Controversy Corner

[Redspear]

Just found some old notes I have on the boa II...

An earlier 'solution' I'd had to de-uberification was to reduce it from a 175TC freighter to 75TC one.
This idea was from when I was working on Jane's Galactic Shipset and I'd set the Anaconda to (it's likely original intented value of) 150TC.

That would turn the boa II into a light cruiser and also reduce the considerable cargo gap between the cobra III and the python.
It would arguably be a less canonical change but also potentially be more 'useful' and perhaps the less dramatic alteration from standard oolite.

With regards JGS, a 250TC anaconda (which would be the likely interpretation in an ooniverse with a 175TC competitor) would stretch the sizes more noticeably and arguably look better.

So what should it be? Unchanged? A slower, heavy freighter? Or a leaner, combat capable, blockade runner?
Not taking votes here just thinking out loud... again.

[Cholmondely]

Just found some old notes I have on the boa II...

An earlier 'solution' I'd had to de-uberification was to reduce it from a 175TC freighter to 75TC one.
This idea was from when I was working on Jane's Galactic Shipset and I'd set the Anaconda to (it's likely original intented value of) 150TC.

That would turn the boa II into a light cruiser and also reduce the considerable cargo gap between the cobra III and the python.
It would arguably be a less canonical change but also potentially be more 'useful' and perhaps the less dramatic alteration from standard oolite.

With regards JGS, a 250TC anaconda (which would be the likely interpretation in an ooniverse with a 175TC competitor) would stretch the sizes more noticeably and arguably look better.

So what should it be? Unchanged? A slower, heavy freighter? Or a leaner, combat capable, blockade runner?
Not taking votes here just thinking out loud... again.

Looking at the world around us, we have planes and cars. They come in various varieties with competition in each. From articulated lorries to vans to tractors to family cars to sports cars for the indulgent.

Looking at the world of Oolite, to make sense of the trading system, many posit a contract market which far exceeds the meagre showings of the F8 screen in quantity.

There need to be ships (or massive, massive convoys) to handle that quantity. If a 750TC Anaconda does not exit as such, then there need to be other ships with that sort of capacity.






And I just noticed this on the Anaconda wiki page:

Its size makes it a problem to dock with many space stations. In many busier star systems, reservations must be made to handle a craft of this size. It also only just fits in most docking ports, so the crew must be careful to ensure that the ship is properly lined up before docking, as much embarrassment occurs when a ship gets wedged in the docking port - shutting down trading for many hours while work crews get to hack at the ship with ablative saws.

Sounds like a fun oxp idea - especially if one is being chased by Thargoids or pirates - and GalCop are stuck inside the station!

[Redspear]

Looking at the world of Oolite, to make sense of the trading system, many posit a contract market which far exceeds the meagre showings of the F8 screen in quantity.

This is true.

There need to be ships (or massive, massive convoys) to handle that quantity. If a 750TC Anaconda does not exit as such, then there need to be other ships with that sort of capacity.

There are at least two ways to do this:
1. NERF contracts with regards quantity
2. Make more large capacity traders (the anaconda is very much an outlier in the standard set and by no means typical)

And I just noticed this on the Anaconda wiki page:

There were oxp traders that addressed the 'too big for the docking port' problem


Back to the boa II, after some thought I think that it's better for gameplay to keep the cargo and lose the speed. Being as fast as an adder is one thing but when you can nearly catch a viper and a mamba...

So for JGS, that would necessitate boosting the anaconda from 150 to 250 TC, which goes at least some way towards addressing the issue you raised Cholmondely.

...As an aside, the asp and the sidewinder are some way ahead of the classic ships in terms of speed. Before the Cobra III received its boost, the next fastest ships were the viper and the mamba at 0.32, a full 0.05 slower than the sidewinder. I suppose what separates the sidewinder and the asp from the rest is that they were both navy vessels.

[Switeck]

The Boa 2 is really the best non-OXP/OXZ ingame ship, even considering the Anaconda's much greater carrying capacity.
For a core game change, the Boa 2 obviously needs a huge price increase to greater than the Anaconda's.

I won't be happy with nerfing the Anaconda's stats or to a lesser degree the Boa 2's since that's typically what I use in late-game instead of far more overpowered OXP/OXZ ships.

