Oolite Bulletins

Hey its me again...

After around 7 or 8 contracts or so of 100-1000 profit, I started seeing some Gem stones and Gold contracts available. I started doing those and got some pretty good profits going on, the last one being a gold contract of a 20k profit

But then, after that one, even though I was on time for all of them, I couldn't find any more gem stone, gold or platnum contracts anymore :S, I've been looking for sooo long, I just can't find any! Is there a certain system were they are more likely to appear? Or did I do something wrong? I didn't miss a deadline or anything! OH GOD PLEASE TELL ME! I NEED THOSE 100k+ CONTRACTS!!!

Actually, I have a question about "taxi rides" too. Is there a difference between "long haul" and "short haul" passenger contracts, or are they recorded equally?

I typically take short ones (5 jumps or less) because I don't have time to do a longer one and with only 2 tons extra cargo I want to be able to sell off the very little cargo I've.. uh.. found... on the way as much as possible. But will this keep my reputation lower than if I did longer taxi runs?

aegidian wrote:

It's rather more complex than that.

Reputation for contracts and passengers are handled separately and spread across 3 variables: contracts-completed, contracts-failed, and contracts-unknown. Every so often these variables are nudged towards 'unknown' (as memory fades), every completed contract nudges the scheme towards 'completed' and every black-mark nudges it towards 'failed'. Passengers and contractors assess all three variables as well as the approaching deadline for their travel arrangements to determine if a pilot is up to snuff.

How long does it take for memory to fade? Is it possible to switch back and forth between combat and contracts without loosing your status entirely? Can it be summed up in some # of jumps? If you finish 7 contracts in good time, how long until you slip below the threshold for the really good contracts if you take a hiatus from contracts for a while?

CmdrLUke wrote:

How long does it take for memory to fade? Is it possible to switch back and forth between combat and contracts without loosing your status entirely? Can it be summed up in some # of jumps? If you finish 7 contracts in good time, how long until you slip below the threshold for the really good contracts if you take a hiatus from contracts for a while?

When I remembered right you loose on about 1 contract point every 30 jumps. When you go to a combat area it could be wise to also look for a contract in that direction.

Rxke wrote:

IIRC, yes...

Maybe an idea: put something up at the cargo/passenger market to indicate your current 'rank' as a transporter, so it is more obvious to newer players the contracts will get better if you gain confidence from the customers?

I made a similar suggestion. I think visible carrier status in both markets is a really important feature.

A scale like the legal status, with a few more settings pehaps: e.g., Terrible, Poor, Neutral, Good, Perfect

Twice2double wrote:

how long does it take to get a good enough reputation to get some good contracts (Gold, Gems, etc...)?

aegidian wrote:

Complete at least seven contract deliveries within good time (maybe eight or nine, depending on how long you take).

Assuming you start with a clean contract record (no delivery failures that you haven't made up for), yes it takes 7 on-time deliveries without any intervening erosions of your reputation to get a "perfect" reputation which will allow you to carry the gold/platinum/gems.

MILD SPOILER on reputation erosion below.......stop reading if you don't want to know how it currently works.





















However, your reputation erodes randomly, not based on elapsed time or # of jumps or other factors. Every time you make a jump, there is about a 3% chance that your reputation erodes. So trying to be a great hauler and saving game time on delivery routes trying to deliver ahead of schedule actually can *hurt* your reputation by giving the game more chances to erode your rating!

Ironically, successfully completing long routes, especially if you try to save game time by more, shorter hops, is therefore potentially very bad for your reputation because the odds are that you will suffer at least one erosion in reputation on cross-galaxy deliveries of many hops. I'd think that successfully completing long routes would make your reputation more secure because they are so memorable to the trading community: "Yeah, , I still remember Commander Trader, he did a cross-galaxy delivery for me way ahead of schedule". The word of mouth should spread and the reputation "strength" should increase and work to avoid erosion.

I think erosion should be modified to reward committed, active traders. A time-based erosion makes more sense, based on your activity:

0) If people's memory aren't stimulated, they fade *in time*.

1) If a trader has current contracts, his reputation should remain constant in the minds of all carriers because his status is there to see for all on the Galactic Trader charts. "Wow, there's Commander Whizbang again on the board, he's *always* doing trades, and he has a perfect reputation, he's the guy I want for my business!". Out of sight, out of mind. If you don't have active contracts, people will start to forget you. That's when the reputation should start to erode, not when you have active contracts!

2) # of hops shouldn't matter, "Hey, as long as he gets my stuff there on time, and his perfect reputation shows he will, I don't care about the # of hops. In fact, I *like* my traders to take more hops because it usually results in my stuff getting there faster."

Erosion should be based on how long you've been away from contracts. Do a trade, and the erosion clock is reset. Immediatlely after completing a contract, the chance for erosion should be very close to zero. The longer one stays away, the higher the percentage chance of an erosion occuring. This time-away-from-contracts-based escalating chance of erosion has a balancing effect: currently a trader with a perfect reputation could, because erosion is random, keep the perfect reputation for a very long time. The longer one is away from contracts, the higher the chance of erosion should be.