GalDrivePod - a portable Galactic Hyperdrive unit.

[Smivs]

Portable Galactic Hyperdrive Unit (GalDrivePod v1.0 OXP)

Smivs' Industries are pleased to announce the launch of the Portable Galactic Hyperdrive Unit

The portable Galactic Hyperdrive can be pylon mounted for use when a standard drive is not available. It is activated the same way as missiles and mines, and once activated/installed works the same way as a regular Galactic Hyperdrive.
The Portable Galactic Hyperdrive Unit is available from Tech Level 12 and above, and cost 7 500 Credits. You can have as many of them as you have spare Pylons, and they can be dis-mounted and sold.
The Portable Galactic Hyperdrive Unit cannot be accidently activated when a standard Galactic Hyperdrive is already installed, and a console warning will remind you that you already have a standard Galactic Hyperdrive fitted.

This piece of equipment is a must-have if you are planning on visiting Oresrati, but has plenty of other useful applications.
One recommendation is to do the "Lost Worlds Grand Tour". Before you set off, buy a GalDrivePod, then starting at Adien in the bottom-left corner of galaxy 6, jump to the systems on the 'wrong side' of the Great Rift in Galaxy 7, where you can experience planets that you would not otherwise ever see. There are a wide variety of Government types and Tech levels from a nice TL 1 Anarchy, up to some stable, Industrial worlds. You will be able to buy a new Galactic Hyperdrive in this region, then by going down to Onteised in the very bottom-left corner, Galactic jump to the near-mythical World of Oresrati in Galaxy 8. Oresrati is remote and isolated, and with a tech Level so low you cannot buy a Galactic Hyperdrive unit there.
Previously this has made any trip to Oresrati a dead-end one-way trip, but no more! Now you can return to Galaxy 1 using the Portable Galactic Hyperdrive unit.

Smivsonline and the Wiki have been updated.
You can get GalDrivePod OXP right now, from here.

N.B. This OXP contains a modified planetinfo.plist which allows for Galactic Jumps into 'un-reachable' systems that would normally be inaccessible.

Licence:

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.

The OXP was developed by Smivs.


Edit:- v1.2 now available.

[Okti]

I was rather busy trying to remove your new equipment, so I could not test it yet.

I will start testing it after my dinner.

[Okti]

Hi Smivs,

I tried your equipment to reach from G8 to G7, no problem with that. But when I tried to use the GH from the lower left planet to reach to Oresrati oolite.exe crushed. I can not find anything in the logs.

[Smivs]

Sounds like it might be just a co-incidence.
I've visited Oresrati several times during testing, and successfully then gone on to G1 using the GalDrivePod. The jump needs to be made from Onteised in G7.
Try it again.

[Okti]

Alright I am going to G7 again and I will save the game after I reach there.

To reproduce the error.

[Okti]

Hi Smivs it seems to work alright.

But I am getting an impression, some things are not working as required from time to time.

[Smivs]

Hey Okti,
What doesn't seem to be 'working as required from time to time'?
If you can buy one, that's working.
If it shows up on the pylon, that's working.
If it deploys and installs a Galactic Hyperdrive when you 'fire' it, that's working.
If it doesn't deploy, but tells you you've already got a Galactic Hyperdrive when you do already have one, that's working.

[Smivs]

It's worth mentioning that Oresrati is not the only 'un-escapable' planet in the Eight Galaxies.
I have some ideas about expanding GalDrivePod to take advantage of this fact, but that will take some time.
What I would suggest though, is that if you have GalDrivePod installed, just make sure you carry one on each Galactic Jump you make, just in case. Remember they can be un-mounted and sold again if you find you don't need it.

[Smivs]

On the evening of February 24th (Earth Calendar) Commander Smivs in a specially adapted Anaconda* set an Ooniversal record time for a Pan-Galactic Non-Stop Round Trip from Lave in Galaxy 1 through all eight Galaxies and back to Lave. This was the first time this feet feat had ever been attempted, and was a complete success.

The time set was 35 minutes 29 seconds. Commander Smivs was mass-locked a couple of times during the attempt and used a Docking Computer upon his return to Lave, leading him to believe that this time could be shortened considerably.