Seriously, does ANYONE even use an Anaconda?
That big cargo capacity is nearly useless with most stations offering Cobra 3 amounts of cargo.
I did cargo contracts just fine in a Python or Boa 2 (never used the Boa 1 because the cost was too close to Boa 2.)

Keep them rare, give the universe more variety without having to add OXZs!

The interceptors or the thargoids or both?

Both!
I'm pretty unhappy with Thargoids being added by lots of OXPs/OXZs...and having to hunt down which ones are doing it if I want to tone down that behavior.

[Cody]

Seriously, does ANYONE even use an Anaconda?

Commander Ranthe, for one! "A 'Conda jockey and proud of it!"

[Redspear]

The Boa 2 is really the best non-OXP/OXZ ingame ship, even considering the Anaconda's much greater carrying capacity.

Without doing the maths (esp. with regards contracts), you've certainly got a case. I'd much rather that the fighters were made playable but the canonical issue there is the hyperdrive. The high cargo capacity certainly helps to make money faster - so does higher speed but risk can be more variable in that regard.

I won't be happy with nerfing the Anaconda's stats or to a lesser degree the Boa 2's since that's typically what I use in late-game

On my part these are suggestions re game environment. If that's your plan re the boa II then don't let me stop you. This is perhaps more discussion re the tweaking thread and why a player might wish to consider it, not why it should be enforced.

Redspear wrote: ↑

The interceptors or the thargoids or both?

Both!
I'm pretty unhappy with Thargoids being added by lots of OXPs/OXZs...and having to hunt down which ones are doing it if I want to tone down that behavior.

Well, as you may have gathered by now, I'd reduce the former rather dramatically

As for the thargoids, I don't think I install any thargoid related oxps and so I find they're very rare in system space. When they do show up, I don't mind if they get typically the better of the police.

I see the thargoid as the core shop designed to test the well-equipped player, clean and fugitive alike, not the interceptor. Very dangerous pairs well with very rare, I don't think interceptors are that rare and that they always show up in packs exacerbated this.

In elite thargoids were actually slower than a viper IIRC.

[Redspear]

I wasn't quite sure where to post this put opted for this thread.

It's an idea to make industrial systems rather different which could futher make milk-runs less mundane.

• Quick Summary:
  • purely industrial economies as mining outposts, thus valuing agricultural imports and having reduced population
    greater sun distance to simulate being in the outer solar system
    gas giants rather than terrestrial planets with reduced planet to witchpoint distance in order to highlight size difference
    more likely to have a dangerous government type, conversely agriculturals more likely to be relatively peaceful
    greater prevalence of asteroids/rock hermits/miners but reduced trader numbers
    dodec and ico stations exclusively, coriolis for other economies

Visual Example:

I used the rescaling experiment for this as I knew it would place both greater stress on the engine and restrict the leeway with regards distances.

Arrival at Zaonce (industrial):






And by way of comparison, arrival at Diso (agricultural):






I could (and may yet) witter on about all of the whys and wherefores but just one more thing for now:

That such considerations are for the purely industrial economies only is reasoned on account of planets with large populations requiring at least some form of agriculture in order to reliably acquire/maintain such numbers. An outpost on the other hand just requires supplies to trickle in and may well pay over the odds for them.

[Redspear]

Interstellar Space

2 ways to get there: deliberate & negligent.
Both contain elements of choice.

2 dangers to getting there: destruction & marooning.
Both effectively end the game but only one actually does so.

2 reasons to go there: challenge & system hopping.
Neither should be easy but the former should ensure that is true in both cases.

Qualifier : Without having used it, my understanding is that Interstellar Tweaks does some similar things to my suggestions here but takes a more random approach.


Idea 1: deliberate entry into interstellar space doesn't always draw Thargoids.

When it's the player's choice then they clearly have some degree of control. When it's not their choice then it may reasonably be someone else's control.

Thargoids are canonically supposed to be able to intercept vessels in witch space under some circumstances. If that vessel is poorly maintained then entering interstellar space really is a 'misjump' and perhaps Thargoids could be drawn to that.

The idea that interstellar space is always choc-full of Thargoids is problematic and so if you could occasionally get there without encountering them then that would seem reasonable.

But why might it be fun?


Idea 2: place rock hermit(s) in interstellar space

To be clear, this would be for a deliberate 'misjump', and not necessarily for an accidental one.

