[RELEASE] New Cargoes OXP (1.2.3 released 9 February 2013)

[cim]

mm I bought Goat Soup at a planet that was producing it for 13.4 cr/tc after gossip in the bar that I could sell it well on some other planet. So I set of only to come at the end of a journey to sell it for the same price (13.4). So my question is: How long does the 'gossip' stay true. Or is is like real gossip up to you to investigate if it is a rumor or not.

Food is a tricky one to make a profit on because the New Cargoes pricing overlays the existing Agri/Ind bias for the base trade good, and the relative variation in generic food prices between Agri and Ind is huge. Possibly I need to tweak the pricing there a bit to make it a bit easier to make a profit - a static 10Cr. sales bonus at importers might be sufficient to give at least a little bit of profit for Food while not noticeably affecting the more profitable cargoes.

The trade routes for the basic goods are almost entirely static, so if the gossip was true to begin with - it's about 80% accurate for trade routes - it will remain true permanently. (You can get temporary market collapses and recoveries, but they're fairly rare)

I wonder if a sort of Frontier like mechanism is possible. In frontier you had major Export and minor imports etc. It would help a little if you could see what they are. Of course this should be implemented in such a way that it is not spoiling all the fun.

Maybe if I add a local import/export list? Exports are fairly obvious anyway by looking at the local market, but Imports are probably too hard to find out because you can't ask about the price of a good unless you have some in your hold. That's probably a little too difficult, yes.

Okay, I'll add that in. At least then you could find out what the current system wanted and maybe start looking around for that. It might make figuring out the relationships between system description and import/export a bit easier, certainly.

BTW: Did you add planet descriptions in the OXP too? I noticed some custom F7 screens. Nice .

Not in New Cargoes, no. What sort of custom screens?

[JazHaz]

I wonder if a sort of Frontier like mechanism is possible. In frontier you had major Export and minor imports etc. It would help a little if you could see what they are. Of course this should be implemented in such a way that it is not spoiling all the fun.

Maybe if I add a local import/export list? Exports are fairly obvious anyway by looking at the local market, but Imports are probably too hard to find out because you can't ask about the price of a good unless you have some in your hold. That's probably a little too difficult, yes.

Okay, I'll add that in. At least then you could find out what the current system wanted and maybe start looking around for that. It might make figuring out the relationships between system description and import/export a bit easier, certainly.

Oh excellent, that'll make it a bit easier to work out how to use the OXP. I'm hardly using it at the moment, but always trying.

BTW: Did you add planet descriptions in the OXP too? I noticed some custom F7 screens. Nice .

Not in New Cargoes, no. What sort of custom screens?

LOL

[pagroove]

I have a custom planet description on Ceanbibi G3 It does not come out of Famous planets:

"Ceanbibi is still recovering from civil war (3093 -3101). which ended the Ceanbibian confederacy.etc. The political situation is now stable if fragmented and the local delicacy Goat Soup can now be enjoyed in reasonable safety. Travellers planetside are advised to obey minefield warnings. Especially outside of major cities."

This planet description is not in Famous planets at the moment so I thought that it was your work because of the mention of the goat soup. Maybe it is coming from another oxp.

[cim]

This planet description is not in Famous planets at the moment so I thought that it was your work because of the mention of the goat soup. Maybe it is coming from another oxp.

Ah, that is one of mine, but not from New Cargoes. That (and nearby Lezaer) is from Rescue Stations, and relates to some of the backstory for the RRS Group (and some future developments for that OXP).

[pagroove]

Ah nice Cim . Anyway looking forward to a version with local import/exports list. .

[JazHaz]

Bit of a useability suggestion here. Can you reorder the options in each screen so that multiple keypresses don't have to be made to go to the next item?

EG: on the Buy Specialist Cargo screen, it would be better to have View Next Offer the first option, followed by the Buy 1 TC, Buy 10 TC, Buy 100 TC options. Same on the Sell Specialist Cargo screen. Also similarly, on the Enter the Tradefloor screen.

[BuggyBY]

I've noticed something odd: Every couple system jumps, when my countdown to the next jump ends, instead of a witchspace jump I get an alarm sound and a notification that some of my cargo has been destroyed. This despite me having full shields and energy banks at the time, and usually nobody shooting at me either. Is that supposed to happen?
Also I very much agree with JazHaz's suggestion. Tapping the arrow keys so often is a bit of a nuisance.

[Commander McLane]

I've noticed something odd: Every couple system jumps, when my countdown to the next jump ends, instead of a witchspace jump I get an alarm sound and a notification that some of my cargo has been destroyed. This despite me having full shields and energy banks at the time, and usually nobody shooting at me either. Is that supposed to happen?
Also I very much agree with JazHaz's suggestion. Tapping the arrow keys so often is a bit of a nuisance.

When was the last time you had your ship maintenanced? A badly serviced ship could become too fragile to make the journey through witchspace unharmed.

[cim]

I've noticed something odd: Every couple system jumps, when my countdown to the next jump ends, instead of a witchspace jump I get an alarm sound and a notification that some of my cargo has been destroyed. This despite me having full shields and energy banks at the time, and usually nobody shooting at me either. Is that supposed to happen?
Also I very much agree with JazHaz's suggestion. Tapping the arrow keys so often is a bit of a nuisance.

Agreed. I'll reorder the options. (There are a few other things I want to adjust before next release, so it might be a little while)

(And yes, get your ship in for a maintenance overhaul at the nearest high-tech system.)

[Smivs]

Off-topic (sorry) but I have also had a couple of mysterious 'equipment damaged' events with failed witch-jumps lately. Ship in good shape and no overhaul due. I meant to mention it earlier. Any idea what's going on?

[Cody]

I think they're normal random failures, Smivs... I get them occasionly.

[Commander McLane]

I think they're normal random failures, Smivs... I get them occasionly.

Hm. I don't remember that I ever got one like that. At the end of the countdown, with no large ship/station to mass-lock you, but with losing either equipment or cargo? That doesn't ring a bell. I don't think that I had that even once.

So my guess is that—if it's not due to bad maintenance—it's either something new in the code (I'm running 1.76 release), or OXP-related. I don't have the faintest idea which OXP, though.

[Cody]

Yeah, I'm running 1.76 as well, and I don't think any of my relatively few OXPs could be responsible... devs?

[cim]

Yeah, I'm running 1.76 as well, and I don't think any of my relatively few OXPs could be responsible... devs?

It's core behaviour, yes. Only 1 in 4 witchdrive malfunctions actually causes a misjump. The remainder will either cause "internal damage" to the ship - could be cargo, equipment, or serviceLevel that takes the hit - or a fuel leak.

The chance of any malfunction is less than 1% in a well-maintained ship. It's higher than that - though not by much - in a poorly-maintained ship.

[Cody]

Ah, thanks cim... I thought that was the case.