Oolite Bulletins

Well, here's another idea that would make work for someone else (I should have been a manager...). How about, once a player reaches, say, "Dangerous", making Bounty Hunting missions available on the F8/F8 screen along with the passenger and cargo-hauling ones? In my head, where everything is easy, I see this as a series of recycled mini Constrictor missions: players can pick a game-generated bounty contract, which specifies a ship type, pirate name, bounty payment -- 500 to 1500 credits maybe? -- along with a "last seen near" tag. When you go to where the target was last seen, you pick up the trail on the F7 planet info screen (as for the Constrictor) and follow it until you find him/her/it and make the kill. There would be no need to make these pirates special in any way -- the Bounty Hunter mission payments are separate rewards offered for persistent, problematic and/or merely unpopular criminals (plagiarists, karaoke singers and cat-jugglers as well as simple thugs and bandits). Of course, maybe there could be some sort of weighting process, or way of giving the target a bunch of buddies? Anyway, the big payoff, and a chance to pick up a new contract, would come when you next dock.

I have absolutely no idea whether this is a cunning plan requiring minimal effort or a stupid pipe dream that demands a complete rebuild -- I'm just trying to think of a way of making Bounty Hunting, as opposed to the standard pirate shoot-and-loot, a commercially viable career option in the OOniverse for people who favour smaller, faster ships with petite holds over lumbering cargo scows. It is mere coincidence that I've just blown a stack buying an Iguana.

well that's precisely what Assassins OXP does, 21 missions involving contracts to find and kill! you have to be in galaxy 7 to start it.

Disembodied wrote:

plagiarists, karaoke singers and cat-jugglers as well as simple thugs and bandits

Definitely, definitely get the cat-jugglers!

Captain Hesperus

Captain Hesperus wrote:

Definitely, definitely get the cat-jugglers!

You enjoy being juggled? Perv.

TGHC wrote:

well that's precisely what Assassins OXP does, 21 missions involving contracts to find and kill! you have to be in galaxy 7 to start it.

The Assassins OXP looks really smart, and I'm keen to get on to Galaxy 7 to give it a go... I'm currently still in Galaxy 2, having done in the Constrictor but having missed the Nova mission. I got a Fuel Leak! warning, which as far as I remember (from 20-odd years ago) is the cue for the Nova, but it turned up during the Constrictor mission and I presume this overrode the Nova -- which frankly I'm glad about as I didn't want to be propelled into Galaxy 3 and have to go all the way round to finish the Constrictor! But now I feel like I should maybe hang around some more in 2 and wait for my free ride to 3...

This system, though, wouldn't be a mission in itself: it would be an in-game mechanism for perpetually generating bounty contracts, just as there is for passenger transport and cargo hauling. Qualifications would be a Dangerous rating (and maybe a Clean legal status?) and a willingness to kill for fun and profit.

Maybe it would even be possible to have a random crime generator, to append to each target? It would give players a chance to add a personal touch to the game, after purely financial concerns have ceased to matter quite so much: preferentially chase down the Nun Beaters, or pledge to rid the galaxy of the scourge of Shuggy Sharks, Umpty Baggers, Chump Dumpers, and so on and so forth. Plus, of course, the Cat Jugglers. I'd do them for free.

Disembodied wrote:

I'm currently still in Galaxy 2, having done in the Constrictor but having missed the Nova mission. I got a Fuel Leak! warning, which as far as I remember (from 20-odd years ago) is the cue for the Nova, but it turned up during the Constrictor mission and I presume this overrode the Nova -- which frankly I'm glad about as I didn't want to be propelled into Galaxy 3 and have to go all the way round to finish the Constrictor! But now I feel like I should maybe hang around some more in 2 and wait for my free ride to 3...

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Captain Hesperus

Ahruman wrote:

You enjoy being juggled? Perv.

Maybe I should have been more explicit:

Captain Hesperus wrote:

Definitely, definitely get the cat-jugglers!

Captain Hesperus

Disembodied wrote:

I'm currently still in Galaxy 2, having done in the Constrictor but having missed the Nova mission. I got a Fuel Leak! warning

No, you didn't miss anything. The Nova mission triggers in Galaxy 4, not 2.

And yes, there is the occasional fuel leak unrelated to anything but a ..ehem.. fuel leak.

For informations on the missions in Oolite (both built-in and OXPs) have a look at the Oolite Missions page of the wiki. There you find the information where the mission starts and what triggers it.

And as you are still in Galaxy 2 I would suggest you do Ionics next (link on the Oolite Missions page).

yep agree with that, Ionics is a mission that will hone your fighting skills and your persistance!

Thanks, guys -- I've downloaded the Ionics mission from a link put up by LittleBear back in January, in the Trouble with ionics mission thread. It's version 1.2.1: I take it this is the latest version?

Good to know that I still have the chance to be a Nova hero!

Some more crimes for the list:

• Spamming (obvious, but shooting may be too good for them)
• Eggnapping (also obvious)
• Mindhacking (ditto)
• Barratry (variously, vexatious litigation; fraud or gross negligence by master or crew of a ship to the detriment of the owners; or trade in Church or State appointments. Take your pick, it's a wrong 'un.)
• Cacodaemonism (eating sentient beings)
• Crottle Rustling (not sure... possibly people who eat bags of sweets in the cinema)
• Pestification (selling certain items to unsuspecting starship captains... I'll name no names)

Definatley should play Ionics! Thats one cool mission! There are a load of missions to do before you get to G7 to play Assassins! Check the Wiki Missions page. I updated it yesterday so it should give you the latest links. Also Check the Wiki OXP page. All updates are posted here rather than the Oosat1 and 2 sites.

Check these links:-

http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Oolite_Missions (Oolite Missions)
http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/OXP#Table_of_all_OXPs (Master table of all OXPs with info and downloads)

Thanks, LittleBear! I've downloaded the mission and bookmarked the Wiki page.

You should find that the Wiki has the latest versions, although a few authors also put links after their signature, and these are almost certainly the latest versions.

Disembodied wrote:

• Pestification (selling certain items to unsuspecting starship captains... I'll name no names)

You have no evidence! I swear I'll set my solicitor onto you and he'll tear out your heart and make you eat it, then make you pay me CR10squillion for the pleasure. And my solicitor can do it as he's a Fierce Small Bear!!

Captain Hesperus

Captain Hesperus wrote:

You have no evidence! I swear I'll set my solicitor onto you and he'll tear out your heart and make you eat it, then make you pay me CR10squillion for the pleasure. And my solicitor can do it as he's a Fierce Small Bear!!

Captain Hesperus

Correction: I *had* no evidence. I'll be watching you closely, Catpain Hesperus! Admittedly I'll have to watch you through the screen of Magic Tree air fresheners which now festoon my cabin, hung to disguise the smell of burnt fur, but closely nonetheless! <raises hand in claw-like gesture of defiance, gets it tangled in dangling air-fresheners>