Benefits:

Lower entity count - those asteroid clusters could potentially be much bigger.

Ready made escape route - they do charge a lot for their fuel but then why wouldn't they?

Interstellar space as an alternate trading destination - adding some much needed variety to not just stations but also to systems.

• Questions:
  • 1. You did say asteroids, right?
  • 2. Who are they trading with?
  • 3. Where exactly is their fuel coming from?
  • 4. Why the hell would anyone want to 'live' in interstellar space?

1. Yep, I'm thinking particularly of the Oort cloud, or 'icesteroids' if you prefer. I don't see why a deliberate jump couldn't take the player right to the edge of interstellar space, or anywhere else between two stars for that matter - where exactly that is should be determined by gameplay reasons I think.

2. Passing traders of course.
If interstellar space isn't just full of thargoids then that's a reasonable option, especially if precious metals were relatively cheap and/or there was plenty of opportunity for larger vessels with a mining laser to load up on minerals.
Then both a precious metals trader and a miner could be actual careers rather than just sidelines.

Crucially, the rinse & repeat nature of entering a new system would also get broken up a little, at the players discretion.

3. Solar wind? Salvaged vessels? Molecular clouds? Where the hell ever?

No expert here but according to NASA...

Inside the heliosphere, the solar particles are hot but less concentrated. Outside of the bubble, they are very much colder but more concentrated.

Once you arrive in interstellar space, there would be an increase of “cold” particles around you.

I quite like the idea of there being a collector of some sort. Imagine if the model for the Tionisle Chronical Array were used for such a purpose, or the solar station from the kiota stations. Stick one of those next to a rock hermit and, in the absence of a star, they've potentially got a nice little earner.

4. Having already established some rewards for doing so, they need to be balanced with (rather than overwhelmed by) risks.
If thargoids aren't everywhere in interstellar space then they should at least 'be around'.

No police - it's too big an area and GalCop presence is low to non-existent.

Chaotic hermits - if salvage is so valuable out here then perhaps it could occasionally be 'induced'.

Pirates? - maybe not. Keeping the entity count down gives more room for asteroids and I think it would nice to feel that you were very much off the beaten track.

Very few traders, but crucially some.

Encounter wise, interstellar space should feel sparse but dangerous I think.


Key considerations with my thinking:

Big difference between deliberately or accidentally entering interstellar space.

That interstellar space isn't just an interesting or variable aside but rather that it be a valid trading/mining destination or stop-off for semi-predictable returns and risks.

[Cholmondely]

Interstellar Space

...

I was just thinking this last night! Why are the Thargoids (+ OXP'd Galactic Navy) always there at every misjump? If the lore in the Dark Wheel was true, one could argue it. But we don't see it in-game.

Dark Wheel §1:
You move through this chaos and a new voice begins to call for attention. Now you're with the Faraway Orientation Systems Controller; FOSC—or SysCon—sets you up for the big jump. You're going to cover maybe seven light years in a few minutes, and you might think that's a lot of space to get lost in, but that isn't how it works. Faraway is a tunnel, like any other tunnel. Inside that tunnel is the realm called Witch-Space, a magic place, a place where the normal rules of the Universe don't necessarily work. And every few thousand parsecs along the Witch-Space tunnel there are monitoring satellites, and branch lines, and stop points, and rescue stations; and passing by all of these are perhaps a hundred channels, a hundred 'lines' for ships to travel, each one protected against the two big dangers of hyperspace travel: atomic reorganisation, and time displacement.

And there is also some interesting Oofiction around all this: Ganelon's "Derelict" and to a lesser extent, Drew Wagar's "Nine" & Cody's "Kaxgar".

I am looking forwards to seeing any results from your musings!

Meta-musings:
1) If the asteroids were "functional" they would presumably need to be doing something very productive financially - eg located in clusters with lots of gold/platinum/gems. I wonder if just "minerals" would cut it? Especially since the Thargoids would eventually notice and move in, eradicating the settlement.

If the resource mining was especially lucrative, that would pay for GalCop/Bounty-hunters/Guards etc. But even then, it would presumably need to be relatively quick as an operation.

2) I would expect to find many more "abandoned"/Thargoid-ravaged hermits. Possibly with a few scrapings of fuel - and I would need to fill my tanks myself (or get the crew of my Anaconda/Fer-de-Lance to do it for me).

