Coming Clean!

[Cody]

The irony is that I now find myself having Sky as my ISP (don't ask).
Good to 'see' you, el cuervo.

[Eric Walch]

Apart from the semantics:

Eric, would it make sense to include Free Trade Zones in the places where the offer would be made?

Any other places?

I think FTZs could be one place where the offer is made. If you're going to make the OXP usable for everyone (i.e. not dependent on other OXPs) the offer could be made in main stations in Anarchy systems, and maybe Feudal and Multi-Government ones, too.

Actually, is there any need to limit where the amnesty notice is posted? Surely GalCop would want it to be disseminated as widely as possible?

I also think this. The only thing you probably should look at is the hasNPCTraffic property. That are stations that explicit have defined to have no normal traffic.

[Commander McLane]

Perhaps there could be different newsflashes about it in different systems. Corporate States could deplore GalCop's craven offer to these brigands who prey on honest merchantmen (think Daily Telegraph); Democracies and Confederacies could have pious hopes for greater stability (The Guardian); Communist worlds would be suspicious, viewing it as a bourgeois trick to legitimise gangster capitalism (The Socialist Worker); Dictatorships would blame everything on foreigners (The Daily Mail) ...

Love it... the world of the press in a nutshell.

Here's the world of the press in a nutshell:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGscoaUWW2M

It's priceless!

[Cody]

Yes, that's an absolute classic.

[Commander McLane]

I was thinking about making the announcement only on stations which offenders/fugitives usually would be expected to visit. The much-talked-about 'safe havens' for pirates and the like.

But of course they can be broadcast at the main stations as well. The player could even become fugitive after receiving the broadcast, and try to go for the amnesty.

[Eric Walch]

The player could even become fugitive after receiving the broadcast, and try to go for the amnesty.

And that is the general problem of amnesty: You can kill cops after the broadcast as long as you make sure you reach the Loki in time to get amnesty

[Disembodied]

I was thinking about making the announcement only on stations which offenders/fugitives usually would be expected to visit. The much-talked-about 'safe havens' for pirates and the like.

But of course they can be broadcast at the main stations as well. The player could even become fugitive after receiving the broadcast, and try to go for the amnesty.

There could be a separate newsflash for broadcast in the safe havens (and Anarchy system stations), taking a more balanced tone ... and a bulletin for Seedy Space Bars deploring the whole idea but stressing the financial opportunities for bounty hunters: "Get 'em while they're hot!"

[Commander McLane]

@ Eric: I took the normal behemothPatrolAI and only allowed into state STAY_INTERSTELLAR, in order to make the Behemoth stationary in a system. I want to change as little as possible from the normal AI, I just want the ship to keep orbit and not patrol.

However, it constantly performs scanForHostiles. The Wiki says that this scans for all ships targeting the ship. Does it perform any other checks? If I have NPC fugitives trying to dock, they would have to target the Behemoth and request docking. Would the Behemoth therefore attack them before granting docking requests? Do I have to change behemothReceiveDockingAI in order to enable fugitives to be accepted in the first place? (I think yes, because it scans for offenders, which also finds ships with bounties, doesn't it?)

[Eric Walch]

@ Eric: I took the normal behemothPatrolAI and only allowed into state STAY_INTERSTELLAR, in order to make the Behemoth stationary in a system. I want to change as little as possible from the normal AI, I just want the ship to keep orbit and not patrol.

However, it constantly performs scanForHostiles. The Wiki says that this scans for all ships targeting the ship. Does it perform any other checks? If I have NPC fugitives trying to dock, they would have to target the Behemoth and request docking. Would the Behemoth therefore attack them before granting docking requests? Do I have to change behemothReceiveDockingAI in order to enable fugitives to be accepted in the first place? (I think yes, because it scans for offenders, which also finds ships with bounties, doesn't it?)

The Behemoth uses two different scan methods.
- in normal space: scanForOffenders. This finds any ships with a bounty, but with a success rate depending on government type.
- in interstellar space: scanForHostiles. This scans all ships that are targeting the ship AND are in attack mode. (added that info to the wiki now) Just targeting should do nothing. As extra, this command also finds thargoids, no mater what they are targeting. I assume the thargoid scan is the reason Giles used this scan method in interstellar space.

NB scanForHostiles is also used by trader ships, so they can react on a pirate before the pirate has fired a shot. Here the escorts target the mother also without problems.

Fugitive npc ships are allowed to dock with their docking computer. Not consistent with the player who only can dock manually when fugitive. But maybe fugitive npc ships do dock manually, who knows?

[TGHC]

However, it's not a government official, but the news bulletin of iNews, who may well be the 32nd century equivalent of the Sun, for all we know.

shivers at the thought of naked Thargoids on page 3

[Commander McLane]

- in normal space: scanForOffenders. This finds any ships with a bounty, but with a success rate depending on government type.
- in interstellar space: scanForHostiles. This scans all ships that are targeting the ship AND are in attack mode. Just targeting should do nothing.

That's good to know. The Wiki omits the part after the 'AND', that's why I was unsure if they also need to be attacking—and of course it makes much more sense that they need to. EDIT: you edited the Wiki and your post while I was typing this.

scanForOffenders is part of the receiveDockingAI. So this means that the Behemoth and its escorts could attack fugitive NPCs while they try to dock. Which means that I have to modify the AI.

Another question: is OFFENCE_COMMITTED only sent as a result of the scanForOffenders, or also if an offence is committed just now, without the scan?

[Switeck]

I was seeing traders shooting at a Pirate Cove asteroid probably because the traders used scanForHostiles. Seems a little strange that they consider the asteroid targeting them AND attacking!?

[Sarin]

Wasn't one of traders Rebecca, our resident hermit slayer?

[Eric Walch]

Another question: is OFFENCE_COMMITTED only sent as a result of the scanForOffenders, or also if an offence is committed just now, without the scan?

OFFENCE_COMMITTED is a bit tricky. It is fully automated transmitted without an AI trigger. But, it is only send to ships of police scanclass and the main station when in range. To no other ships, despite the use in other AI scripts.

I was seeing traders shooting at a Pirate Cove asteroid probably because the traders used scanForHostiles. Seems a little strange that they consider the asteroid targeting them AND attacking!?

Yes, and in the original version of the AI it was always hostile to the player, with as result that the player had always a red alert when passing a pirate cove. That way it immediately gave away its identity of not being a plain rock hermit. I changed the AI script so it not immediately gave a red alert for the player. When I remember it right, a station must be both in RED_ALERT itself and targeting a ship to be seen hostile to that ship. And there is no 'un-target' command, so I used setTargetToSystemStation to make it loose the player as target, so it does not trigger a red_alert for the player.

[Commander McLane]

Another question: is OFFENCE_COMMITTED only sent as a result of the scanForOffenders, or also if an offence is committed just now, without the scan?

OFFENCE_COMMITTED is a bit tricky. It is fully automated transmitted without an AI trigger. But, it is only send to ships of police scanclass and the main station when in range. To no other ships, despite the use in other AI scripts.

Does this mean that even hunters don't receive it? What do they react upon? Only distress calls?