In Oolite, although the missile lock indicates a hostile response, the game follows the Old West legal system of 'Who Drew First'. Even if the guy 'pings' you with his missile targeting system, the offender is the one that fires first. Many a time, I've got a fair bounty from those pesky Boyracers who buzz your hull, trying to tempt you into firing, just by waiting til a Viper came on screen and then letting the annoying little sod hit me with his piddling laser. I then fight back as his legal status jumps to 'Offender' and, more often than not, I get a Viper wingman. I sometimes even get a thank you from the copper when I sort the little richboy into his component atoms.
Well, I found proof that even criminals ignoring you get red on radar...
I just got some upgrades for my cobra, including ECM, beam laser, afterburners and targetting scanner. On my way to base I encountered lone sidewinder. He was quite far, and heading away from me. I scanned it, and found out that he's offender. Hungry for kills, I engaged thrusters and intercepted. At approx 10 km, he turned red, but was still ignoring me. I closed at around 6 kilometers to get a sure hit...still nothing, he started to react only after I fired at him. And, that was too late for him.
Hmm - not my experience. I've had lots of 'Offenders' quite happily fly by me and stay yellow on the radar.
While you turn red on *their* radar since you've just scanned & painted them to find out they're Offenders...
I hate it when something shows up as yellow until a Viper arrives, then it turns red. I zap it and then the dratted Viper decides to blast me! And he appears to be the reason the other one changed colour in the first place...
Can we prosecute GalCop for Entrapment?
You really want to know what's gonna happen, Ambassador? Boom. Boom boom. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. BOOM!
While you turn red on *their* radar since you've just scanned & painted them to find out they're Offenders...
I hope not! That would mean that every time a GalCop Viper flies through my crosshairs and my ship ident system highlights him, I turn red on his scanner...
Red on the scanner just means that the ship has gone to performAttack in its AI with the player as the target. Cops however only regard an attack as when the ship actually hits another with its laser or fires a missile. A ship has to get in range before firing (and may still miss of course). A ship packing a beam laser only has a range of 10km, so it may be a little while before a red blip actually opens up as it has to intercept you first and get in range. You can always fire on an offender ship without consequences from the Cops (they may even dive in to help). Fireing on a clean ship is an offence though. If you are an offender and a clean ship attacks you, he is acting legally and you are not. If you are Clean, the attacking Clean ship will become an Offender once a Cop sees his laser hit you, but until then he's clean. If you fire on him before he becomes a criminal then you are the offender!
Not all Offenders are pirates though. A trader trading in things he shoudn't can be an Offender but won't attack you unless you decide to attack him for his cargo or bounty (which you can do legally as he is an offender). Similarly, a bounty hunter will attack you if you are an Offender. He is Clean as he is acting lawfully.
OXPS : The Assassins Guild, Asteroid Storm, The Bank of the Black Monks, Random Hits, The Galactic Almanac, Renegade Pirates can be downloaded from the Elite Wiki here.
And as an interesting aside, try using the JS Console to player.spawn a ship with a role "pirate".
Initially he will be very close to you, yellow on the scanner and have rating clean (usually). It's only when you fly away from him to a 10km range and then turn about that his scanner marker goes red...
Found that little quirk out whilst testing the combat drones, hence why the area ended up littered with dead alien hulls instead
Fireing on a clean ship is an offence though. If you are an offender and a clean ship attacks you, he is acting legally and you are not. If you are Clean, the attacking Clean ship will become an Offender once a Cop sees his laser hit you, but until then he's clean. If you fire on him before he becomes a criminal then you are the offender!
Crumbs, LittleBear! Your legal knowledge is blummin' handy!
And he appears to be the reason the other one changed colour in the first place...
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