3) Switeck's work on non-50% misjumps might be very relevant (Variable Misjump OXP) - but even that only allows for % misjumps between A and B. You still can't hyperjump "east" of Ascension/Sori or "west" of Riedquat as there is no system to go to. (Wagar's "Nine" might be relevant here).

His Variable Misjumps could be superb if included with and using the jump mechanism from SOTL exploration!

4) Some OXPs (HIMSN, Tionisla Reporter, Coyote's Run) do add meaningful elements to interstellar space. These could be expanded on...

Edited to add this: https://www.solcommand.com/2013/05/ssc- ... .html#more (from one of Phkb's links)

[Switeck]

3) Switeck's work on non-50% misjumps might be very relevant (Variable Misjump OXP) - but even that only allows for % misjumps between A and B. You still can't hyperjump "east" of Ascension/Sori or "west" of Riedquat as there is no system to go to. (Wagar's "Nine" might be relevant here).

His Variable Misjumps could be superb if included with and using the jump mechanism from SOTL exploration!

4) Some OXPs (HIMSN, Tionisla Reporter, Coyote's Run) do add meaningful elements to interstellar space. These could be expanded on...

Interstellar space is best avoided unless you know what you're doing.
In my serious savegames...I avoid misjumping at pretty much all costs.

It's only when I testing the game engine to its limits and/or look for cheats that I muck around with misjumps much.
It's very expensive fuel-wise to do 0.1% distance misjumps otherwise.

There are maybe a small few useful misjump shortcuts in each Galaxy Chart...but to do them would require at least a small group of ships doing 1 misjump each to avoid all running out of fuel/range.
The shortest and probably best known is how to cross the Great Rift in Galaxy Chart 7. That only takes 1 misjump followed by a regular jump of 6.8 L.Y. distance. You'd still probably want 3 ships instead of just 2 in case something goes horribly wrong!

Freighter escorts max out at ~8 due to dog-pile issues with a single wormhole, so jump-chaining isn't something I've seen in an OXP/OXZ except on very small-scale...nor can it scale up to something that could do 30+ long-distance misjumps.

If OXP equipment is considered, there's always extra fuel methods/equipment, wormhole-making bombs and missiles, etc. I have to use something like the latter in my misjump testing.

Incidentally, I've come up with a way to simulate galactic misjumps -- set the galactic jump to "BEHAVIOUR_FIXED_COORDINATES" ...and then put in random X,Y values for the destination. For additional fun, it's even possible to conceal/hide systems.

Code: Select all

player.commsMessage("Outside known space! No matching Star Charts found!",30);

It's probably not smart to be doing a Galactic Jump with a broken Advanced Navigational Array...

Code: Select all

if(player.ship.equipmentStatus("EQ_ADVANCED_NAVIGATIONAL_ARRAY") != "EQUIPMENT_OK")

*bad things happen!*
...just saying!

[Redspear]

If the asteroids were "functional" they would presumably need to be doing something very productive financially - eg located in clusters with lots of gold/platinum/gems. I wonder if just "minerals" would cut it? Especially since the Thargoids would eventually notice and move in, eradicating the settlement.

I'd regard Thargoid motives re mining outposts to be 'unknown'. Are they against all humainity (cinematically popular but not neccessarily practical) or are they busy re their ambitions in relation to the downfall of GalCop?

I don't think that the Thargoids were ever supposed to 'live' in interstellar space, merely to exploit it by being able to "hover" in it (specifically "witchspace"). So a hermit in interstellar space might be no more (or less) likely to encounter a Thargoid than one anywhere else. Have an accidental misjump however (in the contexts of my post above) and they'd be all over you.

I'd see the hermits as minimg the gold, platinum etc., players likely wouldn't have a refinery (yes, there's an oxp for that but not every oxp is compatible with every possible ittereation or interpretation of the game) wheras a hermit likely would.

Imagine that you're starting out as a miner in a cobra mk I. You've got a mining laser and some scoops, a tank full of fuel and nothing else. So you head into interstellar space, mine away at the asteroid field, and return with a full hold of minerals without the sense that you've totally decimated a hermit's asteroid cluster as might appear to be the case in the standard game. *

Minerals are cheap, and so while it would be a great way to start a career, there would soon be much more lucrative ways to fill your hold.
Can only afford 3TC of computers? Why not head into interstellar space along the way and fill the rest of your hold with minerals? And/or buy some cheaper precious metals from the hermit with any left over cash (quantity available would need limiting).

