Explaination of the Commonwealth criminal justice system.

[PM]

If you are arrested by the Commonwealth, you face two options: plead "Guilty" or "Not Guilty".

If you plead "Guilty", you are convicted. If your crime was mass destruction (i.e., you blew up a Commonwealth station), you are automatically imprisoned, and the game is over. For lesser crimes, such as piracy and slave trading, the Commonwealth employs a "three strikes and you're out" policy. The first conviction fines the player 5,000 credits. The second conviction fines the player 25,000 credits. The third conviction imprisons the player, ending the game. If the player cannot afford the fine, his ship is confiscated, ending the game.

If you plead "Not Guilty", you have a 25% chance of winning the trial due to lack of evidence. If you fail, you are convicted. If your crime was mass destruction, you are imprisoned. If you have been convicted by the Commonwealth before, you are imprisoned. Otherwise, you are fined 25,000 credits. If you cannot pay the fine, you lose your ship and the game.

What does all of the above mean? You should plead "Not Guilty" when any of the following apply:
* Your crime is mass destruction.
* You have been convicted by the Commonwealth twice before.
* You do not have enough credits to pay the fine.

In other words, plead "Not Guilty" when the outcome of a conviction is losing the game, regardless of your plea option.

* You may say "But wait! I have insurance!"
Yes, insurance will save your game from ending. However, the crime was not resolved, and the trial outcome was not tracked by the game. You will be arrested again if you are dumb enough to dock at any Commonwealth station. Since the penalties will be the same as before, you might as well plead "Not Guilty" for a 25% chance of avoiding imprisonment.

[Cygnus.X1]

Thanks! Very good and concise explanation

[RPC]

I kinda got this when I was watching my brother's piracy run...
Can I add this to the wiki?

[PM]

RPC: Yes.

[RPC]

However, the crime was not resolved, and the trial outcome was not tracked by the game. You will be arrested again if you are dumb enough to dock at any Commonwealth station.

I guess this means that the CW arrest all clones of a person? o.O

[RPC]

Another point on IRC:

If you're stuck in jail, can't you pray to Domina to shatter your way out?

[Song]

Another point on IRC:

If you're stuck in jail, can't you pray to Domina to shatter your way out?

Shattering the station you're inside = BAD IDEA

[ThePrivateer]

Another point on IRC:

If you're stuck in jail, can't you pray to Domina to shatter your way out?

Even almighty deities dislike crime.

[whaleduck]

I tried this. If your crime was mass destruction, but you did it long range, you won't be convicted. But if you did it thrice, then you will be convicted. If you killed a freighter or CSC, it is a bad idea to leave a wreck behind. The above apply ONLY IF you plea "Not Guilty".

EDIT: I tried, and I guess it was a fluke I didn't get arrested

[whaleduck]

Another point on IRC:

If you're stuck in jail, can't you pray to Domina to shatter your way out?

Shattering the station you're inside = BAD IDEA

You'd be convicted of mass destruction, and imprisoned in a different jail.

[Jay2Jay]

I've never been in trouble for killing CSC's (it's like a hobby or passtime) and after I dont need the Terra anymore I kill it then take the missiles. In fact, I remember killing the Terra within "spitting distance" of a CW colony, looting the wreck, and selling off that loot to the station.

In the words of my best friend, "...As soon as I met you the first thing I thought was, he has no soul..."

And in the words of my mother,"You are one twisted mother-f*cker aren't you?"

[digdug]

* You may say "But wait! I have insurance!"
Yes, insurance will save your game from ending. However, the crime was not resolved, and the trial outcome was not tracked by the game. You will be arrested again if you are dumb enough to dock at any Commonwealth station. Since the penalties will be the same as before, you might as well plead "Not Guilty" for a 25% chance of avoiding imprisonment.

mmmh, does it mean that it can be exploited ? buy repeatedly insurance and plea "Not Guilty" until your crime is resolved. So if you have lots of money and you destroy a Commonwealth station you can actually recover your ability to dock with commonwealth stations ?

[EDIT]
yes, it worked. I had to spend 160000 credits on 3 insurances, at the third time I walked out of the court room free

[Jay2Jay]

@Digdug: How do you people think of these things?

In coding terms, I think of it like this.

If you give a player a rope (say to climb down a ledge) hes going to want to use it elsewhere, perhaps to tie up that guy he just knocked unconscious?Or maybe he wants to tie it around his waist as a belt. He might even try to tie a boat to the dock.

Well say then you give him a lighter, here it gets more complicated. It is entirely possible to set fire to everything flammable in sight, so you have to either brush off setting fire to a bale of hay as "silly"/"absurd"/whatever else when it isn't or try to come up with every single scenario and make a command for it.

With just four objects you get thousands of combinations and when you add in another it lclimbs to near two million.

So now you have to deal with the player wanting to tie up and sexually harras the hot bartender, or set fire to the barn with the people in it, and God help us all if he decides to light the freaking rope on fire!

My point is this: wait... I didn't have a point.... did I? It had something to do with trying to break the game by doing retarded stuff I think.... or was it stuff that the game wasn't designed for.... hmmm anyway, think about that.

Think about it....

[FourFire]

@Digdug: How do you people think of these things?

In coding terms, I think of it like this.

If you give a player a rope (say to climb down a ledge) hes going to want to use it elsewhere, perhaps to tie up that guy he just knocked unconscious?Or maybe he wants to tie it around his waist as a belt. He might even try to tie a boat to the dock.

Well say then you give him a lighter, here it gets more complicated. It is entirely possible to set fire to everything flammable in sight, so you have to either brush off setting fire to a bale of hay as "silly"/"absurd"/whatever else when it isn't or try to come up with every single scenario and make a command for it.

With just four objects you get thousands of combinations and when you add in another it lclimbs to near two million.

So now you have to deal with the player wanting to tie up and sexually harras the hot bartender, or set fire to the barn with the people in it, and God help us all if he decides to light the freaking rope on fire!

My point is this: wait... I didn't have a point.... did I? It had something to do with trying to break the game by doing retarded stuff I think.... or was it stuff that the game wasn't designed for.... hmmm anyway, think about that.

Think about it....

It's called unintended features.

[PM]

digdug: You cannot buy insurance more than three times.