Oolite Bulletins

I have 2 questions regarding how the game works:
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solved: 1. when I see the list of contracts on f8,f8 then the function "Display the contract’s destination on the Galactic Chart" (default key is "?") does not work for me. I remapped it already. so I press f6 f6 and key in the name of the destination.
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2. in my saved game I found
<key>contracts_fulfilled</key>
<integer>6</integer>

it does not go higher than 7 although I did already 20 or so -all- successfully in time. is that how it is supposed to work?

When do I see the contracts that enables me to make more profit 100K ?
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I would like to know your experience with these 2 questions..
as always thanks in advance...

(PC, 1.74.4, RS)

Neverlast74 wrote:

2. in my saved game I found
<key>contracts_fulfilled</key>
<integer>6</integer>

it does not go higher than 7 although I did already 20 or so -all- successfully in time. is that how it is supposed to work?

You reputation is only based on the last 7 contracts. So you will never see a number higher than 7 here. Furthermore, the three numbers in "fulfilled", "expired", and "unknown" always have to add up to 7.

And with 6 fulfilled contracts you should already see well paid offers. Although 100k is not guaranteed (and frankly myself I have never seen a contract that lucrative).

at Commander McLane

fulfilled and expired make sense, but what does unknown mean here?

Chrisfs wrote:

fulfilled and expired make sense, but what does unknown mean here?

Well, as a new Jameson you either have fulfilled nor expired contracts (or passenger transports), so you start with 7 in the unknown category. Note that "expired" means those which you have failed to deliver = bad for your reputation. The "fulfilled" ones are obviously good for your reputation, and the "unknown" = neutral, haven't yet entered into your reputation.

Now, there is a second mechanism, causing your reputation to wane over time, if you don't continuously take contracts. Every now and then (I think every couple of jumps) either the "fulfilled" or the "expired" are decreased, and the "unknown" increase accordingly.

And that's all.

Commander McLane wrote:

Chrisfs wrote:

Now, there is a second mechanism, causing your reputation to wane over time,.....

I realized that - I honestly say I did not like it. I did 20 positive contracts - was 7/0/0 then I was going looking for a better ship. once I found it I did not see the good gold/platin contracts anymore. As I changed from a 150ton (strelka) to a 20ton (wolfmk2) I was not able to take on any contracts as they that were offered to me. At 5/0/2 reputation I was offered to do 80tons here, 134tons there, 400 tons here and so on. So that put me into trouble. You have a hard time climbing up the ladder with a medium budget fighter ship as they do not have the capacity.

(editing my save file solved the problem)

Neverlast74 wrote:

(editing my save file solved the problem)

Ouch! Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaater!

Can you get contracts that will fit in a mk3 cobra with cargo bay extension?

Yes, they are just rare. But there sometimes are contracts for 28-30t of something.

Pick them up wherever you get them. If you've built a reputation as a contractor, you will get offered far more lucrative contracts which almost don't require cargo space at all... (to be more explicit would be a spoiler)

Commander McLane wrote:

Neverlast74 wrote:

(editing my save file solved the problem)

Ouch! Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaater!

Well when I did a long route delivery for 50k with 15 jumps and I started with 7/0/0 I had 5/0/2 after 20% of the way which means I will never get back to my good rep. If you ask me - it falls to fast the rep.

There is a random element to it. I think Eric Walch dug it out some time and posted the formula in one of the many other threads dealing with the reputations. This is something of a FAQ.

Commander McLane wrote:

There is a random element to it. I think Eric Walch dug it out some time and posted the formula in one of the many other threads dealing with the reputations. This is something of a FAQ.

For the technical note you can look here
It comes down that a random part of the unknown reputation will be treated as fulfilled. Therefor, even when never doing cargo runs, it sometimes can happen you are offered contracts for a player with a reputation of 7 fulfilled contracts. So when in the contract business you must always look for the contracts, even when not having the maximum reputation, the big contract could be there!
When you want to always know the exact reputation for the current station you can install ups-courier. For any docked main station in a higher than feudal system, the reputation is displayed on the F5 screen.

thanks makes sense! thank you for your explanation Eric.

Do passenger runs. The can be pretty good pay for a small ship. I have a Moray starboat, so with a berth, that leaves 2 tons cargo space, and I can live off of the passengers better than if I had the 5 tons available. I sold the Cobra early on, in order to get a smaller ship with more stuff.

Yup, being a space-taxi driver does pay off. All it takes is a nippy little ship with enough space to fit a passenger seat, and you're golden.