I'm trying to break up the station -> witchjump -> station -> witchjump pattern without missions or other special 'entry requirements'.
Locations that really feel different rather than just have different stations in them.

* In my imagined scenario, the hermits would even happily buy the minerals from you so that they could refine them into more valuable metals.

[Cholmondely]

...

I'd see the hermits as mining the gold, platinum etc., players likely wouldn't have a refinery (yes, there's an oxp for that but not every oxp is compatible with every possible iteration or interpretation of the game) whereas a hermit likely would.

Imagine that you're starting out as a miner in a cobra mk I. You've got a mining laser and some scoops, a tank full of fuel and nothing else. So you head into interstellar space, mine away at the asteroid field, and return with a full hold of minerals without the sense that you've totally decimated a hermit's asteroid cluster as might appear to be the case in the standard game. *

Minerals are cheap, and so while it would be a great way to start a career, there would soon be much more lucrative ways to fill your hold.
Can only afford 3TC of computers? Why not head into interstellar space along the way and fill the rest of your hold with minerals? And/or buy some cheaper precious metals from the hermit with any left over cash (quantity available would need limiting).

I'm trying to break up the station -> witchjump -> station -> witchjump pattern without missions or other special 'entry requirements'.
Locations that really feel different rather than just have different stations in them.

* In my imagined scenario, the hermits would even happily buy the minerals from you so that they could refine them into more valuable metals.

I think that you might find Phkb's Hermitage OXP recreates a fair amount of what you have above - the only thing, of course, is that it is an Oolite scenario predicated on the player running the RH!

[Redspear]

Most of my posts on this board could probably have been posted under this thread but here's another one...

On Masslock and Cruising Speed

Escaping masslock takes time so faster player ships or ships only headed to witchpoint BUT... Non player centricity then requires faster non-player ships which are also headed to witchpoint.
A smaller scanner (and therefore masslock range) doesn't even help that much if ship speeds are closely matched.


So, the challenge: a non-player-centric reason for non-player ships to travel slower by choice rather than necessity

Some invisible boon for doing so but not one that the player can't similarly exploit.
Suggestion: fuel.

Imagine fuel collector.oxp but that it only worked if the player travelled at between 0.1 and 0.15LM.
If non-combat engaged ships were typically using it (and it might make sense if you're not in a hurry) then even an asp mk II is ticking along at under the max speed of a python, making overtaking it (and pretty much everything else) much less of a problem.


Speaking of problems, some potential issues:

Fuel scooping, non-hyperdrive equipped ships, injector use.

Fuel scooping: little used anyway but if the rate of fuel collection while trawling the lanes is slow enough then there would still be a good reason to sun-skim when in more of a hurry (especially if equippend with heat shielding).

Non-hyperdrive ships: injector use also requires fuel so thats on reason to stay slow; another is if their escorting a hyperspace capable vessel.

Injector use: with potentially more more fuel available then they could be made slightly less efficient but this would also provide a reason to why non-player ships typically encounter the player with full tanks.


Implementation and other thoughts

From memory there's (or was) a cruise speed setting within the source code for non player ships. I think it was set at 0.8 meaning that unless engaged in combat they'd be travelling at 80% of their top speed. If that percentage were significantl;y slower then not only would masslocks would be a lot less time consuming but there would also be a noticeable speed increase when a combat started. See your prey try to escape or watch in horror as those pirates suddenly race towards you, even if they don't have injectors.

Using the fuel collector idea means there would be a reason to slow down and if the player would rather slow scoop or race o then they are free to do so with no major loss or gain either way. An alternative idea (and even more 'invisible' would be that lower speds help to reduce maintenace frequency , and for non-player ships, what's more invisible than that?

Why then would non of the non-player ships have finished scooping or be otherwise racing ahead?
Because they're non-players.

If I lived in oolite then I'd slow scoop and play it safe and take my time but I don't. Instead I catch an hour or so here and there and so I take all kinds of risks in order to maximise my fun to time ratio, risk be damned! Some people live that way in real life too of course, often not for very long but they do, so perhaps a non-player exception here and there... suddenly the boy-racers oxp seems a bit more pertinent - an 'annoying' masslock with character!

