Oolite Bulletins

Commander McLane wrote:

Well, why should you want to quietly dispose of your goods? Keep your head up and sell them at a main station with a decent price-level (after all sometimes even legitimate buyers need firearms, narcotics or slaves!). You are penalized only if you take things like these out of the station.

Cmdr Wyvern wrote:

c) Legit traders would need slaves?! Please. Commander, that's VERY unlikely. Some shifty, not-so legit factory boss, maybe. I've gotten into the habit of opening the container, clawing the poor individual within, and tossing the remains to the void. I'd sooner show the shifty factory bosses the same swift end.

Cmdr. Maegil wrote:

Cmdr Wyvern wrote:

c) Legit traders would need slaves?! Please. Commander, that's VERY unlikely. Some shifty, not-so legit factory boss, maybe. I've gotten into the habit of opening the container, clawing the poor individual within, and tossing the remains to the void. I'd sooner show the shifty factory bosses the same swift end.

Don't! If the Spartans get wind of it, you're in a biiiig dodo! As for the slavers themselves, when the SB catches them.
I think the Amnisty Intergalactic is a great idea, and then there is that about returning slaves to their systems, I say go!

Cmdr Wyvern wrote:

On that note, I took the opportunity to visit one of these trading outposts.
It's no mere trading station! It's a pirate fencing station, smuggling hub, and slaver's den of the worse kind. Vagabonds and contraband runners of all colors visit it - a good locale for a bounty hunter to lurk and make a killing, :chuckle:.
Within, chaos abounds. Don't unship without your sidearm.
And be prepared for unspeakable horrors, such as human/alien hybrid sex slaves, possibly the results of forced gene splicing or outlawed grafting.

I'll have a drink just to clear that perversion from my memory. And another to the success of Amnisty.

Cmdr Wyvern wrote:

I took the opportunity to visit one of these trading outposts.
It's no mere trading station! It's a pirate fencing station, smuggling hub, and slaver's den of the worse kind. Vagabonds and contraband runners of all colors visit it - a good locale for a bounty hunter to lurk and make a killing, :chuckle:.
Within, chaos abounds. Don't unship without your sidearm.
And be prepared for unspeakable horrors, such as human/alien hybrid sex slaves, possibly the results of forced gene splicing or outlawed grafting.

I'll have a drink just to clear that perversion from my memory. And another to the success of Amnisty.

Disembodied wrote:

Although it's not strictly illegal to trade there, GalCop will mark any visitors to an FTZ for attention.

        {
            conditions = (
                "status_string equal STATUS_DOCKED",
                "dockedStationName_string equal Free Trade Zone",
                "legalStatus_number equal 0"
            );
            do = ( "setLegalStatus: 5");
    },

        {
            conditions = (
                "status_string equal STATUS_DOCKED",
                "dockedStationName_string equal Free Trade Zone",
                "local_freetradezone_marked undefined"
            );
            do = (
				"set: mission_freetradezone_fine [legalStatus_number]",
				"add: mission_freetradezone_fine 5",
				"setLegalStatus: [mission_freetradezone_fine]",
				"set: local_freetradezone_marked YES",
				"reset: mission_freetradezone_fine"
			);
    },

Cmdr Wyvern wrote:

uumm... Considering that Lady Tiomat bears no distinguishing marks on her hull, just the standard factory paint, how can you tell her from any stock Dragon?

Commander McLane wrote:

Disembodied wrote:

Although it's not strictly illegal to trade there, GalCop will mark any visitors to an FTZ for attention.

I noticed that's not strictly true. Only formerly clean visitors will be "marked for attention" by your script, putting a bounty of 5 Cr on their head.

Code: Select all

        {
            conditions = (
                "status_string equal STATUS_DOCKED",
                "dockedStationName_string equal Free Trade Zone",
                "legalStatus_number equal 0"
            );
            do = ( "setLegalStatus: 5");
    },

May I suggest that also pilots who are already criminals are fined by increasing their bounty by 5 Cr for each visit?

Just modify the above condition like this:

Code: Select all

        {
            conditions = (
                "status_string equal STATUS_DOCKED",
                "dockedStationName_string equal Free Trade Zone",
                "local_freetradezone_marked undefined"
            );
            do = (
				"set: mission_freetradezone_fine [legalStatus_number]",
				"add: mission_freetradezone_fine 5",
				"setLegalStatus: [mission_freetradezone_fine]",
				"set: local_freetradezone_marked YES",
				"reset: mission_freetradezone_fine"
			);
    },

What does it do? Whenever you are docked with a Free Trade Zone it checks whether you already have been fined. If not, it stores your current legal store in a mission_variable, adds 5 to its value and restores the result into your legal status. Finally it sets a local_variable that you already have been fined. This is necessary, because scripts are executed every ten seconds (and even more often when you are docked and switch to one of a couple of screens), but we want the fine to be given only once. And it resets the storage variable, because you don't need it anymore. And it doesn't need to be saved in your save-file, which all mission_variables are. In principle you could take a local_variable for storage as well. These are not saved in your save-file. However, local_variables with numeric values are broken in 1.69.1 (at least in 1.69.1.1), so that doesn't currently work.

In order to make the whole thing work you need one more change: When you leave the Free Trade Zone the marker has to be reset, so that on your next visit you can be fined again. You can do this by adding a "reset: local_freetradezone_marked", in front of the "checkForShips: " in the first STATUS_LAUNCHING-condition, then you don't need another condition-clause. But of course also that would be possible.