Beginning the game with a loan to pay off

[ralph_hh]

What has happened with that Navy Plans by the way?

[spara]

What has happened with that Navy Plans by the way?

It ran into a license wall.

[CWolf]

What has happened with that Navy Plans by the way?

It ran into a license wall.

Who has the licence?

[Smivs]

What has happened with that Navy Plans by the way?

It ran into a license wall.

Who has the licence?

I don't think it has one, which basically means that nobody can do anything with it.

[ocz]

It's been nearly 3 weeks since I started this OXP and I'm finally, nearly ready to upload an alpha release. (Only a matter of days )
And I thought this would be a "3 days till beta release" fun project to divert myself a little bit from other projects. Though I haven't worked on it all the time XP.

Thanks for all the ideas. I took all of them in consideration, but I came to the conclusion, that some of my old ideas are better suited, than other really good(brilliant!) ideas of you.

-I haven't balanced the rates yet, but making it a "very long-term goal" to pay the debts off is the priority for balancing.

-There is also a "out of schedule" repayment feature, but it is necessary to somehow pressure the player a bit, if she/he isn't willing to pay.

-This pressure comes for once in form of a NOT deactivetable auto-repayment feature that subtracts money form the players account, leaving only an allowed amount. (Can be bypassed by buying commodities, which aren't touched. NOTE TO MYSELF:"auto selling gold,platinum and gems" might be a mean, but actually fun increasing dick move. But maybe it's only frustrating. I'll see.)

- The other form is a simply implemented credibility. It increases or decreases depending on how much of your rates (interest+repayment) you paid. If it decreases so does your allowance! (A good credibility mean a higher allowance, too.)

- If your allowance reaches 0Cr, you'll be given some warnings and than your ship will be sold off and replaced with a OXP vessel (as norby suggested) I created for this purpose, that has no weapons, nor hyperdrive and therefore is unable to make any profits in vanilla oolite. This is the game over feature. (NOTE TO MYSELF: I have to think about a better solution, that allows profit making in vanilla. Hmm. Currently it's a shuttle with nearly no cargo space. Maybe if it's a shuttle with a witchdrive that takes up all that place? But than again a vanilla shuttle is worth several 10000Cr and a witchdrive would increase its value. It's current trade-in value is 5000Cr, so this doesn't add up.)

- As in case of the criminal register, the loan data isn't transferred to other galaxies. You could run from it, but the rates still will pile up and when you return, it won't be pretty. (Still not implemented.)

-As for the repayment schedule: I went with both, my initial idea of time intervals and sparas docking-times turn based intervals. You can choose which one you want to use. The turn based variant is also dependent on time, to prevent loitering. "Galcops recognises the time warping properties of witchspace and therefore uses a turn based repayment schedule, that orientates at the time the ship is docking at a Galcop facility, as those are the opportunities to make profit. Should too much time pass between two visits, this will be counted as a taken turn, too."

I didn't implement the "another bigger loan for a bigger ship" feature! First it took me enough time to get this far (I want to present something) and secondly, while it would be only logical, that Galcop would do so, I fear it would make the game much too easy. Maybe I implement it at a later time (strongly implied), but as far as its initial reason, to flesh out and prolong the beginning phase, has been met I'm okay with this.

Writing those menus and linking it to the calculations was more work (and more painful), than I have expected it to be. I still have to implement the trans-galactic behaviour and clean up and comment the source.

[ocz]

As I'm also not a native english speaker, I'd be quite happy if someone could prove read soem of my texts:

The client is hereby given a loan to enable her/him to purchase a ship. The client agrees to the following conditions.

A weekly repayment rate in height of [repaymentRate]%% of the outstanding loan is charged. Additionally a weekly interest rate of [interestRate]%% of the outstanding loan is charged, too.

Those weekly rates will be charged, when a new week begins and the client is staying within a galcop facility.

The rates are automatically collected, whenever she/he leaves a Galcop facility. An allowance in the amount of [loanAllowanceBase] is provided for the client, which will not be used to collect rates from.

Should the client be unable to pay the whole sum of the rate till the beginning off a new week, the missing amount is taken as a base for charging a [defaultRate]%% default rate, which will be added to the loan debt.

The client may also make out-of-schedule repayments at Galcop facilities. Those repayments are charged with a [outOfScheduleRate]%% processing fee.

All data about this loan are not transmitted to other galaxies. In case you leave it, you will be unable pay your rates and your debt will increase in you absence.

The client is hereby given a loan to enable her/him to purchase a ship. The client agrees to the following conditions.

A repayment rate, which is based on a turn based schedule, in height of [repaymentRate]%% of the outstanding loan is charged. Additionally an interest rate, based on the same schedule, of [interestRate]%% of the outstanding loan is charged, too.

Those rates will be charged, when a new payment cycle starts and the client is staying within a galcop facility. A complete payment cycle is defined as the completion of [intervalTotalTurns] so called turns. A turn is taken when either the client docks at a Galcop facility or [turnDockingText].

