Rock Hermit Locator add on

[Eric Walch]

....An even more obvious way to tell is that the Pirate Coves use a reference to the core game's rock-hermit model, so if you're used to seeing Griff's or Re2dux rock hermits and then you see one using the simpler model you know it's a pirate cove.

Today I played a bit with the code and came with a solution of just fetching a random 'rock hermit' from the installed ships and turn that into a pirate cove. Since Oolite 1.74 this became much easier to do.

First tests show that is all works like the old one. There were some surprises, like that not all oxp's with hermits in them define a scanclass for the rocks. (e.g. griffs one and the internal one showed up yellow on my scanner, but at least can it be painted white since 1.74).

[Wildeblood]

Today I played a bit with the code and came with a solution of just fetching a random 'rock hermit' from the installed ships and turn that into a pirate cove. Since Oolite 1.74 this became much easier to do.

First tests show that is all works like the old one. There were some surprises, like that not all oxp's with hermits in them define a scanclass for the rocks. (e.g. griffs one and the internal one showed up yellow on my scanner, but at least can it be painted white since 1.74).

I would expect a hermitage to scan as a ship, not a rock. If I were a rock hermit, I would invest in a transponder - a small price to pay to ensure someone didn't mistake my home for an uninhabited rock and ignorantly blow it up. The only problem with that is it seems I'm the only one around here who believes ships have identification transponders. The smart people tell me the IFF computer uses some kind of magic, not transponders.

[Disembodied]

I would expect a hermitage to scan as a ship, not a rock.

I'd expect it to scan as a station, myself. But I agree that ideally they shouldn't show up as rocks.

[Wildeblood]

Thread semi-hijack... Disembodied, you are listed on the wiki as the author of FTZ. Any plans to update it?

[Disembodied]

Thread semi-hijack... Disembodied, you are listed on the wiki as the author of FTZ. Any plans to update it?

Plans, no ... vague, half-formed notions of dubious practicality, yes, a bit. But if you want to pick up the FTZ ball and run with it, be my guest! If you're interested I can PM you the above-mentioned vague notions.

[snork]

On the issue of Rock Hermit Locator OXP, the cost of the equipment (15,000 credits) is really an extravagance for what you get. For the cost of 2 1/2 military lasers, you get a locator for Rock Hermits, which tend to be almost entirely along the space lane between witchpoint beacon and planet, which you'll likely see on your way to the main station because they're so large -- or along the line between the planet and sun.

Hm, I do not find the RHL too expensive, and do not think its price neds to be justified with extra income - though it does bring some extra money, so over time ...
There is always the time, where you have extra money lying around, not doing anything, so why not buy a RHL ?
When you get a new ship, 60-75% are refunded, so not much money is wasted.

But this is my main concern with this oxp :

For the second group (towards the sun), the locator at least tells you if it's "worth your trouble" to go wandering that way.

Actually the RHL tells me this right when I arrived at the WP.

So when I enter a dangerous system, I can take the cheap way out and go WP->sun->main station, which I think is bad enough anyway, but at least partly can be compensated with sunskimmers.oxp (Thanks to Cmdr. McLane for telling me.).
But with the RHL, right from entering the system, I am offered a goal to fly to, that - depending on the WP/sun/planet constellation - is mostly outside of any spacelane, so safe to go.
AND as a bonus offers some profit opportunity.
So, too cheap a way out, to me.

Now what I would wish for, is a RHL locator, that only gets the locations of a system's RH(s) transferred to when you dock with the main station.

Would that be possible at all ?

Its not a Detector, it is a locator...
it means it will give you known locations of Rock hermits...

[SandJ]

The link on the Work Hermit wiki page to the v1.65-compatible download is broken. It looks a though the hosting service home20.inet.tele.dk has disappeared.

I suggest removal of the lines:

Code: Select all

Older version
    * Rock Hermit Locator 1.1 - For use with Oolite 1.65 

Yea or nay?

[Commander McLane]

The link on the Work Hermit wiki page to the v1.65-compatible download is broken. It looks a though the hosting service home20.inet.tele.dk has disappeared.

I suggest removal of the lines:

Code: Select all

Older version
    * Rock Hermit Locator 1.1 - For use with Oolite 1.65 

Yea or nay?

I'd say yea. It doesn't really make sense to support outdated Oolite versions. But you really should ask Frame about it. Perhaps he'd like to put it on the box instead.

[Frame]

just kill the link... it was writtin for 1.65.

We now have a new stable version.. And I do not have the old version anymore...

cheers Frame

[SandJ]

just kill the link... it was written for 1.65.

Done and gone.

[Switeck]

I'm seeing double beacons sometimes for Rock Hermits and/or Pirate Coves.

[Smivs]

I'm seeing double beacons sometimes for Rock Hermits and/or Pirate Coves.

Are you sure it's not just two hermits close by? I've seen that several times.

[Switeck]

I am absolutely positive it's 2 buoys touching each other that's meant for 1 Rock Hermit station. While I've sometimes seen as many as 4 Rock Hermits within radar distance of each other...and had trouble figuring out which buoy went with which...I've not seen multiple buoys stacked up very near each other because of 2 or more nearby Rock Hermits.

[Smivs]

Hmmm, no, I haven't seen that then. Sounds odd.

[Thargoid]

Is it repeatable or a one-off event?

Are you running a RepairBots repair system and just had a breakage of the locator? The repair should trigger the hermits to spawn their beacons, but only if none are present already (or else the repair won't actively kick-in until you next jump).

Any more details?