Oolite Bulletins

Twice recently I've stumbled into some hot pirate-on-pirate action ... both times I've been given a "Thank you for the assistance" from a ship when I've potted its attacker. In the latest instance, an Asp thanked me when I took down an Offender in a Sidewinder (bounty I think in the 20s), only to then turn on me and reveal himself as a Fugitive, with a bounty of over Cr100.

I'm not complaining – it's just one more unexpected twist! But I don't remember seeing it before 1.76.1: is this new behaviour? Or (maybe) is it just easier for me to notice now that Randomshipnames.oxp is making it obvious which ship is which?

As far as I know pirates never thank for assistance. At least they didn't use to. So perhaps there is indeed a change somewhere...

As far as I can tell both pirate/pirate combat and pirates having the possibility to thank their rescuers have been in for quite some time. The code for both, with only minor substantive changes in the modern form, predates 1.65.

It's possible of course that other changes since then have made it more likely to happen.

Disembodied wrote:

Twice recently I've stumbled into some hot pirate-on-pirate action ... both times I've been given a "Thank you for the assistance"...

I quite like this idea. I don't think 'Honour amongst Thieves' would be a big deal in the somewhat harsh Ooniverse we inhabit, and it seems quite right that one Pirate group would attack another.
And as for the almost sardonic 'thanks', that's a nice touch.

Getting involved in npc/npc action (whether that be pirate/pirate, pirate/trader, or pirate/police) is one of the most fascinating aspects of the game.

Install Furball and you will see a lot of that.

I also like the idea of a pirate trying to go legit. Maybe he's hunting old mates trying to clear his bounty so he can become clean again. Not a common thing, but it'd be cool to see once in a great while.

I've never had this happen before. Maybe because I usually stick to the safer star systems.

cim wrote:

As far as I can tell both pirate/pirate combat and pirates having the possibility to thank their rescuers have been in for quite some time.

Although pirate/pirate combat is not excluded, in practice it only could start when accidently shooting an other pirate, while targeting a trader-like ship.

With thanking for helping him is nothing wrong. Pirates can also be polite.

S-P wrote:

I've never had this happen before. Maybe because I usually stick to the safer star systems.

This happened to me in Bierle, a Confederacy ... admittedly I was looking for trouble! There was a cluster of salvage drifting around, so I think I'd arrived in the aftermath of something. Maybe that's what happened: pirates squabbling over the loot? In practice, if two ships both went for the same cargo pod and collided, would that cause hostilities? Of course, an Asp shouldn't be going for any loot at all, but maybe he was part of one gang and the Sidewinder was part of another.

Eric Walch wrote:

cim wrote:

As far as I can tell both pirate/pirate combat and pirates having the possibility to thank their rescuers have been in for quite some time.

Although pirate/pirate combat is not excluded, in practice it only could start when accidentally shooting an other pirate, while targeting a trader-like ship.

Friendly fire at its best. I used to induce that on purpose by putting a pirate or trader between me and a pirate. Or get them to shoot a station.

A trader with an offender status being attacked by a regular fugitive pirate might also be a possibility, though it's only remotely likely if you had certain OXPs installed. (Random Hits plus Switeck's Shipping or maybe Illegal_goods_tweak)

Switeck wrote:

A trader with an offender status being attacked by a regular fugitive pirate might also be a possibility, though it's only remotely likely if you had certain OXPs installed. (Random Hits plus Switeck's Shipping or maybe Illegal_goods_tweak)

[wiki]Offender traders OXP[/wiki] would do that just on its own.

Disembodied wrote:

S-P wrote:

I've never had this happen before. Maybe because I usually stick to the safer star systems.

This happened to me in Bierle, a Confederacy ... admittedly I was looking for trouble! There was a cluster of salvage drifting around, so I think I'd arrived in the aftermath of something. Maybe that's what happened: pirates squabbling over the loot? In practice, if two ships both went for the same cargo pod and collided, would that cause hostilities? Of course, an Asp shouldn't be going for any loot at all, but maybe he was part of one gang and the Sidewinder was part of another.

It's likely as already mentioned that it could be friendly fire that forced one pirate to attack another.

Cmd. Cheyd wrote:

I also like the idea of a pirate trying to go legit. Not a common thing.

With Commander McLane's Anarchies you get just that.

Cmd. Cheyd wrote:

Maybe he's hunting old mates trying to clear his bounty so he can become clean again.

But not exactly that!