Oolite Bulletins

I have noticed that most of the cargo carrying contracts on the F8 F8 screen are all in the hundreds of tonnes.
Only very rarely have I seen one below 100T and, even then, never under 35T so that I can take the contract.

Is there a file somewhere that can be edited to decrease the amount of cargo that needs to be carried, so that pilots with smaller cargo holds can do some contract work?

Thanks.

Ooh. Old.

Uhm.. I vaguely remember a technique used by other pilots.

If you buy say.. a PCC or Boa, and do a bunch of contracts, eventually your reputation goes up. Now, when this happens, you will start to get contracts for gemstones/gold and what not for big bucks. You reputation is not specific to your ship, so you go back to a Cobra III and can still get the contracts.

That being said, I'm not entirely sure you CAN edit the contracts, I was under the impression it was hard-coded.

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable then I can confirm.

Have a look at UPS courier oxp it has a series of missions that increase your rating so that you may get the more lucrative space conserving gem transport jobs. All with no need to cheat

http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/UPS_Courier

lave wrote:

I have noticed that most of the cargo carrying contracts on the F8 F8 screen are all in the hundreds of tonnes.
Only very rarely have I seen one below 100T and, even then, never under 35T so that I can take the contract.

Is there a file somewhere that can be edited to decrease the amount of cargo that needs to be carried, so that pilots with smaller cargo holds can do some contract work?

The concept of the carrier market is to give ships with larger holds stuff to carry (because you'll rarely find enough stuff in the regular f8 market). If you like the contract market but have a ship with a small hold, invest in a few passenger berths instead.

They do appear in "small" amounts occasionally. I've managed to maximise my rating with a hold capacity of only 50T. It takes a while, and you have to check at every station, but when you find one, you take it. Below 35T might be tricky, though...

OK thanks for the replies.

On a (slightly) related note - Does cargo-carrying rep go back down if no missions are done for a while?

I believe so.

curtsibling wrote:

On a (slightly) related note - Does cargo-carrying rep go back down if no missions are done for a while?

Yes.

If you want to stay informed about your current reputation you may install [wiki]Display_reputation_OXP[/wiki]. </shameless plug>

On the flip side to this coin, do you get better contracts after ferrying passengers around for ages? I have carried passengers from one end of the galaxy to the other, and with an OXP, seen that my reputation is about as high as it gets. However, I still have not been offered anything that I would call lucrative

It would be a great idea to get an outstanding reputation then to be offered to ferry spies, royalty and the like. But it could be done via oxp though.

luminous wrote:

On the flip side to this coin, do you get better contracts after ferrying passengers around for ages? I have carried passengers from one end of the galaxy to the other, and with an OXP, seen that my reputation is about as high as it gets. However, I still have not been offered anything that I would call lucrative

There are no lucrative contracts for passengers I'm afraid. There is gameplay reason behind it: passenger contracts are there to help you get started. Yes, you can make good money if you pick the long rides, but you will not make ludicrous money. If you want ludicrous, you will have to hit the carrier market and build a reputation there.

Just subtle little things that make the game more interesting...

another_commander wrote:

luminous wrote:

On the flip side to this coin, do you get better contracts after ferrying passengers around for ages? I have carried passengers from one end of the galaxy to the other, and with an OXP, seen that my reputation is about as high as it gets. However, I still have not been offered anything that I would call lucrative

There are no lucrative contracts for passengers I'm afraid. There is gameplay reason behind it: passenger contracts are there to help you get started. Yes, you can make good money if you pick the long rides, but you will not make ludicrous money. If you want ludicrous, you will have to hit the carrier market and build a reputation there.

Just subtle little things that make the game more interesting...

Bugger...lol. And to think that I must have taken about 50 contracts just to get my reputation up in the hope of bigger and better things....oh well

another_commander wrote:

There are no lucrative contracts for passengers I'm afraid.

Wasn't this changed from 1.73 to 1.74? In 1.73 I used to get contracts for 16.000 credits at top rep. With fast delivery bonus this can (could?) be doubled. I once had a double deal, both paying 16.000. When I arrived I received 50.000 Cr.

Nowadays, the most I see is 8.000 Cr.

Pluisje wrote:

another_commander wrote:

There are no lucrative contracts for passengers I'm afraid.

Wasn't this changed from 1.73 to 1.74? In 1.73 I used to get contracts for 16.000 credits at top rep. With fast delivery bonus this can (could?) be doubled. I once had a double deal, both paying 16.000. When I arrived I received 50.000 Cr.

Nowadays, the most I see is 8.000 Cr.

Yes indeed, it was changed in order to reward the long rides, because up to that point the taxi market simply was not worth it. The players were set much better doing their Furs/Computers runs instead of moving people around, so we basically upped the profit for the longer routes. This profit however, still remains within the limits of a relatively good standard commercial contract run (after all, one person is unlikely to pay for transportation more than a company for transporting its goods). Still, these prices are far from the commercial contracts that start flowing in once top carrier market reputation has been achieved.