Passengers keep leaving before time is up

[kangarolf]

Hi all,

Thanks for oolite!

I though I'd try a passenger run as trading was taking far too long to make any money if Im ever to get a new ship.

Loaded up two passengers for a midway and about 3/4 across the galaxy. They both left before I got there and both before the time had officially run out..? Whats up..?

Also if I sell my ship I am guessing I lose all the equipment on it yes..?

Are there any other ways of earning credits that I am missing..? If I flew between rich tech to poor agri all day long every day with a 30 tn cargo hold it'll take me an awful long and boring time to get enough credits for a new ship.

Thanks
Rolf

[cim]

Loaded up two passengers for a midway and about 3/4 across the galaxy. They both left before I got there and both before the time had officially run out..? Whats up..?

So long as you take a direct route there should be plenty of time. (The Advanced Navigational Array is a useful investment here) If you did that, it could be a bug. You don't happen to have a save game backup from before they left that I could look at, do you?

Also if I sell my ship I am guessing I lose all the equipment on it yes..?

Yes, in general, but you get the cost of that equipment added to your ship's trade-in value, so you can buy it back again without losing out. If you sell your ship just after a maintenance overhaul, you'll get a much better price than if you sell them some deathtrap that's not been serviced for years.

Are there any other ways of earning credits that I am missing..? If I flew between rich tech to poor agri all day long every day with a 30 tn cargo hold it'll take me an awful long and boring time to get enough credits for a new ship.

Cargo contracts pay very highly once your reputation is high enough to take on the precious metal contracts, but finding people who are offering contracts which you can do in a Cobra III is going to be tricky. It can be done - I made a few million that way in a Cobra III.

If you find a rock hermit you can make a bit of money trading with them, if you know what they like, and they usually have some good deals on rocks, shiny rocks, and very shiny rocks. More profitable than the normal trade routes, anyway.

There are certain ... restricted commodities ... which a skilled or lucky trader can make more of a profit on than the more conventional cargoes.

Bounty hunting doesn't pay much per kill, but if you have a fuel scoop then you also get their cargo for free, and some of those canisters might contain a few hundred credits worth of precious metals each. Jump into an Anarchy system with an empty hold, and it can probably be full of profit by the time you reach the station.

Then, your average criminal doesn't always have that much cargo. Traders, however, they've got the good stuff, and often don't take much persuading to part with it.

[Diziet Sma]

G'day mate!

(a fellow Aussie?)

Something is very strange with that.. I've never had a passenger bail early. Hopefully somebody here might have an idea what's going on.

Yes, if you trade in your ship, all the gear goes too.. be sure to have a service done at a high-tech system before trading it in, so as to get the best possible price.

As for making Credits, try the cargo contracts instead. 35T and less contracts aren't as common as the bigger ones, but there are enough of them around to get you all the way up to a perfect rep, and once that happens, the really juicy precious metals contracts start landing in your lap.. with a few of those under your belt, a single run across the chart can earn you over Cr100,000 in pure profit.

See this post and this thread for more details.

Edit: ninja'd by cim!

[Cody]

There are certain ... restricted commodities ... which a skilled or lucky trader can make more of a profit on than the more conventional cargoes.

<grins> This is a high-risk, often uncertain, career choice, but it can yield quick rewards... if you're good enough!
Welcome aboard, kangarolf!

[another_commander]

How many hours before expiration did your passengers leave the ship? What were the departure and destination systems? Which system were you on when they decided to bail out? What was the deadline of the contracts? What OXPs are you running? What version of Oolite are you running?

*Phew*

[kangarolf]

Thanks for all the replies.

I dont know the answers to the specifics about the passengers, nor do I have multiple saves, but I will try again and take more notice.

I have these addons..

AI Trading Assistant
Basic Debug
BGS-A1.5
BountyScanner
Combat HUD
Galactic Hyperdrive
Griff Ships
Random Ship Names
Target Auto Lock

Thanks
Rolf

(Welsh!)

[Diziet Sma]

Check out the two links I posted.. a lot of what's there is applicable to passenger-hauling, as well as cargo contracts. And remember, a lot of small jumps is actually quicker than a smaller number of big jumps, due to the way witchspace works.