Balanced Ship Prices

[tsoj]

Download (Requires at least 1.91 (2022-06-27))

Attention!
For this OXP to work when many OXP ships are installed, the following snippet should be added to the hidden oolite settings (before the last appearance of </dict>):

Code: Select all

    <key>start-script-limit-value</key>
    <real>60</real>

Attention!
When having many ships installed with big textures, then this OXP might require a lot of RAM, otherwise Oolite might become very slow for the first few moments.

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This OXP rebalances the prices of buyable ships (including ships installed as OXP/OXZ). The idea is that the performance doesn't scale linearly with the cost, instead with increasing price we get diminishing returns. For example, the cost for increasing the energy recharge rate from 2.0 to 2.5 is pretty small, maybe 3000¢. But increasing the recharge rate from 6.0 to 6.1 increases the cost by 50,000¢.

Additionally, the mass (volume) is considered for many parameters. First of all, building a bigger ship costs more, so having small ships still makes sense.
But having a bigger ship makes it easier to fit larger amounts of cargo. So for a ship the size of a Boa, having cargo space for 70TC adds a cost of 25,000¢, while for a ship the size of a Cobra MK-I it would add 850,000¢. The cost for missile capacity is calculated similarly, i.e. bigger ships can fit more missiles for fewer credits.
With maximum speed and maneuverability, it is exactly the other way around. For bigger ships, it is more expensive to fly or turn fast than for smaller ships.

The cost for the standard equipment will be added. The maximum cargo space gets calculated using the extra cargo bay, if it is available, as it is normally so cheap that it doesn't matter compared to the price of a ship. Same thing with the extra energy unit.
For other equipment, for example the shield booster, or the hyperspace capabilities, the total price for the ship gets reduced if it is not available.

Some examples:

• Anaconda (mass: 438K): 3,176,700¢, here the cost comes mostly from the 750TC cargo, because the Anaconda isn't actually that much bigger than a Cobra MK-III, maybe twice the volume
• Boa MK-II (215K): 482,300¢
• Viper Interceptor (35K): 465,325¢
• Cobra MK-III (214K): 337,900¢, mostly because it is actually a pretty big ship, and also because it is really fast for that size
• Python (259K): 222,800¢
• Fer-de-Lance (53K): 186,750¢, the biggest cost factor here is the good recharge rate
• Asp (75K): 167,300¢
• Moray (51K): 107,500¢
• Krait (93K): 94,625¢, this ship is too big; half of the cost comes from the size, the other half from maximum speed and maneuverability. By decreasing the size, one would also decrease the cost for maximum speed and maneuverability.
• Cobra MK-I (52K): 56,100¢
• Adder (16K): 36,000¢
• Sidewinder (25K): 33,700¢, it doesn't get much cheaper (except for the worm) most of the cost stems from the speed and maneuverability

If you remove this expansion pack, every ship price will be back to normal.

I got a bit inspired by this thread Ship Pricing OXP

On a sidenote, does somebody know why I can fit an Advanced Space Compass on my Cobra MK-I if in the shipyard it says that it shouldn't?

[Redspear]

On a sidenote, does somebody know why I can fit an Advanced Space Compass on my Cobra MK-I if in the shipyard it says that it shouldn't?

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(
		7, 6500, "Advanced Space Compass",
		"EQ_ADVANCED_COMPASS",
		"A Tyley-Feynman GW-99 astro-navigation compass with user-selectable target modes.",
		{
			available_to_all = true;
			condition_script = "oolite-conditions.js";
		}
	),

I think because available_to_all in equipment.plist makes it so. If it didn't then it would behave as you seemed to expect (i.e. if not listed in shipyard.plist then uninstallable).

This is how most oxp equipment works or else you'd (in some cases) need to provide shipyard overrides for every possible ship...

Nice try with the pricing. I've had a go myself and it's a tricky thing to get right as so many factors influence each other. For example what's another 20TC worth to a Python? But it's value would be huge to an Asp. Similarly an extra 0.5 recharge isn't worth much to a Worm but if you gave it to a Fer de lance...

[Cholmondely]

I got a bit inspired by this thread Ship Pricing OXP

Just stumbled across this from Cim in 2013:

There's no sense risking damage or destruction to a very expensive ship

With the current ship prices in Oolite, any pirate other than the entirely non-pragmatic would realise that the average act of piracy nets them a few hundred credits, selling a ship gets tens or often hundreds of thousands of credits, and the odds of surviving each fight are less than 99%. They therefore all sell their ships and retire in luxury.

(I personally just assume that the player is the subject of a giant practical joke and all the shipyard owners stick three extra zeroes onto the price tags when they see you coming)

[Cody]

He's right, of course - pirates should be after your ship, not your cargo. "Abandon ship, and you get to live!" should be the challenge.
I've heard tell a pirate collective was behind the development of the auto-eject. They'd like it to be compulsory kit on all ships.

[cbr]

Well, could be a interesting scenario.

Pirates attack and capture you and your ship, dump you in a scrawny adder and you have to find your way back

[Maxwell]

Will this oxp alter all prices of all ships, including modded ones?

[Cholmondely]

Will this oxp alter all prices of all ships, including modded ones?

Welcome to the boards!

[tsoj]

Will this oxp alter all prices of all ships, including modded ones?

Yes. It is completely reversible though, so if you uninstall it, every ship price will be back to normal.