Contracts and reputation

[Laie]

I traded my Cobra for an Asp and started delivering parcels. For now, I'm losing money and don't quite know how. Trading precious metals and the occasional bounty ought to pay the bills but apparently it doesn't.

Anyway, I started looking into the savegame to see how much longer I have to run a deficit before I can expect better contracts to come around, and found

Code: Select all

parcels_fulfilled: 9 # +1 with every delivery
parcels_unknown:  61 # -1 with every delivery
parcels_expired:   0

Assuming that I keep delivering on time, will I have to fulfill another 61 contracts before I can expect to qualify for better missions?

[Laie]

Answering my own question: it took me over 50 parcel deliveries until I noticed any kind of improvement. From then on, it went quickly, however.

By now I have completed more than 90 deliveries; the counter in the savegame seems to stop at 70, though, so I guess this is as good as it gets. Payment has increased about five-fold compared to my first contracts. I'm still locked out of perhaps one in ten because of my combat rating, however: "Dangerous" isn't quite good enough for some.

I still cannot tell which assignments are safe and which are risky. Looks like every contract has a decent chance of summoning assassins, so one just has to deal with it.

[Cholmondely]

Answering my own question: it took me over 50 parcel deliveries until I noticed any kind of improvement. From then on, it went quickly, however.

By now I have completed more than 90 deliveries; the counter in the savegame seems to stop at 70, though, so I guess this is as good as it gets. Payment has increased about five-fold compared to my first contracts. I'm still locked out of perhaps one in ten because of my combat rating, however: "Dangerous" isn't quite good enough for some.

I still cannot tell which assignments are safe and which are risky. Looks like every contract has a decent chance of summoning assassins, so one just has to deal with it.

Should our wiki be changed?

[hiran]

Should our wiki be changed?

I did not check the wiki. And I did not complete a single delivery myself.
But I believe the wiki should give enough hints so that typical pilots do not peek into savegames or source code to understand what is going on.

So my answer is: the wiki needs to be reviewed/improved.

[Cholmondely]

Should our wiki be changed?

I did not check the wiki. And I did not complete a single delivery myself.
But I believe the wiki should give enough hints so that typical pilots do not peek into savegames or source code to understand what is going on.

So my answer is: the wiki needs to be reviewed/improved.

I suppose that another option would be to add this into Hints (when I have the time - busy with the Mighty, Magnificent and Marvellous Mother-in-Law's funeral at the moment - and rather upset about losing her). Like you, I never got very far with the contract deliveries - tried them twice in the early days, never managed to deliver anything on time and then just gave up. They never really appealed to me, anyway. Whizzing through systems to get to a destination and with no time to explore anything properly...

Actually, that might make another good flavour for Oolite Starter. I'll continue this on in the appropriate thread.

[Cody]

I still cannot tell which assignments are safe and which are risky. Looks like every contract has a decent chance of summoning assassins, so one just has to deal with it.

A pack of assassins may not necessarily be after your blood for your current contracts - some have long memories!

[Laie]

They never really appealed to me, anyway. Whizzing through systems to get to a destination and with no time to explore anything properly...

Hmmm, I'm not aware that there is much exploring to be done. One sun per system, one planet, one station... apart from rock hermits, what is there to be discovered?

I find that most contracts provide ample time for completion. They are calculated for the "shortest" route, after all; by using more but shorter jumps, you gain a lot of time for detours. Like, 50% margin even on supposedly tight schedules.

Should our wiki be changed?

Nothing on the wiki is wrong. However it didn't prepare me for how long I had to grind worthless contracts before it got better. Had I known before, I probably wouldn't have started at all

A pack of assassins may not necessarily be after your blood for your current contracts - some have long memories!

Not that long, I believe; I don't think I have been attacked more than two jumps after delivering the last parcel. My current working assumption is that it's mostly about government: if you jump into an Anarchy while having an open contract, you may find assassins waiting for you, period.

Oh by the way, occasionally I suffered equipment failure: engage jump drive, countdown, no jump. Instead a message that some system was damaged. Are there not only assassins, but saboteurs as well? I don't think I've seen that before contracts, and I assure you that it is not for lack of maintenance.

[hiran]

I still cannot tell which assignments are safe and which are risky. Looks like every contract has a decent chance of summoning assassins, so one just has to deal with it.

A pack of assassins may not necessarily be after your blood for your current contracts - some have long memories!

So it depends on the systems you pass through?

[hiran]

They never really appealed to me, anyway. Whizzing through systems to get to a destination and with no time to explore anything properly...

Hmmm, I'm not aware that there is much exploring to be done. One sun per system, one planet, one station... apart from rock hermits, what is there to be discovered?

How would you ever confirm without visiting them that all 256 systems in all 8 galaxies are technically the same?

