Oolite Bulletins

BTW, should this useful and sensible break from the main topic, be split in to it's own thread?

Yep!

DaddyHoggy wrote:

...do some beat up looking stations ...

"It was only as the ship came around to line up with the Docking Port that the true nature of what had happened here became clear. Vast areas of the station had been shot away and then hurriedly patched. There were scorch marks from heavy laser fire, most of the Hotel section around the port was missing, and several systems including the Docking Beacons were clearly damaged or faulty.
On our final approach, two hastily painted Skull and Crossbones became visible, a rictus grin to act either as a greeting or warning. Our spirits sank..."

Nice one! Picture and story to go with it - that's exactly what I meant!

Smivs wrote:

I'm not sure I agree with all of this. Some of the best prices for computers and luxuries can be had at low-tech Anarchies, so trading with them can be very beneficial. Also clean players should be able to dock anywhere, and not just for trade. Don't forget a Pirate with a full hold heading for the station can show as 'Clean'.
And how much 'Honour amongst Thieves' is there? Surely a ruthless Fugitive wouldn't have too many qualms about attacking a low-level Offender, particularly if he was on his own.
The rest I like a lot though.

You're right, it would be wrong to close off the stations to Clean players – but I think the Anarchy systems should feel like places that are definitely not part of the Co-operative. No cops (except maybe the occasional in-strength Navy-backed raid), and the Offenders and Fugitives should behave differently. I think there should be some honour among thieves, if only to let the criminal players have somewhere to call home, as it were (after all, in other systems, the pirates don't attack each other). Anarchy systems are where they could feel safe, where there's almost never anyone but offenders and fugitives. There might be the odd psycho-nutter but I think most of the time they'd give players with criminal ratings a free ride.

Smivs wrote:

Is there also a case for linking AI to Status? For example could a Fugitive have a more aggressive AI than an Offender. An Offender might have accidentally launched having forgotten to sell a Slave he picked up on his last sortie, but is basically a law-abiding type, whereas a Fugitive is a serious career criminal with presumably less to lose and therefore more likely to fight to the death rather than try to flee an attack.

A good idea, I think! But there would need to be other AI-types to govern behaviour in Anarchy systems. Maybe Offenders would be peaceful towards players with criminal ratings, but Fugitives would attack anyone.

As-is, even offenders in regular systems tend to be very aggressive towards the player. The rare exception is a regular trader made an offender through unlucky friendly fire.

Even police Vipers have a chance of friendly fire, so in theory even they could become offenders?

As for saving at any station, doesn't the OXP already pull that off somehow?

Switeck wrote:

Even police Vipers have a chance of friendly fire, so in theory even they could become offenders?

If only .
The Law is above the Law.

Im not sure if its 100% (I never looked hard enough) but the code tries to prevent police from being marked as an offender. If anyone as planning to do so, I think its a bad idea to put turrets on stations as I cant see why friendly fire of a weaponised corolis on vipers wouldnt make the main station a criminal

Does anyone see a reason not to make it the following:

Do Alien stations ever replace the main station, and if they do, is there a reason why they shouldnt be exempt form the legal system?

Unless this beer is going to my head [UNIVERSE station] == self for the main station only, and has nothing to do with scan class.

And if the main station is replaced with something alien, then Im not sure the legal system continues to work -- who is setting the bounty, I guess it isnt GalCop (as they are no longer there)?

If the alien station already has a bounty on it from being hostile...I doubt it'd matter much either way.
And if it's not hostile-by-default, automatically excluding it from being offender/fugitive seems simple enough.

just skimming this, but it seems there's a little misinterpretation going on (maybe it's by me, lol) :
Anarchy systems refer to the systems, not the stations. the stations, imo, are a haven of Galcop safety, but it's gonna be a fkr gtting there. There's always a chance of a pirate station, but i can't see it EVER being a taken-over Coriolis : if that happened, i'd assume GalCop would send in a huge fleet, or the Navy, and that would be the end of matters. Pirate bases, imo, would be something like a huge, oldish ship, dockable and w/ its own pirates as defence ships, something that can tour the system, scavenge when the opportunity presents, or just keep on the move in case the Vipers decide to take offence to their presence. That, or an asteroid base like the pirated rock hermits. As an afterthought, perhaps there COULD be a Cori, if the old ones and up in a governmental surplus sale from places where they're been replaced by Isos etc, but these should NEVER be the main station, they'd be off in deeper space.

stopping an offender pilot docking would prevent you saving the game, wouldn't it? Likewise, it makes no sense for anarchist bases to stop a clean pilot : the approach of another OXP (i believe it was) where there was a chance of getting ripped off however was a great idea.

Killer Wolf wrote:

just skimming this, but it seems there's a little misinterpretation going on (maybe it's by me, lol) :

Not a misinterpretation, no – but this is why it would be such a departure from canon. It would mean turning the Anarchy systems, including their stations, into regions outside of Co-op control.

The gameplay appeal would be that these systems, and their stations, could become places where Offender and Fugitive players could save their games in peace and quiet, and be able to enjoy a criminal career without having the rather jarring issue of being the galaxy's Most Wanted but still being able to stop off in a station supposedly under GalCop control.

If you want a rationale, perhaps the war against the Thargons is going rather badly, and the Co-operative is starting to fracture under the strain ...