Cargo jettison

[Overkill]

In the next Star Traders RPG update I would like an option to jettison unwanted cargo into space. This doesn't seen too difficult to implement but then again I'm not a software developer. There are various reasons one may desire to to this.

Say a captain is traveling through deep space and has a bad feeling about the artifacts or other illegal cargo being carried. Maybe most or all of the factions are engaged in trade embargoes.

Maybe the captain wants to make room for the loot he's going to acquire in his next battle and out of pure spite he doesn't want to leave anything on the enemy ship or conduct trade with a certain independent, because he despises the person in power.

Maybe he purchased some luxury rations from some dirty hell hole mining outpost, and though the crew doesn't seen to care or even notice, the captain solely perceives them as being stale and having a foul stench.

Maybe he acquired some clothing from Steel Song that's so absolutely atrocious that he'd rather take a monetary loss and jettison it into a supernova than risk seeing someone in a palace wearing it.

[poryg]

So, jokes aside, what is the point of the feature?

In all honesty, I don't see any. There are already treasure caches. And trade embargoes don't have any influence on the cargo you carry. Ships will not confiscate your illegal cargo due to trade embargoes, but due to you not having a trade permit. So if you decide to buy 40 artifacts and then fly through Rychart space, but don't have a trade permit with Rychart, it's your wasted money regardless if you ditch the cargo or let a bounty hunter confiscate it. The only difference is 1 reputation point.

[Overkill]

The point is expressed in the first 2-3 examples and the rest are pure humor. I do see your side. This feature is certainly not something that's vitally necessary, just an option. Maybe someone would rather dump some cargo rather than depositing into a cache in the wilderness since they're already low on water-fuel. Or maybe one is having trouble getting to the urban zone because of other ships. Maybe a captain simply wants to get rid of a few items now rather than later and, due to pride, confiscation is not an option. Then again maybe we can continue living without the feature, as the game has always been. But... Han Solo jettisoned his cargo and got on Jabba's bad side, Obi-Wan jettisoned the spare parts canisters to evade a missile fired by Jengo Fett, and the Vogons jettisoned Ford and Arthur into space. It seems to me that starships should be capable of doing this for whatever the reason.

[resistor]

What are you talking about? Steel Song has the best fashion sense. I've never seen better looking gilded ballistic vests or stab-resistant robes from any of the other factions.

[poryg]

If we take a look at realism, yes, the player should be able to jettison any cargo they want at almost any given time. Thea should also be able to determine whether to raise or lower rations of Water-fuel. Or whether to do or not a thousand of other things. But you know, in programming we have dozens of variables that take care of whether we want to include this feature or not. I'm not a developer of ST, but to me this feature looks like too much work for too little gain. I guess this is the reason why we see so little of cargo jettison even in other games. And I think it is better for the player to have to watch out which cargo they carry through which locations (for example if I have cargo full of artifacts, I will not go through red fields with rumors of Alien attacks, because I know I'm 100% sure to die there.

[fallen]

Jan 26, 2018 14:10:44 GMT -5 Overkill said:

In the next Star Traders RPG update I would like an option to jettison unwanted cargo into space. This doesn't seen too difficult to implement but then again I'm not a software developer. There are various reasons one may desire to to this.

Say a captain is traveling through deep space and has a bad feeling about the artifacts or other illegal cargo being carried. Maybe most or all of the factions are engaged in trade embargoes.

Maybe the captain wants to make room for the loot he's going to acquire in his next battle and out of pure spite he doesn't want to leave anything on the enemy ship or conduct trade with a certain independent, because he despises the person in power.

Maybe he purchased some luxury rations from some dirty hell hole mining outpost, and though the crew doesn't seen to care or even notice, the captain solely perceives them as being stale and having a foul stench.

Maybe he acquired some clothing from Steel Song that's so absolutely atrocious that he'd rather take a monetary loss and jettison it into a supernova than risk seeing someone in a palace wearing it.

Thanks for the suggestion for a new feature.

This is actually a feature we are working on adding to Star Traders: Frontiers as well. It gives the Captain the flexibility they need at times so that they can chose the right priorities. Perhaps they need to ditch their current cargo for a much better deal, surplus, or looting opportunity.

Consider it on the list!

[fallen]

Jan 27, 2018 4:21:41 GMT -5 poryg said:

If we take a look at realism, yes, the player should be able to jettison any cargo they want at almost any given time. Thea should also be able to determine whether to raise or lower rations of Water-fuel. Or whether to do or not a thousand of other things. But you know, in programming we have dozens of variables that take care of whether we want to include this feature or not. I'm not a developer of ST, but to me this feature looks like too much work for too little gain. I guess this is the reason why we see so little of cargo jettison even in other games. And I think it is better for the player to have to watch out which cargo they carry through which locations (for example if I have cargo full of artifacts, I will not go through red fields with rumors of Alien attacks, because I know I'm 100% sure to die there.

Thanks for the feedback. We really appreciate suggestions of features and we can decide whether or not we want to prioritize coding them

[poryg]

fallen Of course, I'm not questioning your ability to decide what you want in the game, just stated my opinion