Infinity money glitch.

[pecet]

Steps to reproduce.
1. Wait for quest to colonize planet
2. Have medium slot empty and all quest slots taken
3. Accept quest, it will say that you don't have quest slot, but still you still receive colony module.
4. Remove colony module from medium slot
5. Repeat until inventory is full
6. Sell colony modules
7. PROFIT!

[Chumpy]

Don't vendors run out of money pretty quick?

[pecet]

Originally Posted by Chumpy

Don't vendors run out of money pretty quick?

They do, but you can always sell on another planet, and I think their cash is automatically renewed once in a while

[sbach2o]

Originally Posted by pecet

They do, but you can always sell on another planet, and I think their cash is automatically renewed once in a while

As far as I know, all planets of a race draw on the same pool of cash. This pool fills up slowly (later, as their economies prosper, more quickly) and they probably fund their shipbuilding from it (among whatever other things).

So, at the time when 'colonize planet' missions are typically available, the races should also be notoriously low on cash. The financial viability of this exploit should be limited. On the other hand, a colony module is worth quite a lot of money. Trading them in should be more profitable than farming items to sell.

This doesn't mean this exploit shouldn't be fixed, quite the contrary.

Btw: You can also simply accept the quest and receive the colony module. Then remove it from its slot and decline the quest. Normally the quest will just go back to the pool of open quests for the race and can be accepted again. It's been a time since I tested this, certainly a couple of patches back, but I think having all quest slots full still isn't required at all.

That quests will go back to the race's pool when declined can be quite annoying. I tried this with 'deliver chemical attack' type quests or similar when I was at war with the intended victim and there was no hope for me to actually do these. Just to clear the log (or in hope of making room for other kinds of missions). But since they appear again when declined, it's futile.

[Crisses]

Originally Posted by sbach2o

That quests will go back to the race's pool when declined can be quite annoying. I tried this with 'deliver chemical attack' type quests or similar when I was at war with the intended victim and there was no hope for me to actually do these. Just to clear the log (or in hope of making room for other kinds of missions). But since they appear again when declined, it's futile.

The race still wants/needs the mission done -- and sometimes you accidentally wormhole into a different system, want to accept quests that are in that system, so you return the quest to the "quest pool" and pick out quests relevant to the current area. You might, in the future, want to pick that quest up again if it's still available. So I don't know if there's a good way to handle this.

However, I've seen quest logs stagnate for some races -- for quite some time. Like nothing new is happening in their universe. Some quests might naturally time-out. I think only quests that REQUIRE a Drox Operative to fill them should remain unless rendered obsolete (ex. planet destruction, or escalation...) while others could shift and change. A "help us cure the drought" quest could eventually be fixed by nature, or a race ship might eventually get whatever the supplies were.

I'm not sure what it is about (most) "fetch" missions that requires ONLY an operative complete them... Storyline-wise it could be a tad more interesting if the fetch mission only required a drox operative if the race that had the cure were one they were at war with -- so obviously couldn't fetch that material themselves. It seems pretty silly that they'll sit there waiting when the planet with the cure is the friendly neighbor next door, and more-so one of their own planets! (Even more silly when the planet with the problem is ALSO the one selling the cure. It happens...)

On my end though, it makes easy loot. I'd just make the timeframe on ones that are in-system last a much shorter time than ones that require a cure from a distant race/planet OR from one that you're at war with -- and vary the length of time they remain active in the quest log if they're something that could be cured by "nature" or by someone in the race itself.

[sbach2o]

Originally Posted by Crisses

The race still wants/needs the mission done -- and sometimes you accidentally wormhole into a different system, want to accept quests that are in that system, so you return the quest to the "quest pool" and pick out quests relevant to the current area. You might, in the future, want to pick that quest up again if it's still available. So I don't know if there's a good way to handle this.

Completely true. The real problem is that the quest system in many instances fails to obsolete quests that should be obsoleted.

The example I wanted to give initially was one where there were lots of warfare kind quests directed against a race the quest giver had long since made peace with. They actually were allied. Those kinds of quests should go to obsolete when the war ends, or when relations turn into the positive at the latest. Of course ,accepting, then declining these quests also just puts them back, but that isn't a problem of that particular mechanic, just as you point out.

[fluffybot]

Gotta wonder where all them colonists are coming from. Vaguely reminds me of the old Win95 game Warpath, where people were simply aching to get off planets and huddle into crowded spaces; I bet the colonist quarters smelled pretty ripe after a while, though I preferred to imagine them going straight to the cargo hold. Yes folks, just try to find some empty spots not filled with alien butts or assorted piles of ore.

[Korin]

I found a better way to drain races of money quickly. Every time a subrace pops up, a lot of the races will go to war with it pretty soon. You can offer to one of the larger races to declare war on the subrace for credits, offer peace to the subrace, and repeat. I once drained four races of every last credit within a couple of minutes doing this.

[Chumpy]

Well, you'll have to pay the subrace to get your relations high enough for peace after the first time you pull that, right?