Cargo Ejection Mechanics

[Velourian]

Firstly, I'd like to say that I've read through the common suggestions sticky at the top of this sub-forum and I approve of many of the suggestions people have had and it's great to see how many of them are things I had also thought needed tweaking.


One thing I must bring up is very annoying to me however, which is the ejection of cargo. When shooting open the cargo hold of NPCs, the damaged hold constantly ejects cargo one unit at a time. For instance, if a ship is holding 100 Gold, this would be ejected as 100 separate containers of Gold. This makes the pirate's life hard and by the time you've scooped up a couple of containers the feds are already there to cut your cargo scooping short (not to mention that it's rather tedious to be scooping all that cargo one-by-one).


I feel that a welcome change would be if cargo was ejected in multiples. This could be based on the highest class of cargo rack on the ship.

e.g.
A Sidewinder with a Class 1 cargo rack would eject cargo in units of 1 if the cargo hold is broken.
A Lakon 9 with a Class 8 cargo rack would eject cargo in units of 8 if the cargo hold is broken.


Of course, it goes without saying that "Gold x 8" would not be able to be scooped by a ship without a spare cargo capacity of 8 or more.


Those are the basics of this idea anyway, I think this is one of the things that really prevents me enjoying pirating.
Feedback and improvements on this are welcome, whether you think this would be good for the game or not.

 

[kaivalagi]

Make it easier for pirates? NEVER!

Anyway, whatever sort of sized cargo scoop would be needed for an 8t cargo lump...it just doesn't work to me

 

[Velourian]

As far as I'm aware the current cargo scoops don't have a defined size. There's nothing to say that you couldn't scoop 8 units of cargo with the current cargo scoops, particularly as I'm pretty sure that when you choose to manually jettison 8 cargo you can currently do just that.

In terms of realism bigger issue would be why a ton of gold occupies the same sized containers as a ton of fish.

 

[kaivalagi]

As far as I'm aware the current cargo scoops don't have a defined size. There's nothing to say that you couldn't scoop 8 units of cargo with the current cargo scoops, particularly as I'm pretty sure that when you choose to manually jettison 8 cargo you can currently do just that.

In terms of realism bigger issue would be why a ton of gold occupies the same sized containers as a ton of fish.

Good points, the gold must be packaged in wooden crates with lots of packing around each ingot Seriously though, why make it easier to steal cargo quickly? Part of pirating is getting caught by authorities and running right?

It would be interesting to see what it looks like when 8t's of cargo is jettisoned, it might be done in one command but if they roll out one at a time in quick succession that would explain the 1 in 1 out principle....never seen another players ship up close jettison cargo deliberately though so I wouldn't know

 

[Defacto]

I think that having trouble rapidly scooping up large amounts of cargo kind of is the point.

Lorewise: There's a standard unit for portable cargo containers, so it doesn't make sense to have a canister of 8x something.

As for the 1-ton thing, my guess is that this is to help ships retain stability, especially in atmospheric flight and hyperspace, by standardizing the average density and mass of every container. Also, canisters for valuable goods are probably fitted with more advanced electronics and protection systems, which would take up a lot of internal space. Containers for light goods might have weights mounted inside to make sure that they keep the same mass.

Your cargo scoops do have a defined size. The ramp that you catch up the canisters only fit one canister at a time, and when you jettison them, they do jettison one after another.

 

[kaivalagi]

...and when you jettison them, they do jettison one after another.

Ah, good to know, all makes perfect sense now

 

[Velourian]

Apologies, you are right they do jettison one after another when you manually jettison cargo.

I still think that there needs to be an easier method of scooping cargo though. If this idea doesn't fit with realism/lore then something else. Currently, I do not see any way of making any real profit from pirating in this game. As profit is the only method of game progression it would follow that pirating needs some changes.

When pirating in controlled space, police will normally arrive before you're able to make a substantial profit. If pirating in Anarchy space you'll inevitably make far more from bounties than you will from scooped cargo, making you more of a bounty hunter than a pirate.
Also, I find that there is no profit in player vs player pirating whatsoever (in controlled space because of the previous discussed issues with cargo, in Anarchy space players with valuable cargo are generally nowhere to be found, probably due to solo play).

 

[Defacto]

I've never had any problem doing it before the federalis arrive. Don't bother with sniping out the cargo hatch or making the NPC drop cargo out of fear for dying if you can avoid it. Get some limpets instead, crack the shields and let the canisters rain! I don't have enough experience with PvP piracy to comment on that.

I do agree that piracy profits are a bit too low at the moment. I think NPC's should have slightly more valuable goods in their holds, and maybe, the balance would fare well if every trade good had its price scaled upwards a bit (while keeping the average Cr/ton profit rate on the same level).

 

[kaivalagi]

Maybe pirates need a way to steal ships too It would still be a rebuy scenario for the original owner (theft rather than writeoff) but it would be an upgrade path for pirates....would need to be really difficult though, i.e. 1mil plus for a module to do it, 20K for each time you use it, needs 10% or less hull etc etc etc and the ship couldn't be sold on only repaired....

 

[Malak'kai]

Maybe pirates need a way to steal ships too It would still be a rebuy scenario for the original owner (theft rather than writeoff) but it would be an upgrade path for pirates....would need to be really difficult though, i.e. 1mil plus for a module to do it, 20K for each time you use it, needs 10% or less hull etc etc etc and the ship couldn't be sold on only repaired....

This. Right. Here.

 

[Aquamonkey]

In terms of realism bigger issue would be why a ton of gold occupies the same sized containers as a ton of fish.

Or a ton of slaves... those poor slaves crammed into a metal box... ejected into space... just to get smacked at 20m/s because I suck at scooping.