Oolite Bulletins

As with many enthusiastic newcomers, I've started to think about creating my own OXPs. Have already designed some ships, of course, but they're not ready for prime time just yet, and are nothing extraordinary when compared to some of the ships already out there. But they're tailored to my own idiosyncratic playing style, and might suit others too. Someday we'll see.

Aside from the ships, I've been considering these others. I wanted to get some preliminary feedback on them, mostly to find out if anybody else is working on the same thing, or if there's some fundamental reason they couldn't be implemented, or other Very Important Things I should know before continuing work on them.

• Bonded Couriers This would be mostly missions, but also a (simple) station or two, maybe a ship or two. The idea is to invite the player to deliver cargo of some sort, often small but valuable, in a situation that's harder than the regular cargo contracts, and has a correspondingly higher payoff. I was thinking that since all ships have the same interstellar "speed", the mission would consist of an in-system pickup, from a presumably rather distant point (station) whose location you would receive when the mission was assigned, followed by a delivery to another system, all within a prescribed deadline. The in-system part would favor the faster ships, and the whole thing would test navigation skills and attention to detail. And for the more valuable contracts, there might be some, ahem, opposition at the pick-up point.
• Passengers I know there's been considerable discussion on other threads about the shortcomings of the built-in passenger contracts--they're a lot of trouble for relatively little payoff. And I know some folks have speculated on ways to correct that. Was just wondering if anybody is actively working on it, and if so, what's the status? I was envisioning new types of passenger berths as installable equipment, like a basic class (maybe 3T, 400Cr) that would net you low-end passenger contracts, the "standard" class (5T, 525Cr) that gets somewhat higher-paying clients, a first-class berth (oh, 7T, 1000Cr?) that would allow you to take mid-range contracts, and luxury berths (10T, 5000Cr, maybe) that would net you high-paying passengers. And the passenger contracts would, of course, have to be in the form of missions, since as of now, as far as I know, there's no way to affect the built-in F8-F8 passenger contract screen. Thoughts?
• Governments I'm quite fond of the Dictators and Commies OXPs, and I think that every government type should have a "flavor" OXP to go with it. The possibilities are numerous--new station types, new ships, even missions. There's also the Anarchies OXP, but I think of it as a somewhat different category than the others, since it has rather more far-ranging effects than Commies or Dictators. But that still leaves several government types not yet covered. My own first interest is in Feudals. I know that nijineko has mentioned them elsewhere, primarily in the context of kamikaze ships. That would make them patterned after feudal Japan, which is great, and which I'd love to see co-exist with feudal systems that follow other patterns, such as European chivalric traditions, and whatever else somebody is familiar with and wishes to implement. It's a big ooniverse, and I'm sure we could divide up the systems so everybody got a playground. If somebody else is also working on Feudals, or other government types, I'd love to know about it.
  
  I can envision Royal Hunting Grounds, the King's Summer Castle station, blood feuds that the player could help settle, jousting and deuling against the Royal Champion, etc. Feudals are especially tasty since they generally have a small but very rich class who support themselves on the backs of the vast majority of poor toiling slobs, the next thing up from slaves. Endless opportunities for extravagance and wretched excess, no?
  
  My first efforts for Feudals should appear as a teaser OXP within a few days. I hope!

Thanks for any comments! And thanks to Giles for allowing the ooniverse to be expanded in such a way!

I'll be perfectly willing to contribute if I can: I've got a few ships on the way now, and I think the whole Government based OXP system is great!

Just think: Corporate Wars...loaded with shiny new escorts, sleek cruisers, and elegant conference yachts!

I was hoping to do feudalism some day. I was going to do station forts, maybe two or three per system, with randomised names and feudal families, with a few of them multi system families. But I started with ideas for ships first, like Warhammer, Escutcheon and Squire, etc.

Perhaps rank advancement so you become a king/queen/prince someday.

Maybe Knight ships with squire escorts? Hmm.

Stromboli wrote:

I'll be perfectly willing to contribute if I can: I've got a few ships on the way now, and I think the whole Government based OXP system is great!

Just think: Corporate Wars...loaded with shiny new escorts, sleek cruisers, and elegant conference yachts!

You're reading my mind. Not to mention Corporate Retreats, industrial espionage, and high-tech product test facilities. Which are nearly always secret, ne?