Oh by the way, occasionally I suffered equipment failure: engage jump drive, countdown, no jump. Instead a message that some system was damaged. Are there not only assassins, but saboteurs as well? I don't think I've seen that before contracts, and I assure you that it is not for lack of maintenance.

Probably you need to a maintenance overhaul every now and then.

Why do such sophisticated spaceships not even have the maintenance counters and warnings as every standard car has today?

[Cholmondely]

Hmmm, I'm not aware that there is much exploring to be done. One sun per system, one planet, one station... apart from rock hermits, what is there to be discovered?

There are two suites of OXPs which make things very different.

1) Additional Planets - adds in planets and stations to each solar system. It is based on aesthetic arrangements. And other OXPs can move the sun further out, if you so wish.

2) Strangers World (my favourite, but phkb demurs - it's a bit of a programming nightmare...) does the same - and moves the sun much further out (60,000km in some cases). It is based on more scientific principles. And they orbit, too!


And personally, I enjoy hunting for the various varieties of Rock Hermits - and some of the other stations, too. Ever found a Hacker Outpost? (not the same as the similar-looking Salvage Gang).

Reference: Guide to Ambience OXPs includes a couple of comparison charts for the various OXPs.

Hacker Outpost:

[Laie]

So it depends on the systems you pass through?

I'm not sure how much I may insist on my anecdata (with a sample size of perhaps a couple hundred jumps since I started doing deliveries, and no notes taken) in the presence of people who are as deep into oolite as you guys.

That said: There's a higher chance of encountering outlaws of all kinds in an anarchic system, of course, but I talk of assassins waiting for you at the witchpoint. I'm under the impression that these are much more likely to be encountered in anarchies. So much so that even otherwise inconspicuous cargoes may attract assassins if your enter an anarchy.

[Cholmondely]

Why do such sophisticated spaceships not even have the maintenance counters and warnings as every standard car has today?

Don't they? You usually see Maintenance Overhaul highlighted in orange when you scroll through the F3 screen when docked. And that's only when you need it.

If you need to prep your ship with an MO before a long flight then you need Phkb's "Maintenance Tune Up " which provides the ability to do a maintenance tune up, even when the normal overhaul is not available.

And some HUDs/MFDs display a hull rating or service level (Useful MFDs, the Extra-Large & Large HUDs included in HUD Selector. The various Vimanas throw up a warning when time is ripe. And if you know what you are doing, you can use HUD Selector and add in a hull-rating gauge to the HUD you are using.)



Reference: Maintenance

[Cody]

I talk of assassins waiting for you at the witchpoint.

Assassins waiting for you in the station aegis are much more fun!

[hiran]

Why do such sophisticated spaceships not even have the maintenance counters and warnings as every standard car has today?

Don't they? You usually see Maintenance Overhaul highlighted in orange when you scroll through the F3 screen when docked. And that's only when you need it.

Am not aware. I need such information during flight so I know whether to pull in early or keep hunting thargoids.

If you need to prep your ship with an MO before a long flight then you need Phkb's "Maintenance Tune Up " which provides the ability to do a maintenance tune up, even when the normal overhaul is not available.

And some HUDs/MFDs display a hull rating or service level (Useful MFDs, the Extra-Large & Large HUDs included in HUD Selector. The various Vimanas throw up a warning when time is ripe. And if you know what you are doing, you can use HUD Selector and add in a hull-rating gauge to the HUD you are using.)

Hmmm, it does exist? Maybe I should have a look at configuring all the 12 HUDs which I never do...

[MrFlibble]

Why do such sophisticated spaceships not even have the maintenance counters and warnings as every standard car has today?

Don't they? You usually see Maintenance Overhaul highlighted in orange when you scroll through the F3 screen when docked. And that's only when you need it.

Am not aware. I need such information during flight so I know whether to pull in early or keep hunting thargoids.

If you need to prep your ship with an MO before a long flight then you need Phkb's "Maintenance Tune Up " which provides the ability to do a maintenance tune up, even when the normal overhaul is not available.

And some HUDs/MFDs display a hull rating or service level (Useful MFDs, the Extra-Large & Large HUDs included in HUD Selector. The various Vimanas throw up a warning when time is ripe. And if you know what you are doing, you can use HUD Selector and add in a hull-rating gauge to the HUD you are using.)

Hmmm, it does exist? Maybe I should have a look at configuring all the 12 HUDs which I never do...

Please forgive the OT, but... 12? Nope! still not enough. I struggle to manage with 10, and can't understand how I managed before MFDs.

When oh! when, will we be able to serve up ALL our MFDs over http so we can open them in html frames across whatever browser capable devices we have, in order to reclaim breadth of front view!

I have a heap of old androids and laptops GAGGING to be used as Oolite MFD slaves.