Parcel Delivery

[Cmd Northgate]

Hi, I noticed that a parcel contract being offered was listed in orange. I wondered what the significance of the colour was?

Just had a look on the board and it was suggesting it might be a tight delivery schedule. I'll have a look and check if it's a tight deadline!

[another_commander]

Yes, it is a warning that you may not have enough time to fulfill the contract. Same goes for the other contract types.

[Cody]

Haven't seen an orange one for ages, but from memory I think they're only doable via the quickest route, not the shortest - but I may be wrong.

[vsfc]

Cody, you are right. But I would prefer not to take them anyway or it will be really tight on schedule.

[Cmd Northgate]

I'm up for the challenge, it reminded me of the Pony Express, or the Coby Express!

[Cody]

... it will be really tight on schedule.

Like 1 minute 50 seconds left on the clock? That's the closest I've run!

[Anonymissimus]

Orange contract offers can appear frequently when buying equipment that is ingame-time expensive. Such as repairing military shields while on a parcel run. Don't. Hehe.
Obviously the contract's starting time is the time the player jumped into the system, not the current time.

[ffutures]

Rule of thumb on an orange contract - don't stop for repairs, and don't use shift-c to dock, and you might make it.

[Cmd Northgate]

Very good tips! I will take a note next time how long shift-c takes to dock. I hadn't thought of that, what seems to be an instant dock, could be quite a time, especially if the technology forgets to wake you up after you dock, or thinks that you need a bit of a rest after all that flying!

[Cody]

I will take a note next time how long shift-c takes to dock.

Twenty minutes to insta-dock (and ten minutes to launch, but you can't avoid that one).

[vsfc]

Twenty minutes to insta-dock (and ten minutes to launch, but you can't avoid that one).

Yeh, you can't, but really why dock, just go sun diving

[Cody]

... but really why dock, just go sun diving.

If you're running Farsun, that takes some time, even with the upgraded Torus drive.
More importantly though, parcel contracts are only available at main stations.

[Anonymissimus]

I always dock to look for additional contracts requiring the same or similar target systems. Pretty cool if you have 2 or more contracts with the same destination.
However, what can be avoided, similar to buying or repairing equipment, is buying fuel, as that costs also 10 min each time. If the previous or next jump is short anyway. You can also sunskim instead, but that action costs a few minutes too.
The fastest is to immediately start the hyperspace countdown again after jumping into a system. Second fastest is to sunskim previously if needed and jump out of the corona. Run away from pirates, fighting costs too much time. Only when really low on time though.