9.23 Cargo Contracts
The economy of the Sector is constantly moving, and a big part of that is moving commodities from place to place. CARGO CONTRACTS is your entry point to this busy world of hauling commodities and/or getting your own commodities hauled.
Consult CARGO CONTRACTS LIST to view current cargo contracts on offer. CARGO CONTRACT <#> will show more information about a particular contract.
Hauling
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If you would like to take on a cargo contract, you can CARGO CONTRACT <id> TAKE. At first you can only take on one cargo contract at a time, but completing more contracts will let you take on more at one time, up to 15. After taking the contract, you must travel to the contract's origin and CARGO CONTRACT [id] PICKUP, fly to the contract's destination, and CARGO CONTRACT [id] DELIVER.
Contracts must be completed in 8 RL hours from the time the contract was taken, and priority contracts in 2 RL hours. If the contract times out, any picked up shipping container will be seized from you, the maximum number of contracts you can take at once will be reset to 1, and you will not be able to take that particular contract again.
While you have a shipping container for a cargo contract on board your ship, you cannot use any form of warp, except Voidgates. You also cannot use SHIP BRING or SHIP DETONATE.
If your ship is destroyed while a shipping container is on board, the cargo will be lost and the contract is resolved. You will not receive any reward for the contract, but your taken contract maximum is not adjusted as when a contract times out.
While you have a shipping container on board, you have a chance to be attacked by NPC pirates in zones with 10% Riracy Rating or more (see HELP PIRACY).
Upon completing a contract, you will be rewarded marks, some Captaincy experience, and Hauler Points (used to track RANKINGS HAULER).
NPC Haulers
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Periodically NPC cargo ships will take the longest-waited cargo contracts and start hauling. These ships can carry both player contracts and NPC contracts and are vulnerable to player pirates who are able to locate them (see HELP PIRACY). Killing an NPC cargo ship will yield commodities depending on the nature of the contract: 1) If the cargo ship is hauling an NPC contract, the cargo ship will yield commodities up to a specific maximum marks value, more if the cargo ship is a freighter, and even more if it's a superhauler; 2) If the cargo ship is hauling an Uninsured player contract, it will drop 100% of the commodities being shipped; 3) If the cargo ship is hauling an Insured player contract, it will drop a fraction of the commodities being shipped. These rules apply in the case of players pirating other player haulers, too.
Contractors
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Players and organizations (factions, dynasties, and clans) can set up their own cargo contracts to have their commodities shipped. The syntax for doing so is as follows:
CARGO CONTRACTS NEW Make a new cargo contract.
CARGO CONTRACTS <id> ORIGIN <name> Set where commodities are to be picked up.
CARGO CONTRACTS <id> DESTINATION <name> Set where commodities are to be delivered.
CARGO CONTRACTS <id> ADD <amount> <commodity> Add commodities to be shipped.
CARGO CONTRACTS <id> ADD ALL [comm|commtype] Add all commodities at a location, optionally of a specific type.
CARGO CONTRACTS <id> INSURE [YES|NO] Insure your contract against loss or theft. This will quote you an insurance premium based on the present settings, but may change if the contract is modified. In the event of loss, you will be paid the full marks value of the cargo.
CARGO CONTRACTS <id> PRIORITY [YES|NO] Request priority service for a quick shipment. The minimum reward for the shipment is higher for priority shipments
CARGO CONTRACTS <id> REWARD <marks> By default, the reward on a contract is set to a mandatory minimum based on the distance between the origin and destination and the cargo mass of the contract. Set this if you wish to list your contract with a higher-than-normal reward.
CARGO CONTRACTS <id> SUBMIT Submit a contract to be listed. Before submission you will be asked to confirm the details of the shipment, including your finalized insurance premium if the shipment is insured.
CARGO CONTRACTS <id> CANCEL Cancel an unsubmitted or untaken contract.
For creating organizational cargo contracts, prepend DYNASTY, FACTION, or CLAN to the syntax above. You must have the Shipping power in your organization and, in the case of Dynasties, the Dynasty must have the Shipping perk.
Smuggling
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CARGO CONTRACTS LIST SMUGGLING will display current smuggling contracts. These are more dangerous contracts and potentially leave you vulnerable to PK. See HELP SMUGGLING for more information.
