As I said, it's just meant as a small addition which—in good Elite-tradition—just uses random to evoke something that makes sense in the player's head, in this case the idea that the main stations also monitor the cargo holds of ships other than the player's.
In most cases the player wouldn't be able to distinguish the result of the most sophisticated formula from the pure random solution, therefore I've decided to keep it simple.
The idea of squaring the random component is good, and I'm probably going to use it in other places.
Just reminding that all 'sunskim-trader' ships added by the populator have a plain primary role of 'trader' when in game. Only scripts could add additional ships with that role. And is should be "sunskim-trader", not "sunskim_trader" The core game never uses underscores for its roles.
Only scripts could add additional ships with that role. And is should be "sunskim-trader", not "sunskim_trader" The core game never uses underscores for its roles.
Oops! Will have to rectify this. But if they all have 'trader' as a role, it doesn't matter anyway. Still, for the sake of sunskimmers.oxp I'll correct it anyway. Should have checked before.
Okay, I re-uploded v 1.1 with the correct role 'sunskim-trader".
Those of you who have already downloaded v 1.1, please re-download, or simply replace the underscore with a hyphen in your script. There are no other changes.
I was running as an offender with a hold full of narcotics when I chanced upon this Boa CC and its Sidewinder escorts:
We flew in convoy for a while, then a bounty-hunter appeared. Very poor timing on his part!
I peeled-off and splashed the unfortunate hunter gleefully, then wished my fellow criminal 'Good luck', and hyperspaced out.
I would advise stilts for the quagmires, and camels for the snowy hills
And any survivors, their debts I will certainly pay. There's always a way!
Do not have this OXP in my Ooniverse and do come across Traders with a Bounty on occasion. The only reliable way for me to determine this is with the Warrant Scanner from phkb's excellent Bounty System OXZ. When you target a ship the Warrant Scanner will scan it and give you either a pop up M.F.D. (needs an empty M.F.D. slot) or a Console Message with information about that ship. This information includes Bounties and Roles (Trader, Pirate, etc.). The scan is considered to be a hostile act by an NPC but their reactions vary. Even if they have a Bounty my personal Bounty Hunting Code precludes me from taking out Traders as they are usually just some poor soul who got a Bounty thrown at them for doing nothing too evil. That is provided that they do not shoot first due to the scan. Pirates and Assassins get to eat laser before they can blink. A gray area comes up when deciding what to do with the other Roles that might have a Bounty on their heads (Bounty Hunters, Escorts, etc.), possibly based on their scan reactions. It might also depend on just how evil my disposition is at the moment.
P.S.
The Bounty Scanner OXP by frame is very helpful in determining which NPC ships to target and scan as it adds a ship's Bounty to its name.
Humor is the second most subjective thing on the planet
Brevity is the soul of wit and vulgarity is wit's downfall
The only reliable way for me to determine this is with the Warrant Scanner from phkb's excellent Bounty System OXZ.
If the trader you're targeting is clean, and the Warrant Scanner finds some bounty to add to the ship, that's the OXP at work, not the base game. The base game added the clean trader. I made a judgement call as to whether that trader might have some outstanding debts to pay.
The core game never uses underscores for its roles.
