Smugglers - The Galactic Underworld & Black Markets

[Amah]

hi phkb,

thanks a lot for your Smugglers OXP. Even for a player doing mainly cargo runs across the Galaxies it is a welcome nuisa... er... addition the my gameplay. The banning of once perfectly legal cargo adds some real nice variation. I now have to plan detours have to weigh between bottle neck routes, sunskimming, or offender status. I think immersion concerned it's one of the oxps which had the biggest impact for me so far.

heh, on a well paid Gem stone contract I relized almost in the last minute that these are controlled goods in Mariah. So I had to change course and headed for the sun, smiling to myself. I was lucky it was just a hop on my route and not the destination.

keep up the good work,

Amah.

[phkb]

Thanks, Amah! I'm glad the OXP is adding some extra challenge and immersion. I've also run into import problems when I scooped some cargo and forgot to check what I'd picked up before docking. Had to pay 800CR to keep my nose clean!

Version 0.4.0 is now available. In this release:

• Fixed issue where you could purchase any smuggling compartment, regardless of how much credit you have.
• Added player credit balance to smuggling compartment purchase screen.
• Added player credit balance to Black Market purchasing screens.
• Tightened up which stations will have a Black Market.
• Added government icon and TL to all purchase screens in Black Market.
• Tweaks to the calculation of phase scan noticeboard items.
• Improvements to the page handling for illegal goods.

At this point I'm also thinking of adding this to the download manager. Please chime in with comments if you think it's ready for this step.

[phkb]

Version 0.5.0 is now up. I'll be adding this one to the manager shortly (Edit: done!), but links are in the first post as usual.

In this version:

• Fixed bug with selling relabelled cargo.
• Fixed issue with delivering a standard cargo contract to a system where the cargo has become illegal after accepting the contract. The player was not being given the opportunity to bribe a docking official to clear their bounty.
• Fixed issue where, after using the phase scanner and being discovered using it, and then docking, the player was not being given the opportunity to bribe their way out of trouble.
• Added emails for various actions, when the Email System OXP is in use.
• Changed skull and crossbones background image for Black Market.
• Improved integration with Illegal Goods Tweak OXP (v2.2.0). The inital screen IGT displays will now look like an Amnesty Intergalactic screen, rather than a GalCop one, and the player has only two choices: hand over the slaves, or work with GalCop. If they choose the latter, Smugglers will include slaves as part of its import restrictions and the player can bribe as normal if they choose to. In short, I've moved all the bribing mechanics into this OXP, rather than in IGT.

If you're using the Illegal Goods Tweak please update it as well!

[phkb]

A technical question: I'm using "planetinfo.plist" to add a market script to all systems, so I can adjust the legality of various commodities. Here's my code:

Code: Select all

{
	"universal" = {
		market_script = "smugglers_illegalmarket.js";
	};
}	

Which works fine. Unless you have "Stations for extra planets" installed, in which case those stations don't get the legality flags from the main station. This is because previously there was no deviation in the state of legal goods, so it is relying on trade-goods.plist to pass through any legality settings.

My question, then, is how to get any "GalCop" aligned station, that isn't the main station, to pick up the legality settings of the main station, without having to contact the authors of any station OXP's and asking them nicely to include it?

[spara]

A technical question: I'm using "planetinfo.plist" to add a market script to all systems, so I can adjust the legality of various commodities. Here's my code:

Code: Select all

{
	"universal" = {
		market_script = "smugglers_illegalmarket.js";
	};
}	

Which works fine. Unless you have "Stations for extra planets" installed, in which case those stations don't get the legality flags from the main station. This is because previously there was no deviation in the state of legal goods, so it is relying on trade-goods.plist to pass through any legality settings.

My question, then, is how to get any "GalCop" aligned station, that isn't the main station, to pick up the legality settings of the main station, without having to contact the authors of any station OXP's and asking them nicely to include it?

