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FLEE FOR YOUR LIVES!

by Hazed

The first two tranches of the code for ship fighting are going to be put into the game in the next couple of days - we'll post a note on the electronic noticeboard in the game, as well as the website, when the code goes in. Sadly, you can't yet blast at each other with weapons - what you can do is to flee, and to repair your ship.

When you 'FLEE', you are taken straight to the interstellar link of the system. Since this is always a peaceful location which does not allow fighting, it allows you to escape from a brawl and avoid death.

Before you start thinking this would be a great way to take a shortcut across space, forget it. Fleeing has consequences. Not only does it use up half of the fuel in your tank, it also causes damage to your ship. Your engines will usually take a hit, and there's a chance that your shields, if you have them, will also degrade, your computer will drop a level, and your navcomp will be fried completely.

Obviously, unless you plan to get involved in another fight, you can live with some of that damage - but having damaged engines is not a good thing because they will use more fuel, so you will need to fix them to stop the constant drain on your finances. The drastic way to mend all the holes in your ship is to die... as part of the recovery process the ship will get patched up, although lost fuel and lost navcomps won't be replaced.

But that's not very practical, so instead you can take your beaten up vessel to a ship repair yard and get it mended. Swift-Fix Ship Repairs on Earth is NE of the LP, and out of Sol planets may have yards of their own if the POs have provided them.

To find out how much it will cost to repair your ship, the command is 'REPAIR SHIP ESTIMATE'. This'll give you a complete rundown of the cost. You can't haggle - you either take it or leave it. It can be worth shopping around, though, because repairs will be cheaper on some planets than others.

The main variable is that repairs use commodities, as you will see from the repair estimate, which are taken from the planet's exchange, so if they are on sale cheaply the repair won't cost as much. If the planet's stockpile doesn't have a commodity needed for repairs then it will be sourced from a private buyer and will be between 10% and 35% more expensive than the base price.

As well as the raw materials, you have to pay labor costs which are usually 10% - this won't vary between planets.

Then there is the Galactic Administration's programme called the OutSystem Business Development Subsidy.This knocks 1% off your bill if your ship is registered to the planet on which you are getting the repairs done, and a further 1% if that planet happens to be in a non-Sol cartel. So there's a possible 2% deducted which certainly makes it worthwhile.

If you don't have the money to pay for the repairs, well you can undertake them anyway and go overdrawn - just make sure you have a way to make some money to put yourself back into the black.

If you decide to avail yourself of the facilities, 'REPAIR SHIP' will set the droid mechanics to work, scurrying over your wrecked vessel to make it good as new. Don't wait too long, though, because prices for commodities change all the time so the estimate is out of date almost before you have a chance to read it.

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