Is destruction the only way?

[Frame]

hmm away for a week and all this happens...

do former derelict pirate vessels, have a possible booby trap attached to them.

also for my ful collector i made it so that there is a 30% chance that pirate vessels have a booby trap, that will make the ship tumble and then explode, and it will hurt/kill the player, if he does not leave in time...

[LittleBear]

Surviving cargo is randomised in relation to the ships maxium cargo capacity (big ships are more likely to have more on board than small ships). Bit unlucky in the example that only 5 tonns survived, as the Cobra is a medium sized ship. Escorting in take about 5 - 10 minutes, but scavengers will try to take your prize from you so there's gameplay on route.

[Jar]

Spent two days and failed to cause even one forced eject! This is not easy. Many ships just explode; a mil laser is not easy to regulate. Many others where shot dead by 'helpers' who I guess were saving me from the bad guy. That hurts. After all that work to get the target into an arcing and sparking state to have them shot down by some goof; and I don't even get the credit for the kill! so I finally find a nice big python all alone with nobody else to 'help' me and I shoot him down and keep him arcing and sparking for 15 minutes! Aargh! So he can afford a python but not an escape pod? What percentage of NP ships have pods anyway? The big ships ought to have pods. It seems that NPC flying tigers have just as little chance of using a pod as some little cheap ship.

Bottom line, if you gave away the scanveger missles I could not afford to carry one. I've only got 4 racks on the ship I'm flying right now and it would hurt to much to tie one up for a chance to only score a few measly thousand credits.

If this is really easy; then I'm missing something big time or my ver of OOlite is not working like every body else's.

[LittleBear]

Small ships rarely have escape pods, but bigger ships usually do. The ships personality is also important. Hunters and pirates are much more likley to fight rather than eject. Find yourself an innocent trader, preferably a python or annaconda. These will most times eject when they start sparking.

[Jar]

Hunters and pirates are much more likley to fight rather than eject. Find yourself an innocent trader, preferably a python or annaconda. These will most times eject when they start sparking.

Well that may explain my troubles. I'm not a pirate. I only have attacked fugitives and offenders in my efforts to force an eject. (and offenders only if they shot at me). IF this is the case then it makes no sense to restrict these missles to clean piliots? The scanvenger will be a pirate missle.

This seems a little odd. Why would a nasty pirate not eject if his ship was about to explode? Maybe this is in the 'pirate code'. Still the pirate code is more of a guide line. I'd think pirates would be the first ones to eject.

Oh well, The pirate's life is not for me!

[LittleBear]

Pirates do eject, but they're just generally braver than traders so will hold off ejecting until things are really bad. Its easier to force a trader to eject, but the main thing is ship size. You should be able to get a pirate python to eject quite often.

EDIT : On the Clean requirement, well that perhaps rather like RL gun-control in a lot of countries. You have to be Clean to legally buy a firearm, but thats not to say a lot of murders are not committed with legally bought firearms!

[Eric Walch]

A python or boa has 75% chance of a escape pod. An anaconda even 95%. My experience with anacondas or boa's is that they almost always turn in derelicts first. And in most cases you can stop firing in time before it completely destroys.

And to missile slots: I seldom use missiles. So there is always place for a special one. So for the big kills of anacondas you have to buy them clean and then go for the kill. If the kill is not withnessed, you stay clean. (Hmm... probably the derelicts computer must tell on docking it was attacked by the player and galcop should arrive after that) Only problem is that derelicts have no script so it is impossible to identify the attacker by script.

[Disembodied]

If the kill is not withnessed, you stay clean. (Hmm... probably the derelicts computer must tell on docking it was attacked by the player and galcop should arrive after that)

I'm pretty sure that a dredger's recovery crew would routinely purge any salvaged ships' memory cores. Commercial confidentiality, and all that... Why give their freelance salvagers unnecessary hassle with pettifogging questions about who shot who? It's just political correctness gone mad.

[Jar]

A python or boa has 75% chance of a escape pod. An anaconda even 95%. My experience with anacondas or boa's is that they almost always turn in derelicts first. And in most cases you can stop firing in time before it completely destroys.

Something is wrong with my OOlite then. With those percentages I should be seeing more derelick ships. I've only seen two the whole time I've played and both were cobras (ghost ships I found floating in space). I've shot a lot of pythons as they seem to show up as bad guys in my game way more often than other big ships do. I've 'never' seen an eject on anybody I've ever shot at. Of course I was trying to kill them before. But the last few days I've been holding off looking for these ejects. I see lots of arcing and sparking but no ejects at all. How long in real time are we talking from the first arcing and sparking until they bail out? It's got to be minutes right? I keep them sparking until other ships arrive and kill them. They don't eject.

