Oolite Bulletins

I'm considering creating an OXP to enhance the appeal of bounty hunting and give it a bit more depth. At the moment, you just jump into a system and shoot whatever ships you can find that have a bounty on them. There's no real searching involved, no planning in advance, no element of tracking someone down. There is also something of a plot hole in the game, where doing a galactic jump clears your bounty. I think it might be interesting if these elements were combined into a bounty hunting expansion.

So, here's what I'm thinking: Create a list of "Intergalactic Bounties", which would be a list of pilots who have incurred a bounty in another galactic sector. The list would have the pilots name, the reason for the bounty, how much the bounty is, and where in the current sector they were last seen (ie. what main station they docked at). The list would be updated as new information comes to hand. A simple movement algorithm would calculate new positions for each pilot on the list (traders would follow trade routes, pirates would visit dangerous systems, etc) and updates would occur at the correct times (that is, if it takes 6 hours to travel from point A to point B, the "Last Seen" field would update after 6 hours). Sometimes the pilot will skip a system in their route, indicating either they sunskimmed fuel for the next jump, or they docked at a Rock Hermit and didn't travel to the main station. Sometimes the pilot will not be seen for long periods, indicating they have left the sector. Sometimes pilots will just disappear off the list, indicating they have been killed and the bounty claimed.

Based on this information, the player could try to work out where the target will go next, and attempt to get there first and meet them at the witchpoint. Or possibly, using Station Dock Control, they could search the list of docked pilots and then try to follow their launch. Even without SDC, if the movement calculations put the target in the player's system ahead of them, it could also be possible for the player to lie in wait at the station and monitor all departing ships, one of which could be forced to be the target.

Scanning for a pilot will require a new scanning device. The device will be limited in range, requiring the player to be within 15k (beam laser range) of the target, and using it on a ship will be viewed by the target as a hostile act, the response varied based on location (within the station aegis or not) and the targets primary role (traders will most likely run away, pirates might attack, assassins and hunters will probably attack). Don't use it on police ships! The scanner takes a few seconds to complete its work and then display the intergalactic bounty on the target, if there is one.

If you succeed in killing a target with an intergalactic bounty, you have to visit the GalCop HQ system to claim your bounty (of which there will be one or two in each sector).

The bounties would range in value from about 50cr to (I reckon) about 2000 (and rarely, around the 10k mark). The ones with high bounties are probably traveling in a group and with more powerful ships, so they will be harder to kill.

The player themselves can end up on the list if they do a galactic jump while still having a non-clean legal status. If they want to remove themselves from the list they need to travel to the GalCop HQ and pay the fine. In the meantime, they might find themselves on the receiving end of bounty hunters.

How is this different to Random Hits? Well, RH is contract killing - you are commissioned to kill a particular individual, for a variety of (sometimes obscure) reasons. You are told where that pilot/ship will be. You go there, you shoot the ship, you get a reward. This new OXP would put emphasis on the searching element. You don't know where the target is exactly, instead needing to use deduction and a bit of guesswork. There is also the element of lying in wait - in RH you are always moving, searching for the target. In this OXP there could be long periods of being in one place, scanning incoming ships.

I know this is probably borrowing a few ideas from other games, but I think there's room expansion in Oolite. What do you think? Does that make sense? Would it be valuable?

Certainly I think there's room for another type of bounty hunting OXP.. done well, it might appeal to some that don't find RH to be their style.

cool idea... "at stardate abs, xyz - a fierce bony bird - was last seen in the Xexedi system and was heading for Laenin."

Nice idea. My only thought is that 50Cr bounties are commonplace - maybe these should be quite rare but worthwhile ones. Intergalactic super-criminals who take a fair bit of tracking down but are financially lucrative.

You're full of good ideas. I like it
A suggestion:
One thing successful completion could do is change all the players role_weights to hunter so change the actions of the ships encountered. Will make the player a target for pirate-interceptors I think.
Perhaps this should also lead to a chance to meet welcome committees a la courier missions. i.e. The target hears they are being followed by a famous bounty hunter, so send a few friends to say hello

I'd for sure play this.

Nice idea! I think at least 500cr worth the planning and searching.

A simple solution of the hostile act if need a "ping" with laser so red alert is guaranteed. If the hit is within 15km and the target is in the list then display a message about the extra cash. I suggest to raise the bounty of target ship when detected: in this way my additions in Towbar and Laser Cannons can work well which pay the bounty at ejects also.

I can imagine either without any extra device, or an equipment usable by any laser, or a special scanner laser with 0 damage which must be in a weapon mount either on a side or in [wiki]LMSS[/wiki] - your choice.

Note [url=http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Oolite_JavaScript_Reference:_Ship#crew]ship.crew[/url] is read-only so you must use ship.setCrew() to restore the pilot, but the data formats are different. I found just now that you read crew[0].insurance in [wiki]Station Dock Control[/wiki] but it should be insuranceCredits:
{
"description":"a small yellow humanoid from Malama",
"name":"Masten Onlo",
"homeSystem":49,
"[b]insuranceCredits[/b]":500,
"species":"green fat bird",
"legalStatus":0
}

I have a problem with "species", the content of this field is random due to have no pair in setCrew() which follow [wiki]characters.plist[/wiki] so no way to set it. Not a big problem, just we must choose:
- either ignore and accept changing species and clashes between the description and species like in the quoted example,
- or cover the problem by not displaying species at all,
- or use a fix and maybe too short list of available pilots from verified outputs of fixed random seeds.