A pictorial record of the attempt was made for verification. This can be viewed here

*The Anaconda was equipped with a Galactic Hyperdrive, seven GalDrivePods, Fuel Injectors and a Docking Computer.


This event will be featured as a mission in the next release of GalDrivePod with a save-file to give you a suitable ship. I have a few other ideas to expand this OXP as well, and will keep you posted on developments.

One thing that this record attempt does show is that it is now possible to move between galaxies very quickly and easily, albeit at a price. I mention this now because my skills at this time do not extend to making complex mission OXPs, but I would be very happy for this facility to be taken up by other OXP makers. If anyone out there has thought of a mission spanning several galaxies, but has been deterred by the time and convenience factors that would affect the player's enjoyment of such a mission, I think the GalDrivePod gives a way to achieve this. I am happy for it to be used in this way. It has been released under the ' Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License', and can be freely used within the terms of the license.


Edited to keep the spelling police happy

[Commander McLane]

I don't think it was ever complicated or slow to move between galaxies. The OXP doesn't change the basic functionality: press 'G' and you're in the next galaxy.

Yes, you then need to find a place where to buy your next galactic hyperdrive, but I don't think that's the main reason why a full circle usually takes some time. This reason would seem to have more to do with the stuff you are busy with in-between intergalactic travel. (Plain and simple: usually the only reason for hopping to another galaxy is because of a mission which takes place (or requires you to go) there. So you wouldn't make your next big jump until you have finished that mission (and probably other missions in the same galaxy).)

That said, there will surely be a certain market for people who want to break the record.

Oh, and by the way: it should be feat, not feet.

[Cody]

usually the only reason for hopping to another galaxy is because of a mission which takes place (or requires you to go) there.

The old explorers maxim comes to mind: one hops to another galaxy/sector '... because it's there!'

[Smivs]

I don't think it was ever complicated or slow to move between galaxies. The OXP doesn't change the basic functionality: press 'G' and you're in the next galaxy.

Yes, you then need to find a place where to buy your next galactic hyperdrive, but I don't think that's the main reason why a full circle usually takes some time.

What you say is true, but as you hinted you previously had to look for/get to a TL10 or above planet to buy another Galactic Hyperdrive. What I'm suggesting is a quick and convenient way of doing this particularly for time-critical missions.

[Commander McLane]

I'm just teasing. No criticism of your equipment.

What I'm suggesting is a quick and convenient way of doing this particularly for time-critical missions.

I am only aware of three missions which require you at all to jump to the next galaxy as part of the mission. One is Nova, but you don't even get it unless you have a galactic hyperdrive on your ship, and you can even work around the need to jump. The other two are Constrictor Hunt and Cataclysm (which lets you galaxy-hop extensively ), but neither of them is time-critical.

[Mauiby de Fug]

If I recall correctly, the end of Deposed also requires a galactic jump to finish it.

Incidentally, 35 minutes and 29 seconds!? That means you could do the 8 umpteen times in the time it takes to jump to a neighbouring system 7 light years away! Surely that doesn't make sense?

Meanwhile, I should download the oxp and equip my Caddy and see what I can get...

[Smivs]

If I recall correctly, the end of Deposed also requires a galactic jump to finish it.

Incidentally, 35 minutes and 29 seconds!? That means you could do the 8 umpteen times in the time it takes to jump to a neighbouring system 7 light years away! Surely that doesn't make sense?

Meanwhile, I should download the oxp and equip my Caddy and see what I can get...

Yes, that's game-time. In real-time it took me a few minutes, and as I hinted some 20 minutes of that was probably auto-docking!
Please do have a go....I posted this as a sort of challenge. I will try it a few more times because I reckon without any mass-locks and docking manually it can be done in less than 10 minutes game-time. The 'record' is there to be broken.
As to whether it makes sense......

@McLane. I was thinking more of new missions, rather than existing ones. I suspect one of the main reasons there are no galaxy-spanning missions is because it would have been such a pain for the player to spend half the time looking for TL10 planets instead of getting on with the mission. And anything time-critical (eg go to planet X in G7, collect some anti-plague drugs and deliver them to planet Y in G3 within two days) would have been all but impossible except with un-reasonably long deadlines. Might suit an 'Amnesty' type OXP for instance.