I have trouble with the Wolf's. They have dual guns and they shoot me up pretty bad. I need missles to shoot at them to keep them off my case. I'd rather face a large gang of regular pirates than two wolfs. To give up using misssles I'd have to take the wolf OXP out and I don't want to do that; they spice up the game a lot. And I like to carry one q bomb (I don't like using the E bombs) and one fuel tank (Run away!).

[JohnnyBoy]

You should be able to get a pirate python to eject quite often.

Agreed - I see this regularly.

[ClymAngus]

Go for the pirate python. It's your best bet for an eject.

[flimflam_machine]

Wow! Just wow!

This is both awesome and heartwarming that these kind of ideas can be developed so quickly. Hats off to all y'all.

A couple of things that have been mentioned in the thread, but I couldn't see if they've been resolved:

Is it possible to retain information about a ships legal status so that you can't salvage (or get punished for salvaging) a clean ship?

A linked thought. Isn't it a bit strange that the ships systems can work out who/what you've shot down and so pay you a bounty, but that you can still get a reward from "rescuing" (scooping) a clean NPC whose ship you blew to pieces?

Was it possible to implement a booby trap option? It would be interesting if there was a 10% chance for offenders' ships (and possibly 25% for fugitives') that the salvage drone would trip a large explosive charge. This would even out the cost/benefit since you would occassionally lose a drone. Also if it acted like a 2/3-strength energy bomb (so that destruction isn't inevitable), you would have to spend longer salvaging since you'd want to wait for your shields to recharge before launching your salvage drone.

I think that salvage value should be about 5-10% of basic-model value + 50% of cargo value (at local system prices). It's easy to justify the price being low; if nothing else, docking/repair space aboard a dredger would be at a premium, plus of course the ship has been substantially knackered. However, 1% does seem very very stingy. You could also add a feature such that there's a small chance that the ship is too badly damaged to make it worth repairing and therefore gets you scrap value only (1%).

Otherwise, very cool stuff.

[Disembodied]

Something is wrong with my OOlite then. With those percentages I should be seeing more derelick ships. I've only seen two the whole time I've played and both were cobras (ghost ships I found floating in space). I've shot a lot of pythons as they seem to show up as bad guys in my game way more often than other big ships do. I've 'never' seen an eject on anybody I've ever shot at. Of course I was trying to kill them before. But the last few days I've been holding off looking for these ejects. I see lots of arcing and sparking but no ejects at all. How long in real time are we talking from the first arcing and sparking until they bail out? It's got to be minutes right? I keep them sparking until other ships arrive and kill them. They don't eject.

The most commonly ejecting pirates I've met tend to be in Black Dog Pythons. Second to those it's probably Iguanas. There shouldn't be a question of time about the decision to eject: you just need to push them to the edge of destruction. If they're venting plasma, and haven't ejected, give them another – short! – zap. Plasma just means that the ship is badly damaged: it doesn't mean that it's about to blow right there and then. There should be a sweet spot between the ship starting to vent plasma, and the ship blowing up, which triggers the ejection (if it's going to happen at all).

I have trouble with the Wolf's. They have dual guns and they shoot me up pretty bad. I need missles to shoot at them to keep them off my case. I'd rather face a large gang of regular pirates than two wolfs. To give up using misssles I'd have to take the wolf OXP out and I don't want to do that; they spice up the game a lot. And I like to carry one q bomb (I don't like using the E bombs) and one fuel tank (Run away!).

Yeah, the multi-gun pirates – Wolf IIs, Iguanas, Cats, and worse, like Rattle Cutters – are a pain. Spot them far away and plan accordingly, is my advice! It's for enemies like these that you need to hone your long-range sniping skills... and, frankly, your long-range rear-gunning skills too!

[ClymAngus]

like Rattle Cutters – are a pain. Spot them far away and plan accordingly, is my advice! It's for enemies like these that you need to hone your long-range sniping skills... and, frankly, your long-range rear-gunning skills too!

or here's a plan, don't "add on" it at all! You have a plate of olives, one of them is poisoned. It's fools pride to take all comers. A wise commander picks and chooses his battles. I never liked Rattle Cutters they unbalance the game like gem asteroids.

And not to sound too insulting to it's creater but I consider it a Kobayashi Maru.

[JohnnyBoy]

And not to sound too insulting to it's creater but I consider it a Kobayashi Maru.

Not if you're in a SuperCobra with a Naval Energy Unit, Military Shield Enhancement and an ice-cold Mil laser....