Plus there's the whole negative side of the equation. The more stable and structured a government is, the more earnest and organized the opposition to it, in general. I can see all sorts of Rebels, Insurgents, and Saboteurs hovering close to the more lawful denizens.

The one big problem with that is that the game is inherently biased toward law-abiding players. Even though some folks have begun working on things to cater to the more bloody-minded (like the aforementioned Anarchies OXP, and amen brick's pirate clans), when you're not Clean you still run the risk of being attacked by not only cops and hunters, but by any random pirate that happens by. I've spent time as a Fugitive, and it's pretty stressful, lemme tellya. And of course there's the Holy Grail of unlawfulhood--the only place you can Save Game is in a main GalCoop station. Unless, of course, you arrange the destruction of the main station.

But that seems like a lot of effort just to save your state, and is beyond the means of all but the highest-end players. A place for Fugitives to go where they're actually welcomed, and where they could save their brains, would be a nice addition, in my extremely humble opinion.

Amen Brick wrote:

I was hoping to do feudalism some day. I was going to do station forts, maybe two or three per system, with randomised names and feudal families, with a few of them multi system families. But I started with ideas for ships first, like Warhammer, Escutcheon and Squire, etc.

Perhaps rank advancement so you become a king/queen/prince someday.

Maybe Knight ships with squire escorts? Hmm.

Yes! Sounds like your thinking is similar to mine in some areas, but you've been thinking about it longer than I have. I certainly don't want to interfere or overlap our efforts, but I'm sure some sort of cooperation could be achieved.

Certainly!

You could maybe combine the passengers idea with the Bonded Courier. I don't think there's any way of OXPing the F8-F8 system, but maybe some of the "packages" available for transport could be people. You'd need to qualify somehow to be a bonded courier in the first place. After that, any passenger missions would be picked up in the same way as the packages, but would depend on what sort of passenger berth you had fitted.

Or -- and I have no idea how this might work, or even if it's possible -- how about a bit of bargaining? Does everything have to have a set price, or can we make things a bit more flexible for special contracts? Maybe you could meet someone who wants to go to planet X, 7 jumps away, and is offering maybe 500Cr. You could say fine, but it'll cost them 1500Cr. They could say "Do I look like I came in on the last Ananab shipment?", and offer 700Cr, and so on, until either you agree on a price or you, or the passenger, call it quits.

Hmm. Would this work? I would love it if it did. I suppose you could just make the computer roll some dice to see if the passenger agrees with your price or not, based on what would be a "fair" price for the run, your rep, a random money:sense ratio chosen for each passenger, the player's reputation (a combination of your ranking, the overall value of your ship, the quality of cabin you had fitted, etc.). Anything else?

As for the Feudals -- great idea! "European chivalric tradition" could cover anything from one-on-one duels to extortion and robbery. There could be a chance of being attacked by local nobles and their henchmen, who would be ostensibly Clean. Or there could be little rock-hermit-esque "castles" here and there, each with its own gang of knights and men-at-arms, with varying degrees of banditry prevalent. You could have fun with the commodities prices, too.

Disembodied wrote:

You could maybe combine the passengers idea with the Bonded Courier.

That's a good idea. The bonded commodity shipments would require only a safe, or open cargo space, but the passengers would require whatever class of berth they were expecting. Otherwise the requirements for certification and reputation and so on could be essentially identical. I certainly wouldn't want to ride with somebody if I didn't trust them to transport my valuables.

You'd need to qualify somehow to be a bonded courier in the first place. After that, any passenger missions would be picked up in the same way as the packages, but would depend on what sort of passenger berth you had fitted.

Yes, exactly! Although I hadn't been thinking that the passengers would necessarily need to be picked up at odd places within the system, that does make some sense. If you're just a regular Joe wanting to go from A to B, you could get on a liner at the main station. It's the guys who want to go from someplace remote/dangerous to likewise that need the services of a Real Commander. For that matter, some contracts could be somewhat illegal, just as transporting Firearms/Slaves/Narcotics is now. But would pay correspondingly more, of course. Gee, I wonder who tipped off the cops that you had such a notorious criminal aboard?!

Or -- and I have no idea how this might work, or even if it's possible -- how about a bit of bargaining?