The documentation states that it should get the legality settings from the main station automagically:

Code: Select all

     1. Firstly, the primary system market is calculated
        1. The trade good price and quantity are generated from the values in trade-goods.plist
        2. The updateGeneralCommodityDefinition handler of the commodity's market_script will be called to set primary market data for the trade good
        3. The updateLocalCommodityDefinition handler of the system's market_script will be called to modify primary market data for the trade good. 
    2. Secondary markets are then calculated for each non-main station
        1. The primary system market is copied into the secondary market, and then quantities are scaled to the station's market capacity
        2. If the station does not have a market script, the rules in its market_definition are applied.
        3. The updateGeneralCommodityDefinition handler of the commodity's market_script will be called again to set secondary market data for the trade good.
        4. The updateLocalCommodityDefinition handler of the station's market_script will be called to modify secondary market data for the trade good. 

So you universal market_script should be run first, assuming you're using updateGeneralCommodityDefinition and updateLocalCommodityDefinition handlers. After that the primary market is copied to the secondary market and it's updateGeneralCommodityDefinition and updateLocalCommodityDefinition handlers are called. Haven't checked, but if this is not working with Stations for Extra Planets, the game behavior differs from documentation and should be fixed.

[phkb]

Hmm. I'm using updateLocalCommodityDefinition, as I'm updating the details at a system level by using the planetinfo.plist entry (or that's what I thought). What's strange is that the price is coming through to the secondary station from the main market (ie. my "inflated for illegality" price), but the legality_import and legality_export values aren't. So you can dock at a secondary station and sell your cargo without a care. Does that sound like a bug, or should I be using updateGeneralCommodityDefinition on each of the commodities, rather than my current system-wide method? According to the wiki I think my current method should be enough, so maybe it's a bug.

[phkb]

OK, after a quick test, it appears I need both definitions, the planet info market script, and the trade goods definitions as well, in order to cover all the bases. Thanks for the pointer, spara!

Edit: Scratch that. I just need the trade-goods market scripts. I just had to have it configured right.

OK, version 0.6.0 is now up, which fixes the secondary station issue. Links in the first post or via the download manager.

[Devium]

Keep seeing this in every station, even when I have no contracts or goods in hold. Seems to happen when I get caught after scooping illegal contraband after a kill or don't pay attention to the next systems illegal imports. Reloading game seems to fix it. Oh and I don't get fined/offender status when I accept punishment... it's just a little annoyance. Great expansion by the way! Oh and I do not have Illegal goods tweak due to the manager not letting me have it.

[phkb]

Thanks Devium. Looks like I have some bug fixing to do!

[Devium]

Oh tried again and manager now let me have illegal goods tweak. Maybe I just kept trying when the site was in maintenance mode or whatever and I forgot to check back. (seems it does that during my most active time) unless you just changed something in which case thanks

[phkb]

No, I didn't change anything. I suspect the Wiki was offline.

Anyway, Smugglers v0.6.1 is now available. Mostly a bug fix release this one.

• Using escape pod will now empty smuggler's compartment.
• Pared down "trade-goods.plist" to only contain required information, hopefully making it compatible with "Risk based economy" v2 OXP and BlOomberg Markets OXP.
• Removing the smuggling compartment or phase scanner at a Rock Hermit (or other non-GalCop station) will now refund the full cost, rather than just 70%.
• Changing the size of the smuggling compartment will refund the full price of the old size first, before purchasing the new size.
• Fixed bug when starting new game.
• Fixed issue where the message about delivering illegal goods via a cargo contract was appearing incorrectly.

[Amah]

Thanks for the updates, phkb. Nice oxp. As I said it really adds to immersion in my Ooniverse.

Don't know if you're looking for some ideas for the blackmarket... I always imagined that as a kind of Auction (like ebay for cargo, slaves and other contrabands;-), where the shady beings of the Galaxy try to exchange their booty er... hard(ly) earned goods with nice credits and traders, who ask no questions and try to make a quick bargain.

[phkb]

Thanks Amah, the Black market could do with being a bit more underworldish. Norby's SellAll does some of the job of shifting cargo - I was thinking of including an option for selling illegal cargo for a bit over the standard maximum rate if a buyer can be found. I was also going to try to implement the negotiate option for contracts. Time is the factor with all this, I'm afraid!

[Amah]

take your time... I'm already a happy customer

[Devium]

Reporting a minor issue I ran into during the Constrictor mission. One of the hints was pushed down off the bottom of the screen due to illegal items. (I could see top half of the first sentence.) Had to uninstall Smugglers to read the rest then reinstall.