[WIP] Bounty system OXP

[Milo]

The Priority AI has this idea that whenever in red alert, whatever ship is targeted must be a valid target. So any OXP that causes a ship to target another ship risks the AI deciding to attack it if that AI should happen to go into combat, even if the targeted ship had nothing to do with it.

Possible remedies:

1. Change Bounty System so that NPCs doing scans do not actually "target" the ship being scanned; the player can still be required to do so, since the player is not controlled by AI.

or

2. Change Priority AI to not assume its current target deserves to be attacked.

In Resources\Scripts\oolite-priorityai.js there is some code that looks like this (in the configurationAcquireCombatTarget function):

Code: Select all

	/* Iff the ship does not currently have a target, select a new one
	 * from the defense target list. */
	if (target)
	{
		if (target.isInSpace)
		{
			return;
		}

Returning from this function has the effect of keeping the current target. So, basically, if the AI has a target and the target is still around, keep it. Some more nuanced threat assessment could be added here.

Maybe something like this:

Code: Select all

	/* Iff the ship does not currently have a target, select a new one
	 * from the defense target list. */
	if (target)
	{
		if (target.isInSpace && target.target === this.ship && (target.hasHostileTarget || target.bounty > 0))
		{
			return; // keep current target if it is in space, targeting us, and is either an AI hostile to us or has a bounty
		}

[phkb]

Hmm. I’ll have a play and see what works best.

[Bogatyr]

I finally got caught (in a Democracy) with the Pirate ID cleaner and the Galcop scanner, both were removed, and both resulted in hefty severity 2 and 3 bounties (one 45, one 50). Good riddance, they were useless as far as I could tell, with no way to sell or otherwise remove them. But again, the description of the bounty is abstract with no descriptive link to the actual event ("unspecified serious offense justifying lethal force", something like that). Maybe UPS OXP (which owns those devices?) could be updated to give meaningful bounty descriptions, if that's what's at fault.

I continue to acquire these pesky generic 1cr, 2cr bounty offenses seemingly almost any time I engage in combat, with no description of the actual source/reason of the bounty.

[phkb]

Maybe UPS OXP (which owns those devices?) could be updated to give meaningful bounty descriptions, if that's what's at fault.

I do have an update for UPS Courier in my queue to address this - I'll see about releasing it sooner.

[phkb]

OK, I've implemented the changes required (I think!) to get the NPC scanner to work without changing the NPC's active target, which should hopefully keep it clear of any AI entanglements. Version 0.13 now available via the download manager.

[phkb]

Based on discussions here, I’m looking to change the Bounty System to collect all bounties you get (including Elite ranking), and you can then collect those bounties from a GalCop Security Office on any GalGop station. The logic being, how would GalCop know about any of these bounties you collected, and through what mechanism would they get that info? It seems (on the face of it, without some other handwavium) to be slightly inconsistent.

Bounty System made the most sense for a destination for these changes, as it already has the GalCop Security Office in all GalCop stations. The way I imagine the system will work is: you destroy a ship, and are notified of the bounty (as icurrently happens). But those credits won’t be instantly added to your account. Instead, you would need to dock at a GalCop station and go to the security office and claim the bounties there. Your Elite rank would be the same - any change to your Elite rank would only happen when you go to the security office and claim outstanding bounties.

Some questions:
1. Should this be an optional change?
2. When it comes to collecting bounties, should you be able to collect all outstanding bounties, regardless of what system (or galaxy) it occurred in? Or only collect bounties that occurred within a 7ly range (or another distance)? Or only collect the bounties that occurred in the current system?

Let me know what you think.

[hiran]

Some questions:
1. Should this be an optional change?
2. When it comes to collecting bounties, should you be able to collect all outstanding bounties, regardless of what system (or galaxy) it occurred in? Or only collect bounties that occurred within a 7ly range (or another distance)? Or only collect the bounties that occurred in the current system?

Let me know what you think.

Mulling this over...
Would it make sense the station in your current systems would know immediately, while systems further away would get to know with a delay. If that is still faster than the player it does not matter.

[Cholmondely]

Agree with Hiran's point about when a system office knows - but then you yourself have to spend time getting from the place where you earned the bounty to where you pick it up!

It seems to me that the Galaxies are conceived of as being pretty independent - which the one-way travel around the eight reinforces.

So I'd go with single-galaxy-wide bounty collection.


Don't forget that LitF provides access to the GalCop precinct (one can pay one's own bounty) and there are various offices one can visit. If LitF ever gets finished, then the GalCop Security Office could be moved into that precinct.

[Nite Owl]

Optional Please. And now for something completely Handwavium.

This may have been posted by me before but a quick search could not find it so here we go, possibly again. There are at least three types of Space.
1) Standard Space - Planets, Stations, Ships, etc.
2) Witchspace - Wormhole Space used by Ships to travel between the Star Systems.
3) Sub-Space - This is the one we will concern ourselves with today.

Sub-Space in this context can best be defined via String Theory. In String Theory Sub-Space you are dealing with the possibility that objects at a sub-atomic level can be in two places at once separated by a great distance. Attach a message to one or more such objects, have them switch places, and you have instantaneous communications. The attaching and detaching, the directing to a specific point, and the encoding and decoding involved are where further Handwavium might be needed. If in the Ooniverse we can generate Worm Holes to move bulk objects from one star system to another then the needed Handwavium must exist to do the same with communications through the described Sub-Space method.

[phkb]

So I'd go with single-galaxy-wide bounty collection.

I went with the single system by default, and you can choose chart-wide or another range in Library Config. Or you can turn the whole thing off there as well.

Don't forget that LitF provides access to the GalCop precinct (one can pay one's own bounty) and there are various offices one can visit. If LitF ever gets finished, then the GalCop Security Office could be moved into that precinct.

That one requires a bit of thought. At present, *no* F4 page is set to work with LitF. I think that project will need to look at the F4 page as a whole, to come up with a workable solution that doesn't add development overhead to other OXPs. I have some ideas on how it could work, which I'll play around with.

[phkb]

Version 0.16 is out. This removes the deferment of Elite Ranking changes, and changes the default for bounty claims to be false. So, now, by default in a new game, bounties and score changes should work as per the core game. If you want to have to claim your bounties at the main station, you have to turn it on in Library Config.