Ooh, I like that! And after having seen what Random Hits can do, I am starting to think that limited interaction like this is indeed possible. I could certainly envision the bargaining code done in a script; it's the user interface part I'd need to investigate.

Hmm. Would this work? I would love it if it did. I suppose you could just make the computer roll some dice to see if the passenger agrees with your price or not, based on what would be a "fair" price for the run, your rep, a random money:sense ratio chosen for each passenger, the player's reputation (a combination of your ranking, the overall value of your ship, the quality of cabin you had fitted, etc.). Anything else?

The danger level and distance of the pick-up and drop-off locations, for one. And the legal status of the passenger or cargo, for another.

As for the Feudals -- great idea! "European chivalric tradition" could cover anything from one-on-one duels to extortion and robbery. There could be a chance of being attacked by local nobles and their henchmen, who would be ostensibly Clean. Or there could be little rock-hermit-esque "castles" here and there, each with its own gang of knights and men-at-arms, with varying degrees of banditry prevalent. You could have fun with the commodities prices, too.

All excellent ideas! Keep 'em coming, folks! I'm starting to smell a project starting up.

Thargoid wrote:

One comment from an alien in passing would be that a lot of the feudal stuff mentioned so far could/would be equally (or possibly more) appicable to multi-government systems.

Low-tech ones could be your warring kings and such, with high tech ones being arms races, orbiting weapons platforms and the like...

Yes, the multi's would be fertile ground for expansion. And I'd already thought that system tech level could be used to tailor the additions for a richer and somewhat more believable experience. I like your suggestions.

I'm really enjoying the responses to this concept, folks!

This ought to be good. Any ideas on where we should start?

Maybe drafting concept sketches/models for ships, and backstory and such?

Make about a dozen families and their relationship (hostile, friendly, subservient. neutral) to each other. Maybe, to save yourself some time have, 3 or four ships in common and one unique ship per family.

Some time ago in another tread far away I wrote a few examples about new sorts of random passenger missions. This should work like a 'random hits' but for passengers:

thougt of this idea too. Depending on the space you buy you could get certain missions:

Some examples:

----------------------------------------------
Sort of space: Normal Passenger berth
Capacity: 1 person
Mission oppertunities: Taxi, Refugee
----------------------------------------------
Example mission description


TAXI Mission-example:

Xeeze Quantono is a yellow felline zero-G cricket player who wants to visit his aunt on the planet Azaqu and play some cricket in spare time. He will pay you ($$$) in advance and ($$$) on arrival

Risk profile:
The risk of this mission is low. Quantono is not a high ranked player in the zero-G competition

REFUGEE Mission example:

Ver Fexaxos is a big fat frog wo wants to begin a new life on the planet of Onrira and is seeking passage on any ship who could take him there. ($$$) will be transferred at your bank account when you get there

Risk profile:
The Commi 'most wanted' list makes no reference of Fexaxos. However rumours say he's made not many friends. Some resitance can be expected..


---------------------------------------------
Sort of space: VIP Passenger berth
Capacity:: 1 person, 1 unit of cargo
Mission oppertunities: Company executive, VIP, Pop-star
----------------------------------------------
make up your own examples
*VIP may require you to buy food and luxuries just for himself
and make more demands
---------------------------------------------
Sort of space: Group passenger berth
Capacity:: 5 persons and 3 units of cargo
Mission oppertunities: Planet tour, conference/ meeting

Some waypoints/ stations/planets or suns must be vistited
Group demands onboard- service.
---------------------------------------------------
It would be nice if you can go up to buying your own Space Cruiseliner to organise luxury cruises (with multiple stops) etc. etc.

Also like the idea of CORPWars

many types of missions are possible then
[/quote]

caracal wrote:

Or -- and I have no idea how this might work, or even if it's possible -- how about a bit of bargaining?

Ooh, I like that! And after having seen what Random Hits can do, I am starting to think that limited interaction like this is indeed possible. I could certainly envision the bargaining code done in a script; it's the user interface part I'd need to investigate.

Refer to Anarchies again. Have you ever tried to bribe the official in the main station for reducing your fugitive status? There is some bargaining possible. (Hint: You have to look for him in the equipment store, and of course only in Anarchy systems, and if you are actually offender or fugitive.)