personality. Thanks Marte & Wildeblood for the heads up.
* Fuel up when launching to fight bosses, thargoids or thieves. It's a little bonus for risking your neck for the bar . Thanks go to ralph_hh for the idea.
* In Oolite 1.81 market capacity is limited to 15 units. This drastically tones down the market making it less of an exploit. The bar is primary for hit missions after all.

[ralph_hh]

Uh oh, I hope the market stays the same in Oolite 1.80? I like the money I get from the drug trade


I had a strange experience: I made it to a well respected sheriff after a kill, before that I was a serious hunter or something like that. Both sound quite serious. After that I could not find anything on my route eastbound so I accepted a 2500Cr. kill. Usually I'm into the 4-5000Cr. business. After successful termination of that contract, I was "promoted" to recently joined provost, the title I earned at the beginning of my career. Is this a bug? Or is this intended, that a low profile job destroys your entire ranking?

[spara]

Uh oh, I hope the market stays the same in Oolite 1.80? I like the money I get from the drug trade

Rest easy . Market tweaks are for Oolite 1.81 only. And I'm happy to hear opinions about them. Space Bars are situated on route and relatively close to the main station. Despite of that their markets are very competitive. So instead of flying all the way to the main station in a dangerous Anarchy system, you can stop at the Bar and sell your cargo there. And as a bonus, you can buy slaves and narcotics to deliver to the main station. Some say it's fun to make easy money, some say it's an exploit. My personal opinion is that it's an exploit. This oxp is about Bounty Hunting, not making easy credits by trading. Oolite 1.81 has a new, versatile commodities system that requires all oxps the rewrite their markets. Especially the new capacity key is very useful for limiting oxp markets while allowing to keep the prices interesting.

Just for the record, I have no objection on making a few extra credits on oxp markets. But when we're talking about hundreds/thousands of extra credits, something is wrong and needs to be fixed.

I had a strange experience: I made it to a well respected sheriff after a kill, before that I was a serious hunter or something like that. Both sound quite serious. After that I could not find anything on my route eastbound so I accepted a 2500Cr. kill. Usually I'm into the 4-5000Cr. business. After successful termination of that contract, I was "promoted" to recently joined provost, the title I earned at the beginning of my career. Is this a bug? Or is this intended, that a low profile job destroys your entire ranking?

I'll check this out on a better time. Thanks for reporting.

[ralph_hh]

Just for the record, I have no objection on making a few extra credits on oxp markets. But when we're talking about hundreds/thousands of extra credits, something is wrong and needs to be fixed.

Ah, well.... If you can earn >100K Cr. on a trade route through the galaxy, what's wrong in earning 2K on a single drug trade? You have to visit the anarchy system after all, it is dangerous, so price differences are ok, it is anarchy, so narcotics are ok....

If you play as a bounty hunter, you doe not concentrate on the trade business, so it's nice to earn some moeney by that to cover some of your expenses.

[spara]

Just for the record, I have no objection on making a few extra credits on oxp markets. But when we're talking about hundreds/thousands of extra credits, something is wrong and needs to be fixed.

Ah, well.... If you can earn >100K Cr. on a trade route through the galaxy, what's wrong in earning 2K on a single drug trade? You have to visit the anarchy system after all, it is dangerous, so price differences are ok, it is anarchy, so narcotics are ok....

If you play as a bounty hunter, you doe not concentrate on the trade business, so it's nice to earn some moeney by that to cover some of your expenses.

This is a matter of opinion of course . I try to look at it from the core game point of view. In core game, if you want to trade in anarchy, you have to fly from witchpoint to the station. And if you want to trade drugs, you have to buy them from a main station with known consequences or scoop them.

This oxp positions a Space Bar on the way to the main station making the trip to the main station safer and on top of that offers a non-restricted (drugs, etc) market with quite competitive prices.

If you're plying as a bounty hunter, then it's just a nice little bonus to sporadically make some extra credits as a side business. Nothing wrong there IMHO. If you play the game as a trader, then this oxp in it's current form makes quite a big change to the game.

Maybe the market should be rewieved from the game perspective. A space bar is a hang out for bounty hunters. What kind of general commodity market there should really be and would it be the same size as the market at the main station? Currently I feel that limiting the capacity is quite natural.

I've been pondering about the shipyard also. Don't worry, I'm not going to take it away , but maybe it should be restricted to the acknowledged hunters only. It would open to the player only after the first succesful hit.