Oolite Bulletins

I haven't been playing Oolite very long... just a few days. I DID search the board thoroughly on this topic, and did not find anything related to a possible bug.

I am probably just being paranoid, but I thought I would ask anyway.

I am running 1.73.4 on a PC.

Okay... I thought I had a good "feel" for how often maintance overhauls would occur... I purchased them EVERY time they occurred (haven't kept track, but it's been at least 4 or 5 of them, probably a few more). I have done some missions from RandomHits OXP, and played with a Passenger Berth/Taxi Service once, so I have been doing a lot of travelling.

Now... it's been a while, and quite a few long jumps, and I haven't seen "maintance overhaul" in the equipment screen for a while. My timeline is 2084244:HH:MM:SS, so its been about 240 days since the new-game timeline (2084004:03:44:SS).

(unrelated question: What EXACTLY is that timeline? 2,084,004 days from some standard? Couldn't find it in the wiki. Or is it year 2084 / day 004 / 03:44? I dunno yet, cause if it is I am only at day 244 in my current savegame).

The only TWO things that I did, that MIGHT have stopped the normal maintance overhaul process from working:
(1) I decided to play with running passengers. Purchased 1 Passenger Berth, did a contract (successful with 1 day to spare). Decided it wasn't worth it, sold / uninstalled the Passenger Berth to reclaim the cargo space. I haven't seen maintance overhaul since.
(2) Installed the FighterHud.OXP.

One thing that might help me (possibly a good thing to know anyway)... what can I check in my savegame in order to look at this? I've yet to open my savegame for any reason. Is there some way to know how soon a maintenance overhaul will occur, or if something is wrong with it?

This probably has nothing to do with it, but I mention this to show that I can proabably make a correction if necessary;
(a) I DID notice on the board in some posts NOT to use Windows Notepad on ANYTHING Oolite, so I downloaded Notepad++ (as suggested in a post).
(b) I've used Notepad++ to alter hud.plist to " ... re-enable the Cloaking Device Status Light ... " (as suggested in a post) by changing the line:
cloak_indicator_on_status_light = yes; (default was "no")
(I am nowhere near the Cloaking Mission yet, but when I do it I should have my "Status Light"). I did this quite a while ago.
(c) Also, used NotePad++ to "correct" a few minor things from RandomHits1.3.6.oxp as suggested in a post. Corrections were successful (they did what they were supposed to do). AND I think I've had 1 or 2 overhauls since then.

... thanks for any input (again, maybe I am just being paranoid, and I will see it in the equipment screen soon).

Just in case it matters...
Here is a copy/paste from a .TXT file that I have with my savegame archive. Its accurate (my current situation). Since it is a paste from a text file, it might look strange after pasting it into this post.

EDIT: I cleaned up the post after pasting it.

SHIP: Cobra Mk III (the original that I started the game with).

EQUIPMENT:
Large Cargo Bay
Multi-Targeting System
E.C.M. System
Advanced Space Compass
Fuel Scoops
Advanced Navigational Arrray
Energy Bomb
Target System Memory Expansion
Extra Energy Unit
Shield Boosters
Docking Computers
Military Shield Enhancement
Witchdrive Fuel Injectors
External Heat Shielding
Scanner Targeting Enhancement
Wormhole Scanner
Military Lasers forward/aft/starboard/port
ECM Hardened Missiles on each of the 4 pylons

OXPs :
FighterHud.oxp
Fuel Station 1.24.oxp
Galcop_trade_outpost.oxp
GrittyCoriolis.oxp
PAGroove_Stations_v1.2.1.oxp
RandomHits1.3.6.oxp
System_Redux.oxp
Target Reticle 1.2.oxp

JeffBTX wrote:

(1) I decided to play with running passengers. Purchased 1 Passenger Berth, did a contract (successful with 1 day to spare). Decided it wasn't worth it, sold / uninstalled the Passenger Berth to reclaim the cargo space. I haven't seen maintance overhaul since.

This is unrelated to (lack of) maintenance overhaul, but just out of curiosity, what contract was it? How many jumps? You can make some really good deals if you take long passenger contracts and build a reputation in the passenger carrier sector. But you must insist and not give up early.

One thing that might help me (possibly a good thing to know anyway)... what can I check in my savegame in order to look at this? I've yet to open my savegame for any reason. Is there some way to know how soon a maintenance overhaul will occur, or if something is wrong with it?

Check the variable ship_trade_in_factor. If this is below 85, an overhaul is due and you should be seeing the offer in the equipment screen, provided you are at a planet with an adequate tech level.

another_commander;

Thanks for the info...

...and wouldn't you know it...

It just occured.

Okay...

At some point I purchased my Military Shield Enhancement - that was the LAST piece of equipment I needed for a full loadout (until I proceed with the Oolite native missions, and get a Naval Energy Unit and a Cloaking Device). I can't swear to this for sure, but I THINK shortly after that my ship value was just a LITTLE over 200k (I may or may not have had a Passenger Berth installed - I can't remember). I could be wrong, here, though. I wish now that I had made a note of it.

Mostly my activity (so far) is in Galaxy 1 around Ensoreus (TL 12 Rich Ind Corp State), and trading to / from Isinor (TL 7 Poor Agr Conf) and Ararus (TL 4 Poor Agr Anarchy). I get a lot of money AND combat here, and can take RandomHits missions out of Ararus; usually I am lazy and only take hits in my current quadrant (SouthWest). Recently I had been worriedly flitting back and forth between Isinor and Ensorus waiting for the maintenance overhaul.

