Oolite Bulletins

How about it... as a tribute to DA's contribution to the Eliteverse?

A new scoopable cargo... hitchhikers... with thumb out and trusty towel. Could just be treated as a escape capsule, but with a nice 3D hitchhiker model instead of a boring cargo pod or escape capsule. Poor hbitchikers could be sold as slaves, rich ones give a reward or offer a passenger contract. Could give you a bit of chat when you pick 'em up and offload them at a station. Should find them near planets, stations or jettisoned during/after a dogfight.

Whaddya think?

And p'raps a very limited lifespan, 2-3 minutes... could broadcast a distress signal and show up as broadcasting on your scanner, like powered vessels do. Can unpowered objects broadcast? I guess hacker outposts do. But could what is effectively cargo broadcast? Hmmm...

I think they could come in several forms:

a) unprotected floating space, you have 30 seconds to collect them before they suffocate.

b) like trumbles, you don't realise you've got them until they leave the ship at the next station and say thankyou

c) they hail you at the station and ask for a lift

Hoopy wrote:

I think they could come in several forms:

a) unprotected floating space, you have 30 seconds to collect them before they suffocate.

Don't be mean, who'd throw out hitchhikers?

how about a EVA-suited, towel-bearing guy, holding a holoprojector - an animated shader of a thumb (or not to be specicist, several types with different holoappendages). Could be found near whitchpoint buoys, and wherever there is a docking bay: convenience stores, rock hermits, pirate coves, etc.... (could happen that one goes out the bay of a carrier and gets stranded in mid-space, but that's their problem)

b) like trumbles, you don't realise you've got them until they leave the ship at the next station and say thankyou

Politer than trumbles, anyway - they leave by themselves and don't eat your Luxury Items... or do they?

c) they hail you at the station and ask for a lift

Let them appear on the passenger contracts, without the need for a cabin and no payment.

Like this idea a lot - continues with the HHGTG theme that was in original elite.

I would like this. I would like this a lot. I was a hicker my self once.

Or how about an Infinite Improbability Fuel Scoop? 99% of the time it operates exactly how it's meant to. On that 1%, whatever you scoop could suddenly become a a Relieved HitchHiker (with Towel), a Bemused Sperm Whale or a Rather Annoyed Bowl of Petunias!

As we call them, that would be Slaves, Food or Minerals!

nice idea!
What would you do with the whale though? the hitchhiker can just get off at the next station and the petunias can sit on your dashboard (muttering to itself)

Hoopy wrote:

nice idea!
What would you do with the whale though? the hitchhiker can just get off at the next station and the petunias can sit on your dashboard (muttering to itself)

But what would you do with 35TC of Bemused Sperm Whale?
Other than, you know, flying it to Earth to prevent a giant alien cigar from obliterating the planet.....
<EDIT TO ADD>: And when you are docked in the station there would be a function for the F4 button: Feed/water Petunias?

Captain Hesperus

Hee hee. Anyone remember the ArcElite version, where you had Fluffy Dice that could hang on your dashboard?

Maybe a similar thing could happen with the petunias - once you scoop it, it appears on your dashboard... And pressing F4 could not only water the petunias, but also generate a quote from it too. Anything from "not again" to "how the gargleflab did I get here?" or "Adams has a lot of explaining to do..."

Oh, and I'd like to change the Oolite-alternative classification for Relieved Hitchhiker from Slaves to Passenger (still with towel though).