Persistent World Ideas: In-System Economy and Espionage

[TheCiscoKid]

Both of these ideas came from trying to troubleshoot the same conundrum so it's probably tidiest to share them both in the same thread:

I was looking into  Station Dock Control, because Oolite itself doesn't track ships when they dock, that OXP has to do a lot of heavy lifting. While it's really cool to see a ship has launched, and then when you launch you can see that ship, it'd be hard for anyone to justify putting in the effort to troubleshoot/refine/rework SDC just for pure ambience.

So, here are 2 ideas for OXPs that could help justify SDC from a gameplay perspective, without requiring SDC to function on their own:

In-System Economy
"All those traders flying in and out the system all day and yet the stock or prices don't change unless one braves witchspace? No more with this OXP! One randomly picked commodity's amount and price is refreshed, while you are in system and not docked. This happens periodically based on how active the system is." -  In System Trader OXP by Dr.Tripsa

Let's say the commodity's amount and price isn't randomly refreshed, instead it's based on traders actually in the system who are docking. The player could use the  Manifest Scanner on a cargo hauler to get insight into how this might affect the station's price when it docks - do you race ahead to undercut the market, or wait around for a resupply before docking?

Perhaps if a large cargo hauler is destroyed by a gang of pirates, this could be worthy of a  GNN segment as a  BlOomberg Market event?

Cholmondely pointed out Cherryh's novel "Alliance Rising" has a section where the crew in a station bar are wondering on the price effects of an incoming ship's cargo on their own as yet unbought cargo. This is the kind-of functionality SDC would be able to provide to expand this OXP.

Espionage
A potential addition to the player's choice of  Career Options. Naturally would involve stealth, spying, hacking, smuggling - I'm a bit hazy on the specifics. We absolutely need context for who is spying on who and why, which is something mission OXPs might help provide (e.g.  Resistance Commander,  GalCop Missions)

It's probably worth looking at the  Powers and Organisations in Oolite's  Lore as a jumping off point, can imagine interactions with Communist systems especially could draw a lot of influence from cold war/spy media

If the player isn't the only one doing the 'tracking' of ships, and efforts to obtain information via scanners, data upload, etc... could be sabotaged, I can see this providing reason for tracking "important" figures in the universe outside of the fantastic GalCop's Most Wanted

[Cholmondely]

In-System Economy

I've found this OXP sadly clunky and utterly frustrating. Only one commodity at a time seems unreal (and I forget if the quantities change too). But worse, the AMS equipment tells you - wherever you are in the system, no matter how far distant - that a commodity has changed. Not up or down. Not by how much. By the time you dock, one has forgotten which commodity it was - and worse, there is no indication on the F8 screen about any of this.

It might create a use for the sadly neglected F8F8 screen!

Espionage

There are a gamut of options here (List mostly taken from  Powers and Organisations)
 HIMSN. The  Galactic Navy. Various GalCop offices (we have Lave & Zadies in G1, and G7's GalCop Special Branch & The Galactic Supreme Court, and then G8's Galactic Stock Exchange).
A vast range of Corporations. And the various political governments.
And other goodies such as G1's Tionisla Chronicle (with equivalents in G2-8), Taranis Corporation.
G2's Isis Interstellar, Ionics Corporation & the Ramazan Liberation Front
G3's Aquarian Shipbuilding Corporation
G4's Comoonin & Executive SpaceWays - not to mention the bizarre politics in G4
G7's Notable Organisations but especially Littlebear's rejig of the Griff Research Ltd
G8's Notable Organisations




I like your idea about changing the spawning routine. If it were done through Station Dock Control, or in a way that SDC had access to, then it could impact on many more OXPs. GalCop Missions. Random Hits. The Assassin's Guild. etc. That does, of course, presume that someone with the skills is going to go to a heck of a lot of effort to weave it in.

[TheCiscoKid]

Didn't realize  Hacker Outpost already had some of this espionage-y gameplay. "The Hackers are welcoming to a pilot who is - for whatever reason - in some trouble with GalCop, and they have a solution to offer - for a price. If you want, they can hack into GalCop's central database and clear your entire legal record". Perhaps the player can do some hacking of their own to change their reputation with other factions?

A GalCop Radio is another thought I had recently that I guess ties in with all this: A player involved in piracy or smuggling might appreciate some chatter indicating police movements through the system from a safe distance.

You'd only be able to buy it from less than reputable equipment vendors, and if you have a ship overhaul performed at a GalCop station the radio'll be discovered and removed, and you'll receive a bounty (like the smuggling compartment).

And a thought regarding signal jamming: Scanning probably has to be a somewhat fiddly process even when you're not being interfered with or disrupted (maintaining appropriate distance, waiting for a timer, sweeping across a range of frequencies, etc...), then it won't be as immediately obvious to the police if you only disrupt it briefly for a quick getaway, while longer attempts at disruption would be harder do disguise.

[Cholmondely]

Didn't realize  Hacker Outpost already had some of this espionage-y gameplay. "The Hackers are welcoming to a pilot who is - for whatever reason - in some trouble with GalCop, and they have a solution to offer - for a price. If you want, they can hack into GalCop's central database and clear your entire legal record". Perhaps the player can do some hacking of their own to change their reputation with other factions?

A GalCop Radio is another thought I had recently that I guess ties in with all this: A player involved in piracy or smuggling might appreciate some chatter indicating police movements through the system from a safe distance.

You'd only be able to buy it from less than reputable equipment vendors, and if you have a ship overhaul performed at a GalCop station the radio'll be discovered and removed, and you'll receive a bounty (like the smuggling compartment).

And a thought regarding signal jamming: Scanning probably has to be a somewhat fiddly process even when you're not being interfered with or disrupted (maintaining appropriate distance, waiting for a timer, sweeping across a range of frequencies, etc...), then it won't be as immediately obvious to the police if you only disrupt it briefly for a quick getaway, while longer attempts at disruption would be harder do disguise.

The Hacker Outpost is one of those hidden-away little gems. You will find other relevant goodies in GalCop Missions if you have not already looked.

GalCop radio will need a lot of work creating radio messages to be overheard. I find that the communications in both Communications Pack A and in Broadcast Comms MFD have too little variety. Massively Locked suggested at least 100 variations for each message so that they appear more realistic.

Unsure about the jamming/disruption. I understand that the AI for getting NPCs to co-operate is not what it could be. That being the case, I'm unsure how jamming would make things worse for the GalCops!