Free Trade Zone
| Free Trade Zone | |
|---|---|
| |
| Size (metres, W×H×L) | 750 x 750 x 750 |
| Manoeuvrability | Roll: 0.0 Pitch: 0.0 |
| Rotating | No |
| Energy recharge rate | 5 |
| Armaments | None |
| Defenders | 6 |
| OXP or standard | OXP |
| Beacon | Z |
The so-called "Free Trade Zones" exist in Multi-Government systems. They are located within mined-out Rock Hermits, dragged beyond the witchpoint beacon, where various morally dyslexic ship captains can trade outside the official, GalCop-protected, network. There are some bargains to be found – as you might expect, given how most of the goods are acquired – but quantities are often low and there are often unscrupulous individuals in the area. It's really a buyer's market, unless you find it awkward to go near main stations. Fuel and basic equipment are available, at a premium. Their out-of-the-way location can make FTZs hard to find, but they are marked as "Z" on the Advanced Space Compass.
Free Trade Zones exist because of the highly complex legal nature of Multi-Government planets, their collective paranoia over perceived sovereignty infringements by GalCop, and their general inability to make collective decisions. Although FTZs are recognised as nation states by the planetary authorities, GalCop currently regard those who visit these stations as (minor) Offenders, and will garnish your legal status accordingly. As part of the deal with GalCop, the FTZs are obliged to provide information on all who enter and leave. Despite persistent GalCop requests, however, they still refuse to give details of those ships' cargo manifests, citing "commercial confidentiality".
Version History & Download
They can be downloaded at FTZ v0.15.oxp.zip(168.8KB) (version 0.15, updated 8 October 2010).
Changes from v0.1:
- There is now an automatic 5-point fine to your legal record for visiting an FTZ (v0.1 just added 5 to your record if you were clean: now bad people get fined too). Thanks to Commander McLane on the Oolite BBS for the coding.
Changes from v0.11:
- Pirates around the FTZ now carry some cargo.
- GalCop may, from time to time, put on a show of force in the vicinity of an FTZ -- cries of "restrictive trade practices" notwithstanding.
Changes from v0.13:
- Corrected error where FTZ escorts could get called up as ordinary escorts.
Changes from v0.14:
- Changed "legalStatus_number" to "commanderLegalStatus_number" to conform with trunk changes. Docking with an FTZ once again *adds* 5 to your bounty, instead of *setting it* to 5 ...
Credits
Free Trade Zones are created by Disembodied
Thanks to Commander_McLane on the Oolite BBS.
Corrected error where FTZ escorts could get called up as ordinary escorts. Thanks to Eric_Walch for the correction
You can find the discussion thread about the Free Trade Zone on the Oolite BB
Copyright
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.
