[WIP] GalCop Missions

[phkb]

it would be nice if the alloys from all thargoid warhips were accepted

In theory they should have already been catered for, as long as the OXP had included "thargoid-mothership" as one of the ship roles. But I've noticed this isn't always the case, so I'm changing the method of determining if the Thargoid ship is a mothership (or equivalent) by doing the opposite - checking to see if the ship is not a thargon/tharglet/EQ_THARGON. Hopefully that will catch everything now.

[phkb]

OK, version 0.1.3 is now available which will (fingers-crossed) fix the issues with the Thargoid wreckage missions and the rescue stranded ship missions. Here's a full list of changes/fixes:

• Reworked all the cargo collection mission types (8,9,10,11,13,14,15) so that mission updates happen when cargo is handed in, not when it is scooped (although a notification will still be given to the player that the cargo was suitable for the mission). Expiry time has also been removed, and maximum quantity can now be greater than the player's available cargo hold.
• Fixed issues with Thargoid wreckage collection missions, so alloys can now be successfully handed in, and (hopefully) alloys from any Thargoid warship (including OXP Thargoids) should now be acceptable.
• Applied some fixes for the "Stranded ship" mission to stop the ship from moving before receiving help.
• Bug fixes.
• Tweaked the energy drain of the Range Finder.
• Added sound for when the Range Finder scan is stopped.
• Removed debug flag from "Thargoid wreckage" missions, so they shouldn't appear as frequently.
• Fixed cargo dontation charity missions that were only being made available if the local market had slaves.
• Code refactoring and (hopefully) performance improvements.

[Bogatyr]

OK, version 0.1.3 is now available which will (fingers-crossed) fix the issues with the Thargoid wreckage missions and the rescue stranded ship missions.

Thanks!

[pagroove]

Thank you for constantly updating this OXP. It is a lot of fun.

[phkb]

Version 0.1.5 is out. In this release:
- Adjustments to the population routines for interstellar space.
- Fixed bug where reputation was not being applied correctly for missions where multiple reputation entities were defined.
- Fixed bug with distance calculation in the Disease Outbreak script.
- Adjusted time calculation for travel between threatened satellites during a satellite defend mission.
- Added reputation links to Home System OXP.
- Better handling of Combat Simulator.

[Damocles Edge]

Can I ask a question please?
I have just completed the pirate hunt mission in Galaxy 2 and pretty much straight away received an email asking me to undertake a mission to destroy 3 Thargoid warships at an invasion point located somewhere between Qualema & Cediza (Qualema being where I am docked and Cediza showing a red mission target on the map).
I jump into hyperspace expecting to drop out mid journey and face Thargoids, but I do not. Thinking that maybe they are not in witch-space but nearer to Cediza prime I jump towards the planet, but do not find any Thargoids. Then I think - maybe I have to make a witchspace journey back to Qualema to encounter the Thargoids, this again yielded no Thargoids.
Am I doing something wrong here ?
Or could it be due to the fact that I do not have TCAT installed (To Catch A Thargoid)? - I had previously removed this as I was so frustrated by the Thargoid Controllers.

If I could also ask another query I experienced when undertaking a Gun-Runner mission the rough the Bulletin Board system. Esexe had charged me with visiting nearby Qualema and recovering 18t of firearms from ships entering or leaving Qualema.
The uncertainty that I encountered was due to only being able to locate 1 ship (using the manifest scanner) which was carrying Firearms (just 1t amongst other legal cargo), the problem was that after running my police scanner his status was coming up clean, it would not open fire on me no matter how much I taunted it, even demanding 5t of cargo (which I feared may flag me as a criminal) did not do the trick. My fear was that If I open fire on it first that I would definitely be flagged as a criminal.
My question is that in this instance is it okay to fire on a ship (as they have illegal cargo) even though they have a clean status?

Thanks

[Cody]

I jump into hyperspace expecting to drop out mid journey and face Thargoids, but I do not.

I don't know this OXP, but perhaps you need to force the misjump to midway?

[Damocles Edge]

I don't know this OXP, but perhaps you need to force the misjump to midway?

I thought that too - but the map isn't giving me an option for a mid-planet jump

[Cody]

Should probably wait for phkb, but to force a misjump, pitch up hard (keyboard, not 'stick) as the countdown hits 1.

[phkb]

Re: misjumps - the assumption I used for the missions is that the player would be familiar with the method of entering intergalactic space by forcing a misjump. Maybe this assumption is incorrect. I was aiming to avoid making misjumps happen via code, so that (a) there are less things that can go wrong, and (b) that the player can feel like that have some agency in the whole process. I've attempted to make it as clear as possible that you need to manually cause a misjump, without actually saying "you have to cause a misjump manually". But given this has come up before, maybe I do need to make it super-super-clear.

If you did cause a misjump between the two systems, and didn't find any Thargoids, then that's probably just unlucky. The mission assumes that if you end up in Interstellar space you'll be facing Thargoids - it doesn't spawn any additional ones itself.

The presence of TCAT shouldn't have any bearing on the mission, unless it is causing Thargoids to not spawn. I haven't looked inside TCAT to see what it's doing.

Re: gun running mission - This is essentially a state-sponsored piracy mission, so yes, there is a chance you could be caught doing something illegal and be labelled a criminal. I am pushing some firearms onto some ships in the system (predominately pirate ships, but also normal traders), so you should be able to find them somewhere, but remember that there is no expiry time for this mission. You can take as long as you want, and bring back the cargo you find in separate loads.

I'll review the code that adds the firearms to ships though, and put some safe-guards in place to make sure there is always some ships with the cargo on board.

[Damocles Edge]

Well I hate it when my ignorance is the cause of issues - you have my most humble apologies.

I never knew that you could initiate a mis-jump - I thought these were solely the result of Thargoids ambushing witchspace.
phkb - your post did make me giggle - the bit about State Sponsored Piracy (like around the time of Elizabeth I), here was me thinking that SSP was what your employer paid you when you had a bit of time away from work
Thank you to all for filling in the gaps in my knowledge and wisdom (many who know me would argue that you don't need a trowel for this task - a cement mixer is much better suited)

[Cody]

I never knew that you could initiate a mis-jump...

Not only can you force misjumps on yourself, you can force misjumps on NPCs too.
This means you can cross the Great Rift, and make use of back-door routes.

[Damocles Edge]

Not only can you force misjumps on yourself, you can force misjumps on NPCs too.
This means you can cross the Great Rift, and make use of back-door routes.

Really?
How would you go about doing this?
Please bare in mind my earlier post concerning a cement mixer....

[Cody]

I thought these were solely the result of Thargoids ambushing witchspace.

Your ship's maintenance level can have an influence on it too.

How would you go about doing this?

When hitching* a free ride, you dive into an NPC's witchspace cloud and follow it to wherever it's going (you'd usually analyse the wormhole first to ensure it's going where you want to go). To force a misjump, the method is essentially the same as above, but timing is critical and you don't have a countdown to help. It takes some practice to master, and even then you won't get it right every time.


*Be aware that a normal misjump can occur when hitching a lift.

[Damocles Edge]

Being as timing is everything - are you saying that you need to pull the nose of your ship hard up a second before entering the witchspace portal or a second before the ship your tagging along with creates the portal? (not sure how you'd know when this was going to occur).