[Release] Spicy Hermits

[spara]

Following the recent discussion about the hermits, I have created an oxp to spice the hermits up a bit. Well, at least I have started an oxp to do that... We'll see where this goes, but here's something to test, if someones interested.

* TL of pirate hermits is upped to 7 so that they offer a maintenance overhaul.
* No mining activity around pirate hermits.
* Pirate hermits have a group of pirates patrolling around.
* Pirates around the hermit attack hunters and traders.

Version 0.1 https://app.box.com/s/qi6ijalenwo7p8uccmqqyz8v8vf1qjfp

[Fritz]

Downloaded. Now the problem will be to find one...

[Day]

I'll like everything that adds flavour to hermits :-p

[Fritz]

I never really cared about how rock hermits work and how they can be found. Is there at least one in every system? Will it be at the same location for every player/commander? What happens if one gets destroyed? Are there "hidden" hermits that aren't located along the main routes W-P and P-S? The last question can be answered with yes, but I have seen those only very near to a main station - obviously you wouldn't find them if they are farther away. And finally, is there any difference in the location assignment procedure for the three "flavours"?

[Cody]

Is there at least one in every system?

Yes!

[Anonymissimus]

Is there at least one in every system?

Yes!

There are systems without any, albeit they are kinda rare. I have some data output in the log counting stations or hermits so it's not so that I just didn't find them. The maximum I have seen (in my log) is 3 hermits in a single system (+ a pirate cove).
I found hidden hermits that were not on any of the space lanes witchpoint-planet or planet-sun twice, but only with bounding box debug, so cheating. I suspect that they were not added by the core game but instead by deep space pirates OXP which can sometimes add a hermit.
A good strategy to find hermits is moving very near to the planet on the planet-sun space lane and then looking towards the sun or near to it. Asteroid tweaks OXP will make hermits stand out as ball-shaped while most other asteroids have irregular shape, Iceteroids OXP will make asteroid fields easier to see.
In my games I always have 2 productive hermits in Laenin near the sun which I usually visit on my favourite trade route Leanin-Xexedi (G1).
EDIT
As for topic, I don't know where/how fugitive players get maintenance overhaul or (high tech) equipment, but I never would want an overhaul in a system with less than tech 12 or so. So If you are giving them a useful shipyard at all then make it tech 14 I'd say.

[Cody]

Is there at least one in every system?

Yes!

There are systems without any, albeit they are kinda rare.

You're the expert! <shrugs>

[Fritz]

I have "Sensible Sun" installed, so the white background isn't too big. I found it a good way to find hermits a little farther away from the lane if I go from sun to planet - the lighting is optimal in this case.

[phkb]

There are systems without any, albeit they are kinda rare.

If there are systems with no hermits, then it's a bug, at least according to this note in the "oolite-populator.js" file (line 192)

Code: Select all

	/* To ensure there's at least one hermit, for smugglers to dock at */

The code then goes on to add up the number of hermits in system, and if zero then it creates one.

It also could be an OXP issue (conflict, bug, etc).

[Anonymissimus]

If there are systems with no hermits, then it's a bug, at least according to this note in the "oolite-populator.js" file (line 192)

Code: Select all

	/* To ensure there's at least one hermit, for smugglers to dock at */

The code then goes on to add up the number of hermits in system, and if zero then it creates one.

Perhaps that core code counts a pirate cove also as a hermit. In that case, I could have destroyed it, and then the hermits were counted, so I could have seen zero...
EDIT
Ahhh yes. Pirate cove has two ways of adding itself (weird arrangement). One of them uses the role stuff of the system populator, the other adds it via scripting if there's non present already. So sometimes it can happen that I meet the single hermit of a system, which is a also a pirate cove, added by the core code, i destroy it and then there's zero. This is at least one way it may have happened.

[ffutures]

Is there at least one in every system?

Yes!

There are systems without any, albeit they are kinda rare. I have some data output in the log counting stations or hermits so it's not so that I just didn't find them. The maximum I have seen (in my log) is 3 hermits in a single system (+ a pirate cove).
I found hidden hermits that were not on any of the space lanes witchpoint-planet or planet-sun twice, but only with bounding box debug, so cheating. I suspect that they were not added by the core game but instead by deep space pirates OXP which can sometimes add a hermit.
A good strategy to find hermits is moving very near to the planet on the planet-sun space lane and then looking towards the sun or near to it. Asteroid tweaks OXP will make hermits stand out as ball-shaped while most other asteroids have irregular shape, Iceteroids OXP will make asteroid fields easier to see.
In my games I always have 2 productive hermits in Laenin near the sun which I usually visit on my favourite trade route Leanin-Xexedi (G1).
EDIT
As for topic, I don't know where/how fugitive players get maintenance overhaul or (high tech) equipment, but I never would want an overhaul in a system with less than tech 12 or so. So If you are giving them a useful shipyard at all then make it tech 14 I'd say.

This implies either
a: a lot of high-tech equipment and parts shipped in to the hermit to service a very small market, so very high prices, or
b: something equivalent to a chop shop, stripping down stolen ships for parts.
Or a mixture of both, of course.

So maybe prices would be a LOT higher than usual, plus a good chance that the goods supplied will be second hand and much more likely to fail than usual.

[UK_Eliter]

I like the idea of this OXP - and I think it would be a good idea to both (1) make hermits, and especially pirated ones, rarer, (2) get the game to remember the locations of hermits between jumps, for a while (if it doesn't already).

**EDIT**: Should this thread be merged with this one? Just a thought.

[Cody]

(1) make hermits, and especially pirated ones, rarer, (2) get the game to remember the locations of hermits between jumps, for a while (if it doesn't already).

Pirate hermits are pretty rare already... and Oolite does remember hermit locations (and their names).

[UK_Eliter]

(1) make hermits, and especially pirated ones, rarer, (2) get the game to remember the locations of hermits between jumps, for a while (if it doesn't already).

Pirate hermits are pretty rare already... and Oolite does remember hermit locations (and their names).

Ah, OK. No work needs doing there, then (unless there's a desire to make the normal hermits rarer).

[CaptSolo]

I visit Hermits frequently and like to know their locations, so I hacked a Rock Hermit OXP. It has all three types from the core shipdata.plist with one added key for each entry and a descriptions.plist for the ASC Icon. It looks like a pick and shovel.

Code: Select all

beacon = "Rock-Hermit";

{
	"Rock-Hermit" = // ASC icon
	(
		-3.5,	-7.0,
		-4.5,	-5.5,
		-1.0,	-0.75,
		-2.75,	2.0,
		-4.0,	0.0,
		-5.0,	2.0,
		-3.75,	4.75,
		-2.0,	7.0,
		-0.8,	5.3,
		-2.0,	3.5,
		-0.25,	0.8,
		1.3,	3.25,
		0.25,	5.1,
		1.5,	7.0,
		3.5,	4.5,
		4.8,	0.0,
		2.25,	2.0,
		0.8,	-0.5,
		4.0,	-6.0,
		3.0,	-7.0,
		-0.5,	-2.5,
		-3.5,	-7.0
	);
}