Feature Request: Can we have an Abandon/Delete mission button?

[haxys]

It would be nice to have a button where we could abandon accepted missions (which would be bad for our reputation, like failing the mission) or delete missions we've failed.

Of course, I can understand if they remain because we still have the stuff we're transporting. But if those things were things we could sell on the market, there might be incentive to intentionally violate contracts.

I am just thinking on the page. This isn't a huge priority. I've just got a bunch of failed missions queuing up because I overestimated my abilities as a courier.

[impaktor]

They are removed once you land on the correct mission world.

[corundscale]

Which you may never do.

A function to allow you to clean up mission and triggering negative consequences for failure like rep hit would be nice. So would be some auto-cleaning of missions other than taxi if you're massively late.

[impaktor]

Should this apply to passengers as well? Just jettison them?

[robn]

In Frontier they'd get cranky and demand you let them out at the next stop. Booting them off (while docked or in deep space) should be possible too. Though if you're allowed to boot them, maybe they should be allowed to boot you (shipjacking!) ;)

[haxys]

I believe that you, as a free-thinking pilot, ought to be able to jettison (or steal) the cargo from missions, as well as jettison people you're transporting. Obviously your reputation would take a HUGE hit if you're just abandoning people in the cold void of space... But corundscale is correct: You may never again visit a planet if you failed the mission.

In fact, I was overzealous, and I accepted too many missions. Failed a bunch of them. Had to go back and visit every single planet where they were failed in order to clear them from my list. Of course, this is realistic, considering I still had the people (or their stuff) in my cargo hold. But boy is it annoying when I've got failed missions scattered in my current missions.

Perhaps we could sort it, so that failed missions appear below active missions? That wouldn't require us to change too much, and I wouldn't have to search as hard to find the ones that are still active.

[haxys]

I believe that failing a mission should be negative rep, and abandoning the mission should be the same as failing it. But jettisoning the cargo or passengers ought to give you an additional penalty, since it's worse than delivering your cargo/passengers late.

Or, if (as Rob pointed out) we could simply have failed missions clear out at the next station we visit, and simply explain that the package will be re-routed through a more reputable courier, or the passenger was displeased and will now have to find a more reputable taxi.

We already have it set up so that if you complete a mission late, you get a failure text instead of a success text. (i.e. "I won't pay for service like this!") So it should be fairly trivial to incorporate the same system for failed missions, but clear them out at whatever the next station is.

[corundscale]

Jettisoning passengers should count as murder. It should be detected automatically when within certain range of a spaceport (maybe even at all in populated system, save for selected spots - disposing of someone in Jupiter's atmosphere should be fairly effective), otherwise there should be two independent hidden random checks, one for the crime getting detected and traced back to you by the police, one for associates of person murdered finding out and hiring hitmen to go after your ass, both should only go into effect after randomized delay (meaning player can't be sure if they successfully evaded the law or vendetta). I wonder if you should be able to "space" your passengers at all, maybe only if they are outnumbered by crew (and only counting the crew members with appropriate trait - crew should have hidden lawfulness variable)?

Jetissoning or otherwise not delivering cargo should be considered theft.destruction of property and result in getting fined. Depending on the cargo type, importance and weight your employer can throw around, it might also result in hitmen.

Of course, you should be able to kick the passengers off your ship in port, without criminal consequences, just a rep hit.

[arcadia-xenos]

I had the thought for the same request as elequentmess, to have an abort on missions, it makes game play sense and it makes sense in game logic as you should have that freedom. Sometimes you forget to check which part of a multi-body system you are entering and blow your time.

I would think the rep hit for aborting to be worse than failing.

I would imagine the goods would be offloaded at next dock (just as the failed taxi mission does now) and the client would arrange for other means.

I think the "jettison the humans" idea is very, um, primitive? Why would you not just lock their cabin doors and sell them as slaves? Why could you not offer them positions and take them on as crew? Why would you not use them as indentured labor (loaders) at the next dock and get a discount on goods? I mean, get paid! y'know?

Any criminal actions should depend on the laws of the system (or planet or dock). And some systems may not have, ahem, laws.

All that sounds like stuff for the dev forum.

[impaktor]

I would think the rep hit for aborting to be worse than failing.

Maybe aborting mission before deadline isn't as bad as failing, and aborting after failing is the worst, since then you're not even delivering it anymore. So it would be additive:

abort before deadline = -5 miss deadline = -5 abort after deadline = -5

so the last would in practice be -5+-5, since you miss both deadline, and you fail to deliver.

Converting passengers to slaves might be "fun", but from a gameplay balance perspective, it means you get a very expensive commodity for free. Kind of like a money printing press. A giant hit on your reputation might not balance it either.

An "abort mission" function is easy to add, if we disregard the question "what happens to the passengers." They leave next time you dock. Angry!

[corundscale]

@impaktor Like with jettisoning passengers there could be two immediate hidden random checks (for the police investigation and an independent one), and randomized delay after which you get hit with criminal status (police) or assassins (private) if you enslave them. Anyway, jettisoning or enslaving should only work if you have significantly more crew than passengers, there could be some variable deciding whether crewmember would be willing to assist, or leave the ship in the nearest port and report you, or even mutiny.

[haxys]

Now we're getting into the kind of awesome social dynamics which will be a real challenge to code but will make the game much more immersive. I dig it.

[haxys]

For now, though, let's keep it simple. We can implement a temporary fix while we work on the big one.

[ElonSatoshi]

Sorry to necropost, but 5 years later there's still no such button and I just did a search and rescue mission in which the target vessel I'm supposed to rescue freefell into a gas giant, and there's no place to land to cancel the mission and I'm stuck with 1 person aboard my vessel.