Black Monk Monastery

Black Monk Monastery
Size (metres, W×H×L)	1200 x 1200 x 5500
Manoeuvrability	Roll: 0 Pitch: 0
Rotating	Yes
Energy recharge rate	100
Armaments	12 Heavy Plasma Cannons
Defenders	Black Monk Gunships
OXP or standard	OXP
Beacon	B

Overview

The vast and imposing structure of this station marks with authority the fact that the Order of the Black Monks of Saint Herod are firmly established in the space lanes of the most advanced systems. The massive structure is at once home and place of business for countless thousands of holy brothers and lay servants, while it is a rare person that sees anything more than the austere and spartanly furnished offices where the Monks conduct their first and foremost business, that of loaning money.

By the late 30th Century the number of companies offering to consolidate debts in one easy loan had reached such unprecedented levels that most of the population of GalCop space was in debt. In the 2976 – 77 financial year, interest rates were increased twelve times, resulting in widespread bankruptcy.

In response GalCop passed the Consumer Credit (Holy Orders) Act 2978, outlawing the loaning of money by any organisation save the religious. The theory being that those with a spiritual conscience would never exploit Commanders in dire need of Credits. Following the passage of the legislation, the number of bankers taking Holy Orders increased by 20,000%. Today the Order of the Black Monks routinely doles out billions of credits worth of loans and receives almost ten times that amount in repayments each working day.

There are a number of activities taking place in the Monasteries, one of which involves the preparation of Holy Fuel - much more effective than the usual Quirium Fuel - but considerably more expensive too.

The Bank of the Black Monks

The Order follows a religious tenet that being solvent is a heinous sin and only the righteous walk the Path of Debt, thus all of their members are also Blessedly Insolvent. A normally cloistered order, they have opened their doors to the space-going populace in an attempt to entice others into the Holy and Exalted State of Debt. Any Commander may dock with the Monastery and, after being ushered through long, echoing hallways into the Grand Nave of Saint Herod the Bankrupt. Here they are offered a substantial loan, regardless of their financial state, with the proviso that they repay the loan with vastly inflated interest within a set time period. Failure to repay the loan within that time may result in the Commander being pursued by one of the Order's fearsome Black Monk Gunships. This alone is more than enough incentive for most to return within their alloted time and pay their debts and return to their sinful ways of financial security.

Many a distraught Commander has tried to take out his frustration at his failing fortunes by attacking Monasteries, to their own loss. Quite beside the fact that the stations are defended by Gunships, they are also equipped with The Holy Cannons of Defence, overcharged Plasma Cannons that are powered directly from the station's primary power core to give a weapon yield more than triple that of the standard Plasma Cannon seen on such vessels as Behemoths and Leviathans. Attempting to attack a Monastery is usually an indication of a suicidal nature.

Holy Fuel

Those docking at the Monasteries may not only find themselves privileged to witness some of the ritual ceremonies, but will also find Holy Fuel offered for sale at the ship's chandlery.

History

The Black Monk Monasteries are designed and built by Griff Research Ltd, part of Griff Industries.

Download

• Get the latest 2.x version from the in-game expansion manager. Oolite 1.82 or later required.
• Latest 1.x version: Shady Bank of the Black Monks OXP uses shaders on systems with graphic cards that support them. Oolite 1.75 or later required.
• Original version: Non-Shader Bank of the Black Monks OXP does not support shaders and is quite buggy but supports old versions of Oolite

Insight

Balancing loans drove me nuts when reduxing Black Monks. The problem lies in witchspace and the way it handles time. LittleBear's original Black Monks had a very functional mechanic: it gave you something like 10 jumps to clear the debt. That made it possible to estimate the average profit per jump and to balance the interest so that paying back the loan was challenging, but not impossible for a Cobra 3 pilot. The first thing I did was that I changed the loan to be a real loan with interest and it all broke down :( . All you need to do, is find those two opposite eco systems that are very close to each other and you have all the time in the world to pay off the loan. And bore yourself to death. In the end I was very frustrated and ditched the project a couple of times before finally getting the idea of forcing the player to pay the debt at a named system. LittleBear renamed the loans as pilgrimages and the mechanic makes sense in-game. And it's much more fun than zipping between two close systems.

(Spara on his 2015 rejig of the original .oxp)

Links

• Economics - see the Loans section under Links
• First Finance OXP - if you want to have bought your spaceship with a loan

BB Threads

• Borrowing, Loan Sharks and Debt collectors (2007)
• NEW : Bank of the Black Monks OXP (2007 - 17)
• More competition in the banking sector (2009)
• A question about the Black Monks.... (2011)

Gameplay and Balance Indicator

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• You do not have to borrow from them!
• If you do, you can equip your ship sooner and make more money
• But the interest rate is extortionate!
• Holy fuel is good - but also horrendously expensive!

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