Idea for Smugglers OXP

[phkb]

Thanks spara and cim. Great help as always.

I've hit another issue which I'm not sure is a bug or if I'm doing something wrong. I want to change the definition for narcotics to be illegal to import in all systems, to be inline with the rest of this OXP. So I created a "trade-goods.plist" file and copied the narcotics definition in and changed it slightly. Here's what it looks like now:

Code: Select all

	/* We're making narcotics illegal to import here, to be consistent with the rest of the illegal goods. */
	"narcotics" = {
		"name" = "[commodity-name narcotics]";
		"classes" = ("oolite-consumer","oolite-dangerous","oolite-restricted","oolite-medical");
		"quantity_unit" = 0;
		"peak_export" = 0;
		"peak_import" = 0;
		"price_average" = 512;
		"price_economic" = 0;
		"price_random" = 1.0;
		"quantity_average" = 32; 
		"quantity_economic" = 0;
		"quantity_random" = 1.0;
		"legality_export" = 0;
		"legality_import" = 2;
		"trumble_opinion" = 1.05;
		"sort_order" = 700;
		"comment" = "[oolite-commodity-illegal]";
	};

And here's some screen grabs of what the F8 screen looks like:



You'll notice that narcotics has "Ex" on it's description, even though I changed it from "legality_export" to "legality_import". Also, on the F8F8 screen it says it's illegal to export, not import.

Curiously, the commodity I didn't change is slaves. It shows as "Im", even though the definition in standard Oolite says "legality_export = 1". And again, on the F8F8 screen it says it's illegal to export.

So have I broken something here, or is this a bug?

Edit: I just tested a strict-mode game, and again, slaves, narcotics and firearms show up as "Im", when I think they should be "Ex". I'm starting to think this is a bug.

[cim]

Edit: I just tested a strict-mode game, and again, slaves, narcotics and firearms show up as "Im", when I think they should be "Ex". I'm starting to think this is a bug.

This was something which went back and forth a few times while setting that bit up. It's not a bug, though it may have been the wrong decision.

The column is headed "Legal" rather than "Illegal", so "Im" means "Import only is legal". Here's the relevant bit of descriptions.plist.

Code: Select all

	"oolite-legality-clear"			= "—";
	"oolite-legality-export"		= "Ex"; // legal to export
	"oolite-legality-import"		= "Im"; // legal to import
	"oolite-legality-neither"		= "Re";

[phkb]

Ah, I get it. But the description on the F8F8 screen is wrong then, because when something is illegal to import it still says "illegal to export".

Edit: Actually, when I look, it appears there is only one description for illegal goods in the descriptions.plist file, I guess based on the fact that in the core game there is no need for anything other than one description because there was only ever one type of illegal type: export.

Edit2: Actually I always interpreted "Legal:" as "Legality", meaning what is the legality of this good, which is why I got confused. That may mean something about how obvious it is.

Edit3: Anyway, for this OXP I've added some description.plist overrides, and changed the default text for narcotics, so everything now makes sense to me. I'll wait to see what others think.

[phkb]

OK, here's a question for interested parties: What would you consider a fair fee for shipping 8t of firearms across a wide distance, when a majority of the places along the way will fine you up the wazoo if you dock with firearms in your hold, and also confiscate them? 1000? 2000? 10000? More? Less? Considering that (a) a smuggling compartment will set you back anywhere from 6000 to 75000, depending on size, and (b) finding a dock master to bribe to change the manifest might be tricky, and expensive.

[Cody]

What would you consider a fair fee for shipping 8t of firearms across a wide distance, when a majority of the places along the way will fine you up the wazoo if you dock with firearms in your hold, and also confiscate them?

In such a scenario, you don't have to dock anywhere (apart from the end destination).

[Disembodied]

In such a scenario, you don't have to dock anywhere (apart from the end destination).

Yes - I see this as being the real challenge of a long-distance smuggling run: basically, you are debarred from docking at a main station for the duration. Any special smuggling compartment, in this scenario, would allow you to make one main station launch with illegal goods on board, at the very start (probably more because the dock officials have been carefully bribed); after that, though, you'd have to haul the rest of the way without docking anywhere remotely official. Rock Hermits, in the core game, would be the only possible docking (and saving) points.

This would mean that the player wouldn't be able to augment their income through legitimate trading on the side, barring selling any salvage they might come across to any Hermits they might encounter - so the smuggling fee would have to compensate them for that, with a bonus to cover the difficulty and risk.

[Cody]

The other thing about long runs without docking at main stations is lack of ordnance and kit replacement/repair.
You can find yourself hyperspacing while desperately needing a maintenance overhaul - this adds extra peril.

[Diziet Sma]

In such a scenario, you don't have to dock anywhere (apart from the end destination).

Yes - I see this as being the real challenge of a long-distance smuggling run: basically, you are debarred from docking at a main station for the duration. Any special smuggling compartment, in this scenario, would allow you to make one main station launch with illegal goods on board, at the very start (probably more because the dock officials have been carefully bribed); after that, though, you'd have to haul the rest of the way without docking anywhere remotely official. Rock Hermits, in the core game, would be the only possible docking (and saving) points.

This would mean that the player wouldn't be able to augment their income through legitimate trading on the side, barring selling any salvage they might come across to any Hermits they might encounter - so the smuggling fee would have to compensate them for that, with a bonus to cover the difficulty and risk.

The problem with this scenario is that you may as well not have a special smuggling compartment. If you can't dock anywhere, what's the point of hiding the goods? You might as well just leave them in the main cargo hold, if the smuggling compartment offers no advantages.

For me, the main point of having a smuggling compartment in the first place, is so that I could dock at stations with at least a severely reduced chance of detection of the contraband.

Furthermore:

Any special smuggling compartment, in this scenario, would allow you to make one main station launch with illegal goods on board, at the very start (probably more because the dock officials have been carefully bribed); after that, though, you'd have to haul the rest of the way without docking anywhere remotely official.

Wildeblood's Undocumented Launch OXP already provides exactly this capability. If that's all this Smugglers's OXP did, there'd be no point in even writing it.

The other thing about long runs without docking at main stations is lack of ordnance and kit replacement/repair.
You can find yourself hyperspacing while desperately needing a maintenance overhaul - this adds extra peril.

Again, one of the reasons for having a smuggling compartment in the first place, is to reduce the necessity for taking this kind of risk.

[phkb]

I guess I should be a little clearer. Smuggling contracts are not dependent on the presence of a smuggling compartment. There are, in fact, a few different ways to get illegal cargo to it's destination: bribing a dockmaster to fiddle your manifest, or purchasing an import permit (legal or otherwise) for the cargo. Each has it's own risks and costs. But I guess a payback of a couple of thousand wouldn't be out of the question.