IBL and LooManc Pirate Stations,hacking

-John- · Post by **-John-** » Sat, 15. Dec 12, 17:50

Ive spent several hours running around these Teladi sectors looking for a hacker, clicking on anything with a Light Bulb to no avail.
Any other clues to help me out?
Thanks,
John

Sabrina Bergin · Post by **Sabrina Bergin** » Sat, 15. Dec 12, 18:09

Afraid not John hacking offers in reach of loomanksatts are random it could be a while BOL.

TTD · Post by **TTD** » Sat, 15. Dec 12, 18:50

All I can say is it could be at any station within 3 sectors of the one you want to hack.
You could find one Paranid or Boron sectors around there.

And the chances are random every time you enter a sector.

DrBullwinkle · Post by **DrBullwinkle** » Sat, 15. Dec 12, 21:43

Yeah, it doesn't even have to be a nearby station. And the important thing is the NPC who makes the offer (usually Teladi or Pirate). That NPC could be on any base in any sector.

In other words, you are probably wasting your time by re-checking the same sectors, John.

For some reason, I get better-than-average station hack offers in Acquisition Repository. There are a couple of Teladi bases there as well as a Pirate base -- all of which have offered me station hacks.

But, really, you may run into station hack offers anywhere in the universe. It is just more *common* to find them in nearby sectors.

Post by **Alan Phipps** » Sat, 15. Dec 12, 22:02

Actually, in TC at least, it does have to be a sector within 3-4 gates range of the sector of the particular hostile station you want hacked, but you can also use the Hub to move the goalposts and bring say a far-off Pirate Base 'within range' to the target sector. You can find hack missions offered further away and within range of a different hostile station but they will not offer the particular station you want hacked if too far away.

The hack mission is always offered by a Pirate character so your chances of finding one are limited to stations where you can find Pirates as either owners or visitors. In descending order of likelihood these are:

Pirate Bases and Pirate-owned stations, Teladi sector stations, stations in other race border sectors, any station anywhere else that Pirates/Duke's (survive to) visit.

DrBullwinkle · Post by **DrBullwinkle** » Sun, 16. Dec 12, 19:47

Actually, no.

I said it correctly the first time: Station hack offers can occur anywhere. They are most commonly found in nearby sectors, but I have had them show up on the other side of the universe.

Post by **Alan Phipps** » Sun, 16. Dec 12, 20:19

That is excellent, and I feel sure that surely somebody would therefore be able to produce some evidence to support that assertion and put this hack-range myth, if such, to bed once and for all.

We would have to be able to discount Hub gate position effects and also the likelihood of there being more than one hostile station of the same type as the offer existing in different and closer sectors. It is also implicit that if the assertion is true, then any successful finding of a hack mission anywhere would list all hostile stations in the galaxy.

DrBullwinkle · Post by **DrBullwinkle** » Sun, 16. Dec 12, 20:25

Sure.

Or you could refrain from presenting "urban legend" as "fact".

I already presented the facts. I know that what I said is true. I doubt that you can say the same about your challenge.

I have received several station hack offers in distant sectors -- they are noteworthy because they are unexpected. It does not happen often, but it does happen enough to be statistically significant.

It's your challenge... so further proof is in your corner, my friend.

-John- · Post by **-John-** » Sun, 16. Dec 12, 20:37

Well, I got a hack finally in Acquisition Repository Pirate Base, finally,lol.
Thanks everyone,
John

DrBullwinkle · Post by **DrBullwinkle** » Sun, 16. Dec 12, 20:40

Nice!

You should be nearly ready for the last mission of Final Fury now.

Klingon Toast: Tonight we drink, for tomorrow we all may die!
Response: Kaplah! (Success!)

Post by **Alan Phipps** » Sun, 16. Dec 12, 21:01

@ DrBullwinkle: Not a proof as such (because we don't know all the conditions and must rely on memory) but a situation I am certain about that poses a question.

I had a hack mission offered by a Pirate at the Pirate Base in Hatikvah's Faith to hack the hostile Anarchy Port in the same sector (only). I declined. It did not offer to hack any of the 3 hostile Pirate-owned stations nor (specifically) the Anarchy Port in Loomanckstrat's Legacy that I knew about (7 sectors away).

Shortly after that I was offered a hack for all of those four Loomanckstrat's Legacy stations by a Pirate at the Royal Boron Research Station in Great Trench (2 sectors away). Only one Anarchy Port hack was offered. I accepted the hack of the PBG Forge.

Why would that difference in the scope of offers be there if not because of range?

This conundrum could easily be resolved by someone with actual knowledge of the station hack script/MD coding.

Edit: By the way, the 'Urban Legend' I spread is also in the Egosoft official FAQs (last line).

-John- · Post by **-John-** » Sun, 16. Dec 12, 21:11

DrBullwinkle, thanks.
I am getting closer, still rounding up weaps and ammo. (The IBL station had 4 IBL availabe, I bought all four, will store two in my TL.
Finding it difficult to round up ammo for the EBCG. I think I have everything except fighters and ammo.
John

DrBullwinkle · Post by **DrBullwinkle** » Sun, 16. Dec 12, 21:16

EBCG is a Teladi weapon, so look for it near your Falcon Hauler sources.

Here is Roguey's list of locations.

DrBullwinkle · Post by **DrBullwinkle** » Sun, 16. Dec 12, 22:24

Alan Phipps wrote:Why would that difference in the scope of offers be there if not because of range?

Range *is* a factor. It affects probability.

This conundrum could easily be resolved by someone with actual knowledge of the station hack script/MD coding.

There are only about ten people in the world who are really good with MD, but this is my interpretation of "director\2.136 Notoriety Hack.xml":

The "normal" search condition is at line 30. It searches for stations within 3 jumps that belong to pirate, yaki, terran, goner, or "default" race, whatever that is. Perhaps the race that owns the sector?

Code: Select all

<count_stations min="1" findobject="{player.ship}" enemy="1" race="default|pirategroup|goner|terran">
            <jumps max="3"/>

It appears to me that the block of code at line 53 creates an exception to the normal 3-jump search radius, if no appropriate station can be found within the normal search radius. In that case, a station is found at any distance.:

Code: Select all

          <do_if value="{object.exists@this.station}" exact="0">
            <find_station name="this.station" dockingallowed="1" findobject="{player.ship}" friend="1" neutral="1" race="default|terran|pirategroup" silent="1">
              <sector sector="{player.sector}"/>
            </find_station>
          </do_if>

Races making the offers are at line 136. Mostly Pirate and Yaki, some Teladi, and some offers could be made by any race at the stations found above:

Code: Select all

                        <set_value name="this.OfferRace" exact="{object.race@this.station}" chance="20"/>
                        <set_value name="this.OfferRace" list="{lookup.race@pirate}|{lookup.race@yaki}" chance="75"/>
                        <set_value name="this.OfferRace" exact="{lookup.race@teladi}" chance="5"/>

Bill Huntington · Post by **Bill Huntington** » Mon, 17. Dec 12, 01:50

I got tired of saying it, long ago. I did get a station hack from 5 sectors away more than once. Most of the time, it is within 3 sectors.

One of the conditions is that there are no red stations closer than the one you want. The closest station or stations are listed. If the closest red station is the one you want, and it is within 5 sectors, it can happen. More than that, I cannot say.

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IBL and LooManc Pirate Stations,hacking

IBL and LooManc Pirate Stations,hacking

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