Contract satellites are controlled by agencies after placing them in orbit

[Vaporo]

Currently, you keep control of a spacecraft after putting it into the orbit requested by a contract, which leads to an exploit where you can simply move your satellite to a new orbit every time a new contract pops up. Really, after you have done what you need to do to put the satellite in orbit, its ownership should go to the corporation that paid you to put it there in the first place. When the satellite is no longer yours, you lose the ability to control it. You would still be able to switch to the vessel, but would be unable to control it, just like a piece of debris.

This could also lead to some interesting gameplay mechanics. For example: you can dock with a station that belongs to an agency that you are friendly with and use their facilities (but not control it), but you can't dock with an agency that hates your guts. If you damage a satellite belonging to an agency, or move it from its orbit, you instantly lose reputation and maybe are forced to pay for the damage that you did. All sorts of possibilities pop up.

You can also buy satellites from agencies at a pretty price tag, if you want.

Edited January 2, 2015 by Vaporo

[Spacepetscompany]

Currently, you keep control of a spacecraft after putting it into the orbit requested by a contract, which leads to an exploit where you can simply move your satellite to a new orbit every time a new contract pops up. Really, after you have done what you need to do to put the satellite in orbit, its ownership should go to the corporation that paid you to put it there in the first place. When the satellite is no longer yours, you lose the ability to control it. You would still be able to switch to the vessel, but would be unable to control it, just like a piece of debris.

This could also lead to some interesting gameplay mechanics. For example: you can dock with a station that belongs to an agency that you are friendly with and use their facilities (but not control it), but you can't dock with an agency that hates your guts. If you damage a satellite belonging to an agency, or move it from its orbit, you instantly lose reputation and maybe are forced to pay for the damage that you did. All sorts of possibilities pop up.

You can also buy satellites from agencies at a pretty price tag, if you want.

Oooh.... I like this Idea..... Perhaps a modder could do something about this.....

[Renegrade]

Currently, you keep control of a spacecraft after putting it into the orbit requested by a contract, which leads to an exploit where you can simply move your satellite to a new orbit every time a new contract pops up. Really, after you have done what you need to do to put the satellite in orbit, its ownership should go to the corporation that paid you to put it there in the first place. When the satellite is no longer yours, you lose the ability to control it. You would still be able to switch to the vessel, but would be unable to control it, just like a piece of debris.

Two little notes here:

- That exploit only works on contracts acquired before the satellite is launched. I imagine the mechanism is that you can't complete the contract if the contract timestamp is newer than the vessel's timestamp or similar.

- The uncontrollability of debris has to do with it not having a control node, not being debris (you can rename a ship to be debris and still control it, although it risks being cleaned up then, depending on settings and number of active space objects)

Other than that, the idea is a nifty one.

I'd suggest that being able to use the resources of an agency's satellite or station is a bit farfetched however. One thing I'd hoped for was resupply contracts -- bringing resources to stations or satellites set up for agencies.

[Damien_The_Unbeliever]

There are reports that a further exploit is to launch a new vehicle (any vehicle) and then switch to the old satellite and get it to the right orbit. That's definitely further into buggy territory.

[Vaporo]

I'd suggest that being able to use the resources of an agency's satellite or station is a bit farfetched however. One thing I'd hoped for was resupply contracts -- bringing resources to stations or satellites set up for agencies.

I wasn't so much thinking about refueling (except maybe recharging batteries) as I was using the agencies' science labs, comm systems, repair facilities, etc. The devs are already developing a refueling system, so the ability to refuel at agencies' stations is a bit redundant. I think that resupply contracts would be a bit tedious, though (but they would be good to get some quick funds).

[Renegrade]

There are reports that a further exploit is to launch a new vehicle (any vehicle) and then switch to the old satellite and get it to the right orbit. That's definitely further into buggy territory.

I haven't been able to duplicate that one with my own testing... although I have noticed that sometimes weird things are flagged as completed without justification so it's possible that works SOME of the time..

I wasn't so much thinking about refueling (except maybe recharging batteries) as I was using the agencies' science labs, comm systems, repair facilities, etc.

Oh okay, that would make sense. Being able to access their renewable / reusable facilities would be fine and sensible. It's the non-renewable things I would worry about. If I had contracted up a space station and the space agency came by and just 'borrowed' fifteen tons of fuel without paying, they'd be getting a call from my legal department

I think that resupply contracts would be a bit tedious, though (but they would be good to get some quick funds).

Yeah, it would just be a way of putting in funds-gaining contracts. It would be like combining 'satellite in a specific orbit' or 'rescue from orbit' with a reverse of the (currently disabled by default but still present) ISRU missions.

Basically the inspiration is the ISS resupply missions... and they'd be optional, like all the others.

[nightingale]

Currently, you keep control of a spacecraft after putting it into the orbit requested by a contract, which leads to an exploit where you can simply move your satellite to a new orbit every time a new contract pops up. Really, after you have done what you need to do to put the satellite in orbit, its ownership should go to the corporation that paid you to put it there in the first place. When the satellite is no longer yours, you lose the ability to control it. You would still be able to switch to the vessel, but would be unable to control it, just like a piece of debris.

This could also lead to some interesting gameplay mechanics. For example: you can dock with a station that belongs to an agency that you are friendly with and use their facilities (but not control it), but you can't dock with an agency that hates your guts. If you damage a satellite belonging to an agency, or move it from its orbit, you instantly lose reputation and maybe are forced to pay for the damage that you did. All sorts of possibilities pop up.

You can also buy satellites from agencies at a pretty price tag, if you want.

I'm planning on adding this feature to Contract Configurator - that is the ability to set up a contract where vessel ownership is transferred on completion. Although this wouldn't change the stock contracts per se, it would allow the ability to create similar ones to stock with this extra logic.

[mattinoz]

Couldn't they add satellite as a craft type in the rename options. Then once you hit ok on the rename control is Handed over to the agency and contract completes. That would also mean we get better filtering in the map views and no more exploit.

[Vaporo]

Couldn't they add satellite as a craft type in the rename options. Then once you hit ok on the rename control is Handed over to the agency and contract completes. That would also mean we get better filtering in the map views and no more exploit.

I was thinking of something like that. When you reach the designated orbit, you are give the option to hand over control of the satellite (right click on a probe core or command pod and select the option in the context menu. Or maybe a new window opens in the top right corner with the "hand over control" option). Just something so that control is not handed over instantly after reaching the designated orbit and you have a chance to decouple anything that you want to keep.