Moreover we can not add new fields into a core dictionary and maybe we never be able to get a new one after a request as fast as we should use in an OXP. I think an experience-related field is a must to set  accuracy and others are coming easily: I already imagined a score counter for my escort pilots, there is an idea for a Friends OXP and other non-pilot crew members in the future probably also will need new fields.

So how about if you make a separated "Crew Storage" package into the misc category which can store additional crew informations and add new fields easily? In this way all related OXPs can depend on this and use the same interface instead of storing various data of pilots in different worldScripts.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I'm make the starting bounties somewhere around 2-500cr range (these are the ones you'd only pursue if their last know location is close), and go up from there.

Norby wrote:

have a problem with "species", the content of this field is random due to have no pair in setCrew() which follow [EliteWiki] characters.plist so no way to set it.

There is one way, although it's limited to just setting the species of the pilot to that of their home planet. I use this method in SDC to set the pilot species. It involves setting the "random_seed" to a particular value: Hopefully that makes sense.

phkb wrote:

I use this method in SDC to set the pilot species. It involves setting the "random_seed" to a particular value

Yes, just must use many seeds to make enough different characters. Moreover the description must fit to the species so better if left out from setCrew and the core will fill it with "a "+species+" from "+homename.

I think some storeCrew() and restoreCrew() functions in a Crew Storage package would be useful to prevent OXPers implement these in various OXPs using different and maybe incomatible solutions. A crew array of character objects could store all important pilots (and passengers, etc.) of Ooniverse. In [url=http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Oolite_JavaScript_Reference:_world_script_event_handlers#shipSpawned]shipSpawned[/url] all core pilots could be added into this array and receive values into additional fields (like a rank based on accuracy) to be accessible for all OXPs. A flag could determine who must be stored in the savegame: default is no for spawned ships, yes for crew stored or updated by OXPs. In this way we could reduce the number of core requests in this topic.

Yeah, reading through the replies i see a real oxp forming here.
Perhaps, unlike RH, where you need to visit a space bar, a communication delivery system could be added to either the "F4" menu or an MFD could be created, that would be offered to you once a required level of kills or elite points is passed.
this could include Buoy data at witchspace updating both the player and the "Mark" of comings and goings... so if you let one slip away, its gonna be murder trying to catch him or her (or it!) for a while!!
Also, the range of tasks could include industrial espionage, personal contracts outside of the law, infiltration of strike teams of known super villains, traps (the ole worm-a-rooni)

*worm-a-rooni (slang) to have a would be bounty hunter chase you through a wormhole, so the team awaiting on a pre-determined witchspace marker can vapourise upon arrival, acquiring loads of cargo and wiping out a wanna be Galcorp brown noser!

Also would like to see a pilot needed oxp, to fly ships for other people. Actually, thinking about it... could be an easy path to creating a career mode. (i smell toast)

regards,

ZM

oh and Phkb, like your work dude!

Do any of you get on the irc often? i'd be happy to brainstorm with you. I'm quite tame, don't bite and can pretty much poop on the paper (most of the time) unless i get nervous!

Toodles,

ZM (can i sniff what i presume to be your bum?)

Zark Montor wrote:

Do any of you get on the irc often?

Sadly, no.
I'm logged in all day every day and most days nobody shows up at all. Unfortunately, because it is so quiet I only look in from time to time and do sometimes find somebody has logged in, got ignored, got bored and logged out again before I notice.
It used to be hive of activity a few years ago, and I for one would like that to be the case again, so do look in if you get a moment, and I'll try to notice you

Then maybe it might be an idea to schedule a Rap session (buzz word from the eighties right there) OR... just thought of this... an OXP that patches into an irc program and creates an MFD to chat whilst playing? so although you are playing Oo offline, you are communicating on line, yeah yeah, i see the system security risks...

Surely there can't be any breach of copyright that would endanger the mighty Bell (hallowed by thy name) and his earning potential from ED?

If peeps had a scheduled chance to Rap with some oxp creators, in real time then i think the chat might see an upsurge.

dunno, sometimes i just get idea vomit!

ZM

Even in its heyday, IRC rarely had more than ten or a dozen users online!
It's a handy back-up though, if the forum should ever get hacked again.

I'm kinda enthused about an irc protocol patch thingy for an in game chat system. is it do-able? i mean, it keeps the offline status of the game, but gives you a wire to other people without having to flip windows. I'd say it would have to be character restricted, say twitter sized, call it cluck oxp (this pun works on 2 premises!) you could even attach it to the vocal system in place!! like i say, it would not be making the game online, just bringing an exterior message system into the game.

Please somebody, get this one going, space is a very lonely place!


ZM