We went *slightly* off topic and started discussing the advantages (in my view) or disandantages of player station ownership.
At Commander McLane's answer here:
If nothing needs to be implemented in the code, then nothing prevents you to own and manage a station right now. In fact, it's a piece of cake to put a station of your liking somewhere in the system of your choice, call it "The home of ioannis", and send you a console message every three minutes either saying "You had to pay wages for your station personnel: -580 cr", "Station hull maintenance: -14500 cr", "You got sued for <insert mildly humourous reason here>: -500 cr for legal fees and -200 to bribe the judge", "The Zero-G bar had a revenue of 2834 cr last week" or "An Anaconda docked and paid 4.5 cr docking fee", and of course "A Thargoid force has attacked and destroyed your station. Sorry, commander". As long as you don't visit the system, you don't even need a physical model of the station. The main question is: how much would that add to game-play?
I came up with the idea that perhaps Feudal lords could give land ownership on the planet as a reward for successful missions. in turn, these lands could give the player certain tonnes of food, liquir/wines or similar agricultural products. These could be placed in the station, or the planet, and the pilot could collect them upon arrival. As a result, the pilot would receive some income from these "lands". Other types of materials could also be given, eg if the Feudal system has a high tech level, maybe the pilot could receive a factory as a reward, offering computers or machinery, and so on.
The problem is the same though. It's not the difficulty of implementation that is the issue, but that it doesn't add much to the game-play. What you're suggesting is essentially a free income stream so you don't need to worry about trading, and can just concentrate on shootin' stuff. That's what Random Hits is for.
Sure, you could write a script that just says, "Your minions present you with x tonnes of tribute from your lands, sire," each time you visited a certain station. That's even more trivial than owning a station. But what's the point?
If you don't want a trading game, and just want combat or exploration, edit your save file, give yourself a million credits and go hunting or exploring. Don' worry about any twerps on these boards who might be tempted to pontificate about "cheating". It's a one-player game - you can't cheat anyone else - there is no-one to cheat.
I'm very interested in anything that might add planet-side politics and ground-attack missions, but I doubt you'll interest many people in get-rich quick schemes, because in Oolite they serve no purpose.
It seems to me (and sorry, Ioannis, if I've misunderstood you) that Ioannis assumes the absence of "own your own space station/asteroid/planet" in Oolite is because it is technically difficult. Last night McLane and Smivs and I were trying to persuade him that it's not a technical challenge, it's just a game-play issue.
The problem is the same though. It's not the difficulty of implementation that is the issue, but that it doesn't add much to the game-play. What you're suggesting is essentially a free income stream so you don't need to worry about trading, and can just concentrate on shootin' stuff. That's what Random Hits is for.
Sure, you could write a script that just says, "Your minions present you with x tonnes of tribute from your lands, sire," each time you visited a certain station. That's even more trivial than owning a station. But what's the point?
If you don't want a trading game, and just want combat or exploration, edit your save file, give yourself a million credits and go hunting or exploring. Don' worry about any twerps on these boards who might be tempted to pontificate about "cheating". It's a one-player game - you can't cheat anyone else - there is no-one to cheat.
I'm very interested in anything that might add planet-side politics and ground-attack missions, but I doubt you'll interest many people in get-rich quick schemes, because in Oolite they serve no purpose.
Well, I wouldn't call 10 tons of food per x period of time a "get rich quick" scheme. Particularly if it was given as a reward for a high-level mission, in which the player is far from meddling with things such as food in the daily trading schedule (if trading is what he does). In my view, it's more a sense that you are part of the picture in terms of the system's politics, than anything else. As part of the feudal lord's household, you could be called upon to participate in battles in the system, from time to time, as "competing" lords (from other systems) could launch attacks on the system.
Thargoid wrote:
And shouldn't this be in the Feudal States thread in the OXP forum, or as a PM to Ramirez?
It has nothing really to do with Trunk, and should if implemented be part of that OXP?
Or am I missing something here?
It could expand beyond the Feudal states, but I guess you are right in pointing that out, because the title is about Feudal states.
Wildeblood wrote:
Thargoid wrote:
Or am I missing something here?
It seems to me (and sorry, Ioannis, if I've misunderstood you) that Ioannis assumes the absence of "own your own space station/asteroid/planet" in Oolite is because it is technically difficult. Last night McLane and Smivs and I were trying to persuade him that it's not a technical challenge, it's just a game-play issue.
This is partly correct. I was attempting to envision where the game would go "gameplay-wise" if such an idea was implemented.
I'm not sure about land ownership, but it would be great to have a place to "garage" a ship - that way one could have a couple ships to play with . I wouldn't mind paying fees - or even maintenance on a small station .
