Jettisoned cargo lasts forever

[Brianetta]

Cargo in space lasts forever. I dumped an entire hold of rubbish from my Hammerhead (over a thousand tonnes) down onto the surface of the Moon. The framerate hit the floor. All of the rubbish hit the Moon, then bounced off it. All of it managed to make escape (a consequence of frame boundaries and speeding up time). All of it eventually left the Earth/Moon system and began to orbit the sun. I had a couple targeted, and they just kept on going. All this time, the framerate was bottomed out as Pioneer tracked each individual container.

Possible solution: Cargo containers should have a limited life expectancy once they are both untargeted and sufficiently distant from the player.

[skapusniak]

That's just so cool...

...apart from the framerate of course :)

[Luomu]

All of the rubbish hit the Moon, then bounced off it

Here's one point that needs to be addressed, cargo containers impacting a planet should be exploded immediately because there's no other sensible outcomes at the moment. Blast-mined goods may need a short period of invincibility to ensure they don't die right after spawning.

[Baobobafet]

...Some further ramblings on 'ye olde' but still currently relevent topic;

I agree the persistance thing is really cool as well - although I totally get the point of how it can easily get out of hand.

One solution might be to add a limit to the total number of cargo items that the game will track to such a level of detail- anything beyond this number would have a much more limited lifespan.

Cargo will remain persistant only there is an upper limit of cargo items with this characteristic. (settable in config.ini allowing user to set CPU overhead)

Any cargo items beyond this default set number have a default lifespan of X (lifespan length settable in config.ini)

When cargo impacts with surfaces: If possible have thermal effects on entering atmospheres and even complete burn-ups at upper velocities. Cargo containers landing in water have a more limited lifespan (settable in config.ini)
Cargo containers landing in hostile environs have even less lifespan (settable in config.ini) If an impact speed exceeds X, explode cargo. (volatile cargos ideally should also have larger explosions)

If impact speed is below X, cargo is considered deposited on the surface. (Leaves open the possibility of eventually retieving such cargo via some customized surface scoop)

I really think it's a big feature that a player can place such satellites as [cargo] in a proper orbit somewhere - and later return to find those cargo items still in orbit.

Alternatively a player might wish to deposit cargo (temporarily) at a surface location or on special cargo platforms for storage.

As long as the total cargo items in the game remains below the threshold number those items could be supported as persistant. (or at least until they burn up or impact a surface somewhere ;)

[laarmen]

One thing shocks me about this proposal is that the player should adapt his gameplay to his settings, AND be aware of a "threshold" that have no gameplay reason but only technical ones, for an action that is purely whithin the game (leaving cargo in orbit, etc...).

[Baobobafet]

Yeah, maybe such littering should become a navigational offense that comes with a fine if you get caught ;)

One thing I thought about that might be smart to incorporate; A special case for mineral cargo items that are mined by the player. Since there can rapidly be too many items to keep track of during mining operations - particularly items 'rubbish' you don't want.

Mined items should probably have their own lifespan - different say from cargo purchased at a starport. If a player fails to scoop up the rewards of his labors within some set interval, those abandoned items will blink out of existence.

edit: Forgot to mention, the minute that the mined cargo is scooped up by a ship, it becomes normal cargo -(with normal cargo lifespan.)

edit2 :) Another thought is to have a menu option for a reset. ie: delete all littered cargo items? Y/N

[Baobobafet]

One exception to the short lifespan cargo being transformed into longer lifespan cargo once aboard a ship, (this transformation of cargo lifespan should be restrained to player ship only)

Any cargo, equipment reaped from AI controlled ships during combat as spoils of battle should have cargo with the similar short lifespan properties as those items (cargo) generated during traditional mining operations.

So if I destroy an enemy ship with cargo - I will have a limited time to collect the items before they too, ultimately fade from existence.

Conversely, if I drop cargo items from my ship, those cargo items will have a longer lifespan (or indefinite lifespan if they are under the set allowable threshold of rogue cargo containers allowed into the Pioneer universe - set via the config.ini.)

[robn]

I'd just give them a hit counter, and drop it by X every second. When it hits 0, the cargo body disappears. Maybe it can produce a small explosion or fizz or something. The in-story explanation would be that its a safety mechanism.

If they collide with anything, then they should instanly disappear (or explode or whatever). These are fragile little things.

Anything more complicated than this is pointless. A setting for it is right out - game mechanics should not be defined by settings at all.

[Baobobafet]

Will the hit counter be moddable to allow extended life for cargo items in game if so desired?

Edit: Also, during mining operations, will minerals (& other minable stuff) also be vaporized if they hit a surface?

I could've made for an interesting feature to be able to stock pile minerals anywhere on a planet's surface. -or in orbit for that matter.

Edit2: Another possibility for enabling storing cargo arbitrarily at any location on a planet surface could be the ability for a ship to be able to deploy a pallet on which to temporarily place cargo items. (the hit counter for cargo sitting on the pallet could be made longer or infinite)

For orbit, a special cargo storage pod could be ejected from ship - this would be the equivalent of the pallet but used to store and preserve cargo in orbit. Cargo could be tossed at the pod - which would absorb a set amount of cargo. To retrieve the cargo player only needs to park ship on top of pod/pallet.

The number of pallets and orbital storage devices a player could own/use would be limited - to avoid endless and uncontrolled rogue cargo items.