Ship Repurchase

Overview

This OXP aims to make the experience of using an escape pod a bit more interesting and realistic. The first change is that the player will be auto-ejected from their ship just before it is destroyed, in all cases, even if they don't have an escape pod. If the player has not fitted an escape pod, they will eject from their ship in a life-support suit only, which provides a means of keeping the pilot in stasis until they can be recovered. If an escape pod is fitted, it will auto-eject the player when it is clear the ship can no longer support life. Players can also choose when they eject if they have an escape pod, rather than waiting for the auto-eject process to kick in. Also, any parcels or passengers currently on board, and any gold, platinum or gem-stones will not fit into the life-support suit, and so will be lost with the rest of the cargo and ship. If an escape pod is fitted, these items will be preserved.

Once the player has been recovered, they then need to decide what to do about replacing their ship. They will be given (at most) three options:

1. to replace their previous ship plus all the equipment on it;
2. to just replace their existing ship, leaving out any equipment; or
3. choosing a lower cost ship as a replacement.

For options (1) and (2) there is a cost involved: 10% of the original cost. If, however, you have purchased an escape pod, there is an insurance component to the purchase that reduces the amount to be only 5% of the original cost. A more expensive escape pod option, named "Escape Pod Plus", will reduce the amount further, to 2.5% of the original cost.

Option (3) is always free. The type of ship offered will depend on the base value of your current ship. If the base value of your ship is greater than the base value of a Cobra Mark III (150000cr), you'll be offered a Cobra Mark III. If you have a Cobra Mark III, or have a ship with a lesser base value than a standard Cobra Mark III, you'll be offered either a Moray Starboat (current base value greater than 125000cr), a Cobra Mark I (current base value greater than 100000cr), or an Adder.

If a full ship plus equipment replacement is chosen, the ship will arrive in a fully working condition. That is, any equipment that was damaged at the time of destruction will be in a working order on the replacement¹, and the ship will not be in need of an overhaul.

If the player has insufficient funds to purchase either the full replacement, or the stock replacement ship, they will be forced to accept the lower value ship as their free ship to continue their galactic journey.

Note that, if you have passengers on board, choosing option (2) or (3) will result in those passengers being abandoned at the station and the contracts terminated.

¹ Note: The one exception to this rule is the cloaking device, which, because of the nature of the device and how it came to be in your posession, constitutes a real problem for insurance repair coverage. However, if you are rescued at a station that has a suitably high tech level, the device will be repaired.

Frequent Ejecting Penalty

In order to curb misuse (or instance, ejecting from a badly damaged ship to avoid repair bills), players who eject frequently will suffer a repurchase penalty. The calculation is (1 + ((monthly_eject_count - 1) x 2) / 10) x original_percentage. So, ejecting 2 times in a month will increase the percentage to 12%. Ejecting 3 times in a month will increase the percentages to 14%. If you were to eject 16 times in a month, that would change the 10% of original cost of the ship to be 40%.

Insurance

Due to the high number of total-loss payments insurance providers have been forced to make over the last decade, no-cost replacement insurance is no longer a complimentary part of an escape pod purchase. Instead, as noted above, any escape pod purchase will instead reduce the cost of any repurchase event.

However, many clients still find even the reduced costs difficult to bear. So insurance providers have introduced "Ship Repurchase Insurance", which covers the holder of the policy for a maximum of 30 days from date of purchase, and will reduce the cost of any ship plus equipment replacement to just 1000cr. A ship-only replacement will cost just 500cr. This insurance can be purchased at any GalCop-aligned station in all systems. The insurance is a once-only policy - if the policy is invoked, the terms state that the policy is then terminated.

New Jamesons

Insurance providers understand that new pilots need more protection than experienced ones. To help new pilots on their way, these payments will only be required for pilots who have attained an Elite rank of "Poor". If a "Harmless" or "Mostly Harmless" pilot ejects, the cost of a full replacement ship will be greatly reduced: 200cr for a full ship and equipment replacement, 100cr for a ship-only replacement.

Interstellar space

Ejecting in interstellar space is usually fatal - there is usually no one close enough to your location to render assistance, and the limited fuel on the escape pod is insufficient to enable a return to normal space.

However, occasionally there are rescue options even in interstellar space. If one of these options is close by (like a naval station or carrier), there is a chance a rescue will take place. However, insurance operators cannot provide replacement ships in this situation. Instead, the player will be given a used ship and will have to make their way back to normal space in this. When they dock at a GalCop station they will at that time be presented with options for ship replacement.

History

The standard escape pod in the core game operates in a strange way. While the description indicates there is some sort of insurance policy involved in purchasing the pod, if you eject with a ship full of damaged equipment, you will be given a replacement ship with the same damaged equipment in it. This reflects what happened in the 8-bit versions of Elite, and was likely a result of limited resources to do anything more complex.

Required OXP's

This OXP uses the Ship Storage Helper OXP to store and recover the players ship.

Compatibility

This OXP should be fully compatible with the Auto-Eject OXP by Commander McLane. The "Auto-Eject" equipment will eject the player ahead of the auto-eject function of this pack, and the repurchasing process will apply in both situations.

It should also be fully compatible with the Interstellar Tweaks OXP by UK Eliter. When ejecting in interstellar space, the recovery options of this OXP will ceed control to Interstellar Tweaks, allowing it to choose the destination. The repurchasing process will apply after recovery.

Download

Download ShipRepurchase.oxz v0.1.

License

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Rocket image from http://simpleicon.com/rocket.html
Shield image from https://www.iconfinder.com/icons/175318/shield_icon#size=512

Version History

0.1

• Initial version.

Quick Facts

Version	Released	License	Features	Category	Author(s)	Feedback
0.1	2017-11-30	CC BY-NC-SA 4.0	Escape Pods, Insurance	Mechanics OXPs	phkb	Oolite BB

Gameplay and Balance indicator