I'll see if I can find that cruising speed setting again and have a play with it... and indeed see if it does what I think it does...

[Cholmondely]

Most of my posts on this board could probably have been posted under this thread but here's another one...

On Masslock and Cruising Speed

Escaping masslock takes time so faster player ships or ships only headed to witchpoint BUT... Non player centricity then requires faster non-player ships which are also headed to witchpoint.
A smaller scanner (and therefore masslock range) doesn't even help that much if ship speeds are closely matched.


So, the challenge: a non-player-centric reason for non-player ships to travel slower by choice rather than necessity

Some invisible boon for doing so but not one that the player can't similarly exploit.
Suggestion: fuel.

Imagine fuel collector.oxp but that it only worked if the player travelled at between 0.1 and 0.15LM.
If non-combat engaged ships were typically using it (and it might make sense if you're not in a hurry) then even an asp mk II is ticking along at under the max speed of a python, making overtaking it (and pretty much everything else) much less of a problem.

I'm a tad unsure about this one. There is no obvious reason for any of those ships to be travelling to the witchpoint unless they are police or pirates. We did try to come up with some handwavium foundations, but this now seems to be building castles of handwavium on top of handwavium foundations. Why not just come up with an oxp which removes this pointless NPC activity?

https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.ph ... 80#p276180 (Newbie) Moving to a new system. (2021)
https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=19289 Ideally Imperfect OOniverse: Calibrated Hyperspace jumps. (2017-8)
https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?p=46920#p46920 Long gone Commander checking in,.... (2008)

Speaking of problems, some potential issues:

Fuel scooping, non-hyperdrive equipped ships, injector use.

Fuel scooping: little used anyway but if the rate of fuel collection while trawling the lanes is slow enough then there would still be a good reason to sun-skim when in more of a hurry (especially if equipped with heat shielding).

Non-hyperdrive ships: injector use also requires fuel so that's one reason to stay slow; another is if their escorting a hyperspace capable vessel.

Injector use: with potentially more more fuel available then they could be made slightly less efficient but this would also provide a reason to why non-player ships typically encounter the player with full tanks.


Implementation and other thoughts

From memory there's (or was) a cruise speed setting within the source code for non player ships. I think it was set at 0.8 meaning that unless engaged in combat they'd be travelling at 80% of their top speed. If that percentage were significantly slower then not only would masslocks be a lot less time consuming but there would also be a noticeable speed increase when a combat started. See your prey try to escape or watch in horror as those pirates suddenly race towards you, even if they don't have injectors.

Using the fuel collector idea means there would be a reason to slow down and if the player would rather slow scoop or race o then they are free to do so with no major loss or gain either way. An alternative idea (and even more 'invisible' would be that lower speeds help to reduce maintenance frequency, and for non-player ships, what's more invisible than that?

Why then would none of the non-player ships have finished scooping or be otherwise racing ahead?
Because they're non-players.

If I lived in oolite then I'd slow scoop and play it safe and take my time but I don't. Instead I catch an hour or so here and there and so I take all kinds of risks in order to maximise my fun to time ratio, risk be damned! Some people live that way in real life too of course, often not for very long but they do, so perhaps a non-player exception here and there... suddenly the boy-racers oxp seems a bit more pertinent - an 'annoying' masslock with character!

I'll see if I can find that cruising speed setting again and have a play with it... and indeed see if it does what I think it does...

I play with Diplomancy added in - which means that I can't always buy the visas to enter a system legally (travelling from an anarchy, or a system at war with the current one). That means that I have to sun-scoop to refuel unless I want to be fined/declared illegal. So I end up doing it quite a lot. But it is only at systems which need visas: corporates, dictatorships & communists.

Also, with the Stranger's World Hard Way OXP, the scooping works less well the slower I fly. So at top speed I can scoop, but at slower speeds the amount I scoop decreases until it eventually cuts out. I forget how Fuel Collector manages this.

[Redspear]

I'm a tad unsure about this one. There is no obvious reason for any of those ships to be travelling to the witchpoint unless they are police or pirates. We did try to come up with some handwavium foundations, but this now seems to be building castles of handwavium on top of handwavium foundations. Why not just come up with an oxp which removes this pointless NPC activity?

Ah, yes, a typo on my part. Instead read:

BUT... Non player centricity then requires faster non-player ships which are also headed to station.

Sorry about that.