The rates are automatically collected, whenever she/he leaves a Galcop facility. An allowance in the amount of [loanAllowanceBase] is provided for the client, which will not be used to collect rates from.\n\nShould the client be unable to pay the whole sum of the rate till the beginning off a new cycle, the missing amount is taken as a base for charging a [defaultRate]%% default rate, which will be added to the loan debt.

The client may also make out-of-schedule repayments at Galcop facilities. Those repayments are charged with a [outOfScheduleRate]%% processing fee.

All data about this loan are not transmitted to other galaxies. In case you leave it, you will be unable pay your rates and your debt will increase in you absence.";

[Norby]

If your allowance reaches 0Cr

How about if ban the player from the current galaxy until not return with enough deductable money? The replacement unusable ship could be a "galjump capsule" with a [wiki]Galactic Hyperdrive[/wiki]. Display a mesage repeatedly after launch to use the galdrive, then after docked in the next galaxy award a new loan and a ship. In this way get 7 more chances to win the debt race and an extra task to regain the lost galaxies.

[cim]

- If your allowance reaches 0Cr, you'll be given some warnings and than your ship will be sold off and replaced with a OXP vessel (as norby suggested) I created for this purpose, that has no weapons, nor hyperdrive and therefore is unable to make any profits in vanilla oolite. This is the game over feature.

If you're allowing cargo space, then you can still make a profit with that ship - trade goods between the main station and the local rock hermit(s) until they're all moved, then hitchhike to another system and repeat. Depending on how little cargo space you allow, it could be really tedious, though.

Without the cargo space either, the way to make money is to very slowly and carefully ram asteroids to death for a credit a time.

[Disembodied]

I've marked my suggested corrections below in red (deletions marked with a strikethrough). I'm not certain though that I've understood all the ins and outs of the two repayment systems:

As I'm also not a native english speaker, I'd be quite happy if someone could prove read soem of my texts:

The client is hereby given a loan to enable her/him to purchase a ship. The client agrees to the following conditions:

The client must make weekly repayments of [repaymentRate]%% of the outstanding loanis charged. Until the entire loan is repaid, a weekly interest rate of [interestRate]%% of the outstanding loan will be added to the total debt.

These weekly rates will be levied when a new week begins and the client is located within a GalCop facility.

Payments are made automatically whenever the client leaves a GalCop facility. The client will be permitted to retain a minimum amount of [loanAllowanceBase] for ship maintenance and trading purposes.

Should the client be unable to make a full weekly payment, the shortfall will be taken as a base for charging a [defaultRate]%% default rate, which will be added to the total outstanding debt.

The client may also make unscheduled repayments at GalCop facilities. Such repayments will incur a [outOfScheduleRate]%% processing fee.

This loan is only repayable in this current galaxy. If the client moves to another galaxy, all repayments will cease. Interest on the loan will continue to accrue, however, and weekly default fees will continue to be added..

The client is hereby given a loan to enable her/him to purchase a ship. The client agrees to the following conditions:

The client must make scheduled repayments of [repaymentRate]%% of the outstanding loan. Until the entire loan is repaid, an interest rate of [interestRate]%% of the outstanding loan will be added to the total debt at the beginning of every payment cycle.

Payments must be made when every new payment cycle begins and when the client is staying within a GalCop facility. A single payment cycle is defined as the completion of [intervalTotalTurns] so-called "turns". A turn begins when either the client docks at a GalCop facility or [turnDockingText].

Payments are made automatically whenever the client leaves a GalCop facility. The client will be permitted to retain a minimum amount of [loanAllowanceBase] for ship maintenance and trading purposes.

Should the client be unable to make a full scheduled payment, the shortfall will be taken as a base for charging a [defaultRate]%% default rate, which will be added to the total outstanding debt.

The client may also make unscheduled repayments at GalCop facilities. Such repayments will incur a [outOfScheduleRate]%% processing fee.

This loan is only repayable in this current galaxy. If the client moves to another galaxy, all repayments will cease. Interest on the loan will continue to accrue, however, and default fees will continue to be added for every payment cycle missed..

[Cody]

I'm not certain though that I've understood all the ins and outs of the two repayment systems...

<chortles> That's why I didn't volunteer to proof read it.

[Disembodied]

If I didn't comment on things I know nothing about, I'd barely say anything at all!

[ocz]

So here we go: Loan Repayment 0.1.0 alpha.oxz

The code is horribly written, but in the top section of the script file you can edit some variables to test different rates, interval length, aso. Also many of the texts haven't been prove read.

Thanks Disembodied. Those lines are pretty good.

So, there is still a bit work to do, but at least it became rather presentable.

[Norby]

Nice work! I do not found any problems in your code, just noticed you included an XML parser to store your variables into the savefile which is good but there is a simpler way using JSON. Now I made an examle how to store an array into missionVariables.

[ocz]

Thanks. I wrote the parser myself, as a little side task to have a little bit fun. Of course it ignores many xml standards and the < > brackets get converted in the save file, but it worked out. The json way looks simpler and better. I'll look into it and think will implement it.

But now I'm off to a party. I wish you all the best possible start to the new year!

Edit: Ohh. And don't forget to try to remember your first year dream tomorrow in the morning!

[Cody]

But now I'm off to a party. I wish you all the best possible start to the new year!

Enjoy... and a happy new year to you too!