An overhaul just occured at Isinor. This time I checked just BEFORE I did it... my ship value was just a wee bit over 149k. I did the overhaul, refueled, bought cargo, set my destination (Ensoreus), and saved / quit. Reloaded. My ship value was now 169691.0 ... then I flew to Ensoreus, and checked ... still 169691.0. I will watch this from now on.

So I don't know. Maybe having Military Shield Enhancement slows down degredation? Or maybe its just a random factor in there somewhere.

-----

That one passenger run that I did... I think it was only 8 or so jumps. I WAS tempted to take some longer ones. Maybe I will... I've read things here in the forum about "Carrier Reputation", and I do realize that Passenger and Cargo (reputation) are apparantly two different things. BUT... after I did that one passenger run, a couple of times there were *CARGO* missions that were possible w/ a Cobra Mk III (one was 33 tons of machinery, and the other was I think 33 tons of radioactives).

Maybe I will do more Taxi Service jobs... and small tonnage cargo missions when I see them.

Yes, there are cargo deliveries under 35t sometimes, and it is worthwhile doing them, if you want to build up a reputation, which will eventually bring you much more lucrative cargo hauls.

Commander McLane wrote:

Yes, there are cargo deliveries under 35t sometimes, and it is worthwhile doing them, if you want to build up a reputation, which will eventually bring you much more lucrative cargo hauls.

Thanks...

From what I have read here, "it takes 7 runs to max the reputation" (but passenger and cargo are two different reps apparantly), BUT that rep degrades over time if you neglect it. So, yes, I think I will do more carrier service, now that combat is getting easier (due to more experience... I was/am very driven to practice that)... I can devote time to explore and do other things.

JeffBTX wrote:

From what I have read here, "it takes 7 runs to max the reputation" (but passenger and cargo are two different reps apparantly), BUT that rep degrades over time if you neglect it.

This is why it is very difficult building and maintaining a cargo hauler reputation with the smaller ships. The offers for transports of less than 35t are pretty rare so it is not that you end up neglecting anything, you just cannot really keep up. Passenger reputation, on the other hand, can be built more easily because you can fit one or more cabins in your Cobra and taxi people around. It is not as profitable as cargo hauling obviously (at least with one cabin only), but it can be an interesting alternative to standard trading milk runs, depending on where you are and what contracts you encounter. If interested, you may have a look at this post, written before the release of v1.73, which describes the new passenger market model and compares it to the old one.

another_commander;

Thanks! That was interesting, informative and encouraging! I took a screenshot of that specific post, with your chart and explanation, pasted into PaintShopPro, trimmed / resized, and stuffed it onto my "Oolite Archive of Info" folder.

I just did two passenger runs since my previous post, a short and a long one (AND I got another maintenance overhaul during the long one, 19 jumps or something, so my original issue is moot). I can see that prospective clients ARE offering more credits, so I think I will keep doing this.

another_commander wrote:

Check the variable ship_trade_in_factor. If this is below 85, an overhaul is due and you should be seeing the offer in the equipment screen, provided you are at a planet with an adequate tech level.

So is there some other reason than trade-in value to do an overhaul? Might things break due to wear-and-tear if you don't?

wades wrote:

So is there some other reason than trade-in value to do an overhaul? Might things break due to wear-and-tear if you don't?

Yes you will get witchdrive malfunctions and end up in witchspace surrounded by Thargoids lol.

Which brings an interesting thought to mind...

Apart from resale value, why is the only thing impacted by missed maintenance the likelihood of witchjump malfunctions? Shouldn't there be an increased probability for other types of failures too?

Diziet Sma wrote:

Which brings an interesting thought to mind...

Apart from resale value, why is the only thing impacted by missed maintenance the likelihood of witchjump malfunctions? Shouldn't there be an increased probability for other types of failures too?

Maybe there are ... fuel leaks, for example. They can be a pain in the stern.

JazHaz wrote:

wades wrote:

So is there some other reason than trade-in value to do an overhaul? Might things break due to wear-and-tear if you don't?

Yes you will get witchdrive malfunctions and end up in witchspace surrounded by Thargoids lol.

And that is the main reason I never do overhauls. I like the occasional mis-jumps and accept a higher change of fuel leaks and engine malfunctions after a jump. Those occasional malfunctions even enhance the game for me.

wades wrote:

another_commander wrote:

Check the variable ship_trade_in_factor. If this is below 85, an overhaul is due and you should be seeing the offer in the equipment screen, provided you are at a planet with an adequate tech level.

So is there some other reason than trade-in value to do an overhaul? Might things break due to wear-and-tear if you don't?

I think I had responded to a similar question some time ago, but in any case here is what happens if you don't do your overhauls:
If your ship's trade_in_factor drops below 80%, then the chance of a malfunction is increases by a random amount, which is higher the closer to 75% (minimum trade in factor) you are. A misjump will take place three out of four times when a malfunction occurs. In the one out of four chance that a malfunction happens but no misjump occurs, your ship will suffer internal damage or a fuel leak, the chances are 50-50 for those two. Internal damage means damage to either cargo, equipment or further drop in the trade_in_factor, making things worse for the next jump.

As you can see, there are very good reasons for keeping the ship maintained, if you want to avoid nasty surprises when you execute jumps.

I stand corrected... thanks for the clarification guys..