Oolite Bulletins

I'm not intimately familiar with the logic used for passenger (and cargo) carriage missions... It may be possible that some get posted where the deadline is impossible to meet - however there is a trick that you should know about jumping around the galaxy and time...

Smaller jumps take less time than longer jumps.

So if you can find a route that's mostly small jumps then, even if the route is longer, you'll usually arrive much earlier at your final destination than by using just long jumps.

I ran a couple of cargo missions and a passenger mission last night. I found route planning a bit annoying because I can't pick two systems and find out how far apart they are. It means sometimes I had to pick a route and hope that it's not a dead end.

While in the Carrier Market Screen (8 twice) looking for different runs, hit the question mark key "?" and you are taken to the Galactic chart with your location and the potential destination.

Best, Michael

Make sure you also get a copy of the galactic star chart (press shift+1 on the galactic map screen) to help plan your route. Jumps that appear possible at first glance can turn out to be just over the 7ly limit and can be a real pain to get to.

Thanks for the pointers.

Unfortuneatly, the ! map grab isn't implemented on windows but I've found some connectivity maps which help.

I made a pretty busy run recently. It started with picking up one passenger that was going to the other side of the galaxy. Along the way I picked up more passengers and goods that was going my way.

I ended up with 11 passenger berths and earned >50k on the whole journey and I travelled along three sides of the galaxy. I have no idea how many passengers I delivered in total, I think I missed only one deadline.

Maybe half of the earning was from semi large shipments of gold and gems. Towards the end I saw gold and gem runs with 30k+ margins, but I could not take them. :/

I think it would be nice if you could transport passengers part of the way, so you bring them closer to their destination and get none or partial payment but no negative reputation. You just say to them, "Sorry guys you'll have to find someone else to take you the rest of the way, I found a really good gold shipment that will make me rich"

> I think it would be nice if you could transport passengers part of
> the way, so you bring them closer to their destination and get
> none or partial payment but no negative reputation.

I don't know. If I bought an airline ticket from San Francisco to London with British Airways, I'd be quite upset if we landed in Goose Bay, Newfoundland and was given my money back and told to get off.

You made a promise. They booked hotels at the other end. They made plans. Negative reputation would be very appropriate.

Wow! That must be one of the oldest topics to be revived so far. Three and a quarter years!

Together with this it seems we are getting onto some archeology trip here.

Oh, and also welcome back, Odo987! This must at the same time have been one of the longest absences from the forum, if I have a look at the date of your immediate previous post.

Hope you can stay for a while.

Ramirez wrote:

....you'll be offered contracts on things like gold and gemstones (as well as bulk orders of firearms and narcotics).

Doesn't bulk dealing in firearms or narcotics get you a fugitive status?
Can you still dock at your destination?

Tivva wrote:

Can you still dock at your destination?

Let's just repeat it once again: You can always dock at any (main) station. There are no docking restrictions whatsoever based on your legal status in Oolite.

The only thing you can't do when fugitive is to use your docking computer.

And to answer your first question: Yes, any trading in slaves, drugs, and firearms (to be precise: any leaving a main station with any of these commodities on board; but of course you can't deliver a contract without leaving the station first) raises the bounty on your head. When bulk trading it is likely that it will reach a "fugitive" status.

Cmdr Monte wrote:

Thanks for the pointers.

Unfortuneatly, the ! map grab isn't implemented on windows but I've found some connectivity maps which help.

The Advanced Navigational Array is Shift-6 from the Galactic Chart, and shows you the shortest distance route from target to far-off destination.

Note: The shortest distance does not necessarily equate to the shortest time.

Wow, I forgot checking date of previous post. >_<
Seems like the thread carries on like nothing happened though.

As for dropping of passengers. This isn't like airplane tickets, on earth there's no place you can't reach in one or two days travel time. In Oolite you frequently get people wanting to go across the galaxy, expecting it to take up to a month.

I think these people would accept that it's hard to find any single pilot that wants to be dedicated to his journey all the way there. They should be thankful to get a few jumps closer to the goal. Then they'd be requesting a shorter journey from the next pilot that comes along, and more pilots would be inclined to bring them along. They are basically hitchhikers after all, even if they do pay for the lift.

Even in our world we often have to change trains and flights when we travel long distance. We don't expect a single plane to take us all the way to the final destination. In some cases we even have to deal with more than one company to puzzle together the whole trip.

Whilst I agree with Odo987, you do make an interesting point.. hmmm..

Oh.. and welcome to the boards!

Tivva wrote:

Ramirez wrote:
....you'll be offered contracts on things like gold and gemstones (as well as bulk orders of firearms and narcotics).


Doesn't bulk dealing in firearms or narcotics get you a fugitive status?
Can you still dock at your destination?

The fugitive status lapses after a few jumps, so by the time you reach your destination it's usually ok to use docking computers again. You need to use "ExtraFuelTank" to avoid docking en route.

It's a great way to accumulate a million credits fast! I take the shortest contracts offered in a new galaxy, do them until the big paying contracts turn up (about 7 contracts in a new galaxy) -- and by big paying I mean ¢100,000+ profit -- then do ten of them in rapid succession: bingo! one million crredits

p.s. who is this old man with dodgy teenage companion?

Zbond-Zbond wrote:

You need to use "ExtraFuelTank" to avoid docking en route.

You forgot to mention sun-skimming and Fuel-Stations as alternatives..