License here:  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

1.6.3 (fix by phkb, 2015-08-25)

Fixed chart screens so that text is not overlaying it anymore. 
Changed files: missiontext.plist, Escort_Contracts.js

1.6.2 (fix by Keeper, 2015-06-07)

Bug correction when loading a game with an escort mission.

1.6.1 Unofficial update (calling it 1.6.1), to work with Oolite 
      V1.77's interfaces screen (and other updates), by Keeper.

All credit to Captain Murphy for creating the OXP.
New background images by ZygoUgo.

How it works now:

No longer will new contracts be shown when you dock at a station
(though results of an existing mission will be, as usual). Instead,
if a contract is available, you will find an "ITHA Escort Contracts"
entry on the interfaces screen (F4 or 4 while docked at a main station)
showing you how many are available.

When you view the contracts, you still have the option of viewing the
Short Range Chart, but instead of actually going to the real Short
Range Chart GUI, it loads the chart as an overlay, so you have an
immediate ability to accept or decline the contract while looking
at the chart (thanks to cim for the heads-up about this new feature).

That Short Range Chart view also will give you the key information
(trader name, destination, pay, and risk) in a terse form at the top
of the screen, so you won't have to memorize what the contract entailed.
It also will display the economy type, government type, and tech level
of both the current and the destination system, to help you decide
which contract to accept if you're carrying cargo yourself.

All the menu selections have been aligned to the right of the screen,
so that when viewing the chart, the text is out of the way of the
planets and your fuel range. Also, all the menu selection positions
will be maintained. For example, when you "View next contract", the
next page will have "View next contract" pre-selected, so you can page
through offers more easily. Also, the "Agree" option never will be
pre-selected, so you can't accept an offer by mistake. When you
have toggled the chart view on, it will remain on when you view the
next or previous offer.

If you decline the contracts, the offers will stay available up to
a point. The timer that the OXP had before while you were looking
at the chart is still running.

When the timer expires (a random time but usually a few hours),
the contract offers will disappear and no new offers will be made.
That's different than the original OXP. Fact is I never got it to
work right when having it create new offers. Either all the variables
were empty or it accumulated a huge number of new offers. I'm sure
it's possible to get it right, but in most cases you're not going
to be at the station long enough (even doing ship maintenance)
for the offers to go away, so it's not a big deal.

Of course, you also can launch from the station, turn around and re-dock,
hoping to see new offers turn up... It is left to people who actually are
programmers to work out a more robust system of preventing such a "cheat"
way of fishing for better contracts.

You may find offers available when you load a saved game, so you
may not actually have to go somewhere else to continue your escort work.
(I say "continue" because it still will check to make sure that you have
purchased an ITHA licence and that you have a Clean legal status.)

There are now three different success screens, so that it won't mention
getting a bonus if you made no kills during the trip, and it will use
the singular "kill" if you got only one.

The Griff Prototype Boa has been added as a potential mothership.
I only used the one that gets decals from the texture's alpha channel,
as that "alpha" version is the only one whose role normally always is
a trader (the others are or can be pirates), so it looks best that way.

Spelling was corrected, but don't be worried about me being American;
I left in UK spelling of things like "hauliers", "initialising", etc.
I simply corrected misspellings of "its", "independent" (adjective),
"en route" etc., and added commas where needed and replaced commas
with full-stops where needed.

With the initial screen now eliminated, that meant losing one of
ZygoUgo's new background images... or at least it would have if
I hadn't moved it to the "contract accepted" screen!

There is a harmless quirk you may encounter when loading a saved game.
Sometimes, you'll see the IHTA Escort Contracts menu item on the
interfaces screen with "0 available". Most of the time, the menu item
will not appear when there are no contracts available, but I guess it is
possible for you to go to the F4 screen before the menu removal code
has run. It doesn't cause any problems, and the line goes away when you
go to another screen and then back to the F4 screen.
