Oolite Bulletins

I have considered having dead bodies as part of debris - when you scoop them they show up as food and textiles... but how many different alien models would I need?

I too have been making stories about the slaves and how they show up. Funny though, I didn't make the escape-pod-slave - insurance angle. I always figured it was a serving-slave who ducked into the escape pod ahead of the pilot - see ya later sucker!

But they show up in cargo don't they? But then, it is not illegal to import slaves - it is illegal to export them.

Simon B wrote:

But they show up in cargo don't they? But then, it is not illegal to import slaves - it is illegal to export them.

For honest people like me ( Cough..cough...) trading slaves is not the biggest problem, they were slaves to begin with. The problem is that I am enslaving honest pilots against my believe.

What does actually happen when a pilot bails out:

A) He can have an insurance.
B) He can have a bounty on its head
C) Both
D) Neighter of the two

Insurance of a pilot is set on ship creation according to certain rules. Same for bounty. Bounty can also be raised when attacking clean ships. When such a pilot ejects and is caught by the player, the player gets gets a captured pilot or rescued pilot message. With neither the player gets a "captured slave" message.

A) Pilots with insurance are free to go after docking.
B) Pilots with a bounty are handed over to the police. When they have done little crime they probably are released soon or only are fined after a short process. In the end they are free again.
C) Pilots with both A and B are handled as insured and released immediately.
D) Pilots that are clean but have no insurance are turned into slaves. There in nothing the player can do against it. Just remember it are only clean pilots that YOU, the player, is turning into slaves.

And by code, 25% of the traders and 75% of the bounty hunters has no insurance.
It is better for police and miners. Their union made sure they always are insured. Even passengers are always ensured. (Ships have passengers when there are more than 1 escape pods defined for a ship.)

Conclusion: When you are hostile you don't risk slavery, but when being a honest trader or bounty hunter that is to poor to buy an insurance, there is a constant risk of becoming a slave.

Eric Walch wrote:

A) Pilots with insurance are free to go after docking.
B) Pilots with a bounty are handed over to the police. When they have done little crime they probably are released soon or only are fined after a short process. In the end they are free again.
C) Pilots with both A and B are handled as insured and released immediately.
D) Pilots that are clean but have no insurance are turned into slaves. There in nothing the player can do against it. Just remember it are only clean pilots that YOU, the player, is turning into slaves.

C) doesn't sound right to me. Insurance companies being what they are, they would be able to use their client's negative legal status as an excuse to wriggle out of paying. If a captured pilot has insurance AND a bounty, surely the bounty should take precedence? Or is this an example of the escape pod clearing one's legal record?

Disembodied wrote:

C) doesn't sound right to me.

You are right, It isn't right, but in reality an offender goes free when he is well insured. (Or has enough money to buy the best lawyers). In Holland there are enough examples of this. And I also think that O.J. Simson would have been convicted when he had not spend money at his lawyers.

Eric Walch wrote:

Disembodied wrote:

C) doesn't sound right to me.

You are right, It isn't right, but in reality an offender goes free when he is well insured. (Or has enough money to buy the best lawyers). In Holland there are enough examples of this. And I also think that O.J. Simson would have been convicted when he had not spend money at his lawyers.

The first time around at least for OJ.

C's OK - after all if you've got a speeding offence on your driving license you pay more for your insurance but generally you do not become unisured at the moment of conviction...

Fair enough! I can cope with that idea, that the reason these pirates escape justice is because they're rich. It's an imperfect universe out there ...

Perhaps one of the clever oxp'ers could write something (hidden) that increases the cost of purchasing a new escape pod 1) with each additional use, 2) if you happened to be Offender or Fugitive when your finger slips on to the eject button.