Free money with resupply pods?

[clausimu]

In a recent game playing as the Draconians I have observed the
following:

turn a: loading resupply pod with 101 kt supplies + 125 mc (for 1
GovCenter and 1 PodLauncher)
turn b: after the pod lands there are ALWAYS 101 kt supplies + 150 mc
on the planet

I haven't done extensive tests yet to see where the extra 25 mc come
from. But this has happened at least 8-10 times now pretty
consistently. Am I missing some new change in rules? Anybody else seen
something comparable?

Specs: Host 213h + latest available client (both used within Linux
though)

Claudius

[Magik]

When a pod lands, you get a portion of the original pod launch cost
back. The mc recovered is adjusted down by a ratio of the energy
remaining in the pod over the max power of the pod. This has been in
effect for most pod types for longer than I've been involved in the
game. I recently added the cost-recovery for pods that were missing
this feature.

Magik

[Amaranthine]

So a Pod that lands on the same turn it is launched get a full refund?

Post by Magik
When a pod lands, you get a portion of the original pod launch cost
back.  The mc recovered is adjusted down by a ratio of the energy
remaining in the pod over the max power of the pod.  This has been in
effect for most pod types for longer than I've been involved in the
game.  I recently added the cost-recovery for pods that were missing
this feature.
Magik

[Magik]

Post by Amaranthine
So a Pod that lands on the same turn it is launched get a full refund?

Right.

Magik

[Magik]

This isn't something new or a bug. When a pod lands, you get back a
portion of the cost of the pod launch. The cost recovery is based on
the energy level of the pod when it lands. The amount of money that
you gain back is based on the pod launch cost multiplied by the ratio
of current energy level to max energy level for that pod type. Each
pod type has a different life span, so some pods are better at
preserving the cost (such as Con Pods with 40 life). Life Pods didn't
have the cost recovery, so I recently added that, but other than that
this has been in place for a very long time (before I started working
with the host code).

Magik

[General Khael]

Post by Magik
This isn't something new or a bug. When a pod lands, you get back a
portion of the cost of the pod launch. The cost recovery is based on
the energy level of the pod when it lands. The amount of money that
you gain back is based on the pod launch cost multiplied by the ratio
of current energy level to max energy level for that pod type. Each
pod type has a different life span, so some pods are better at
preserving the cost (such as Con Pods with 40 life). Life Pods didn't
have the cost recovery, so I recently added that, but other than that
this has been in place for a very long time (before I started working
with the host code).
Magik

Awesome... however maybe THIS is a bug... If a life pod lands on a
planet to form a base there are no MCs left over. Design or bug? Bug
would be nice...
GK

[Magik]

Awesome... however maybe THIS is a bug...  If a life pod lands on a
planet to form a base there are no MCs left over.  Design or bug?  Bug
would be nice...

True, the routines that involve landing on a new planet don't include
the cost recovery, so that would be a bug IMO.

Magik

[General Khael]

Post by Magik

Post by General Khael
Awesome... however maybe THIS is a bug... If a life pod lands on a
planet to form a base there are no MCs left over. Design or bug? Bug
would be nice...

True, the routines that involve landing on a new planet don't include
the cost recovery, so that would be a bug IMO.
Magik

So for any pod that lands on a planet... even ones that don't form a
base on their own such as native or gold pods should they leave MCs on
the planet surface?

[protomatter]

Post by General Khael

Post by Magik

Post by General Khael
Awesome... however maybe THIS is a bug... If a life pod lands on a
planet to form a base there are no MCs left over. Design or bug? Bug
would be nice...

True, the routines that involve landing on a new planet don't include
the cost recovery, so that would be a bug IMO.
Magik

So for any pod that lands on a planet... even ones that don't form a
base on their own such as native or gold pods should they leave MCs on
the planet surface?

if the pod cost is reduced to 10mc in the host config, does it return
the 10 mc or the default of 25mc.

additionally i generally just self destruct empty pods that are docked
to ships, but now im wondering if i should land the empty pods on a
planet to recover the production costs.

Protopod

[Magik]

Post by protomatter
if the pod cost is reduced to 10mc in the host config, does it return
the 10 mc or the default of 25mc.

The HConfig cost.

Post by protomatter
additionally i generally just self destruct empty pods that are docked
to ships, but now im wondering if i should land the empty pods on a
planet to recover the production costs.

Land them. There is a Minister function that will land empty pods and
self-destruct them if landing isn't an option. It has some issues in
the current client that are fixed in the next release.

Magik

[Magik]

Post by General Khael
So for any pod that lands on a planet... even ones that don't form a
base on their own such as native or gold pods should they leave MCs on
the planet surface?

Correct. Some currently do and others don't. All will in a future
release.

Magik

[clausimu]

Wow - now I've been playing this game basically from the first version
on and I completely missed this feature. I guess my enemies kept me
too busy to notice... Is this only true for pods that land on planets?
Or also the ones that dock with bases?

Thanks for the clarification!

Claudius

[Magik]

Post by clausimu
Wow - now I've been playing this game basically from the first version
on and I completely missed this feature. I guess my enemies kept me
too busy to notice... Is this only true for pods that land on planets?
Or also the ones that dock with bases?

It's true for all actions that involve a pod landing / transferring
its contents to a base. Some of the actions that involve landing at a
planet have the cost recovery, but not all. The next host version
will resolve that.

Magik

[clausimu]

Further info: The pod will have 101 kt supplies and 125 mc until the
end. But as soon as it lands there are 101 kt supplies and 150 mc on
the planet. Really weird...

Claudius