"I'll laser the mark all while munching a fistful of popcorn." - Markgräf von Ededleen,Marquess, Brutal Great One, Assassins' Guild Exterminator
--------------------------- At the helm of the Caduceus Omega,'Murderous Morrígan'
... but it would be great to have a place to "garage" a ship - that way one could have a couple ships to play with...
Yeah... but are you going to somehow tow the garage around with you? Or limit yourself to one system?
I have several different ships, but only as different commanders... in effect, my saves folder is my garage.
I would advise stilts for the quagmires, and camels for the snowy hills
And any survivors, their debts I will certainly pay. There's always a way!
Ioannis' suggestions sound like something from Mount & Blade. The gameplay gets very place-oriented when a lord presents you a fief or a castle of your own. There's always a siege coming, no more adventures around the map etc. Dare I say it was a bore! I loved roaming around the world battling other lords, joining tournaments, destroying bandits, defending the poor and the helpless... Defensive/stationary gameplay in a game that allows you to roam freely, no thanks
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Slight off-topic:
Has anyone has tried the Space Rangers series? They had an interesting business/station development system that could work in Oolite... The galaxy had business centers where you could fund building of different kinds of space stations around the universe and you could also take part in developing the stations with better weaponry and shielding. There was no direct benefit from doing so, part having a network of different stations in all corners of the map. Biut when the Dominators(local Thargoid equivalent) attacked, there was a better chance of keeping the system occupied if a powerful space station was joining the fight.
Ioannis' suggestions sound like something from Mount & Blade. The gameplay gets very place-oriented when a lord presents you a fief or a castle of your own. There's always a siege coming, no more adventures around the map etc. Dare I say it was a bore! I loved roaming around the world battling other lords, joining tournaments, destroying bandits, defending the poor and the helpless... Defensive/stationary gameplay in a game that allows you to roam freely, no thanks
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Slight off-topic:
Has anyone has tried the Space Rangers series? They had an interesting business/station development system that could work in Oolite... The galaxy had business centers where you could fund building of different kinds of space stations around the universe and you could also take part in developing the stations with better weaponry and shielding. There was no direct benefit from doing so, part having a network of different stations in all corners of the map. Biut when the Dominators(local Thargoid equivalent) attacked, there was a better chance of keeping the system occupied if a powerful space station was joining the fight.
Ah, space Rangers. Such a great game (I played SR2 a bit), and so overlooked and underrated. It had a great sense of humour, and really deep combat, even though at first glance it looked like a shoot-em up game.
I've never played M&B, however, working on the defenses (if it's possible) of the fiefdom and managing the economy sounds like something I would do (and gradually expand my empire). A hint, I was a great fan of Stronghold. .
Slight off-topic:
Has anyone has tried the Space Rangers series? They had an interesting business/station development system that could work in Oolite... The galaxy had business centers where you could fund building of different kinds of space stations around the universe and you could also take part in developing the stations with better weaponry and shielding. There was no direct benefit from doing so, part having a network of different stations in all corners of the map. Biut when the Dominators(local Thargoid equivalent) attacked, there was a better chance of keeping the system occupied if a powerful space station was joining the fight.
Done right, this might be a potential solution for the perennial problem some Commanders have... what to do with the mountain of Credits they keep accumulating.
Most games have some sort of paddling-pool-and-water-wings beginning to ease you in: Oolite takes the rather more Darwinian approach of heaving you straight into the ocean, often with a brick or two in your pockets for luck. ~ Disembodied
Done right, this might be a potential solution for the perennial problem some Commanders have... what to do with the mountain of Credits they keep accumulating.
Equipping stations is quite a fun game in itself... I'll tell you a little story:
Some time ago I made some skillful trading deals and a huge load of cash. I wanted to put the money on good use, to benefit the whole universe, so I decided to put most of my credits in a bank account with a good interest rate. With the remainder I started upgrading a defensive front near a dominator-infested cluster. After I was done shopping and outfitting some stations, my banked money had almost doubled. Then, when I was travelling to fortify the one last base I couldn't afford on the first run, the Dominators made an all-out attack on this weakest link and started spreading like mad.
This kind of game mechanic would be interesting if it were implemented... But is it possible?
I did try (and fail) at attempting to script a buyable station into Oolite, but at the time there wasn't much point in doing it. I had it so that you could buy a advertising beacon for it (care of Your Ad Here! OXP), buy Frigates to guard the station (care of Galactic Navy OXP) and even pay to attract Star Liners (care of Liners OXP). Also the station generated credits at each jump you made, and the more upgrades you bought the more credits the station would generate. Only problem is most players agreed that getting cash for doing nothing wasn't how things are done in Oolite.
However now with the ability to store ships at a station in the trunk (kind of), this idea would be more feasible, and if you took away the 'cash for nothing' function it would make sense to buy a station so you could store your ships!
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