Gates OXP

[Tivva]

Not sure if it's supposed to do this or not T
but if you try & use a Jump gate whilst cloaked nothing happens, you fly through but don't jump...

[Thargoid]

It's supposed to be that way - you can't jump if it can't see you

[Tivva]

It's supposed to be that way - you can't jump if it can't see you

OK, just checking to see if was a bug or intentional.
Nice touch.

[drew]

Very impressive - tried it last night.

I like the way if you blow up one of the gates the other one responds with 'Jumpgate offline' - nice understatement.

Kind of 'spoilt' Oolite for me though. This is not a reflection on the OXP, but the whole game resolves around the point that you can't get from the witchspace marker to the station immediately - so I don't think I'll keep using it.

Cheers,

Drew.

[Thargoid]

I know what you mean, and as a few people can testify I was actually pondering whether to release it or not as a separate OXP (it's going to be a small part of another upcoming one, this was just a spin-off use). There it will take the player (and others) to a specific location (not the main station, and indeed not from the witchpoint) for a specific event.

But the final thought was "why not" (if people find it a spoiler for the game they can remove it, or indeed not put it in at all) and it does kind of balance up as whilst you get the speed, you also miss opportunities on route 1 for "cargo acquisition" (of the laser-enhanced variety) plus of course if you're playing a pirate role then you're not going to be interested.

Also they don't appear in every system, so for the more interesting ones (anarchies and suchlike) you've still got to fight your way there anyway. It was aimed more at the player who just wants to do trade and not have the hassle of combat. Basically the type of player who would fly directly to the station under torus-drive having come off route 1 and also not installed deep-space pirates.

[Eric Walch]

I know what you mean, and as a few people can testify I was actually pondering whether to release it or not as a separate OXP (it's going to be a small part of another upcoming one, this was just a spin-off use). There it will take the player (and others) to a specific location (not the main station, and indeed not from the witchpoint) for a specific event.

Thinking of it, it is more something ad add-on for SystemRedux. Even at jumpspeed it takes ages to reach some of those gas giants. On the other hand; who is going to build expensive gates when here is no economic activity at the other end?

[Thargoid]

Just updated this OXP to 1.13, to remove a small script bug noticed a few days back with Asteroid Storm (the script assumed the main station existed). Also took the opportunity to implement Ahruman's pseudo random number generator, for consistency of gate appearance when returning to systems.

Download via the wiki or box.net, links below.

[Captain Beatnik]

I just love gate-travelling! But if you ask me, I think the moongates from Ultima III are a tiny little bit more convenient than jumpgates are. Moongates give you a less painful stitch in the neck when using them. Maybe it´s because the moongates are based on magic, not technology.

Great OXP!

Best regard

C.B.

[Spartan]

Just as a passing evil thought, one of the reasons pilots would choose to go the long way vs the fastest way would be cost. Someone like a courier on a time schedule would be more willing to put up with the cost vs average joe free trader pinching credits. On that note, if I were running this business, I would be charging by volume transmitted rather than per item. A reasonable fee for a cobra volume, less for a smaller ship, quite a bit more for an anaconda? Just how much are you willing to pay for speed and relative safety? And how many jumpgate "incidents" have there been so far?

[SandJ]

One of the reasons pilots would choose to go the long way vs the fastest way would be cost. Someone like a courier on a time schedule would be more willing to put up with the cost vs average joe free trader pinching credits. On that note, if I were running this business, I would be charging by volume transmitted rather than per item. A reasonable fee for a cobra volume, less for a smaller ship, quite a bit more for an anaconda?

WHS.

I have just today disabled the Jump Gates OXP because I used them once and then decided "never again" because of the lost credits from killing the odd pirate on the way.

They make more sense not in high-tech systems, but in the high-risk systems where one does not want to meet gangs of pirates on the way.

The jump gates have just become mass-lockers to me now, hence I disabled the OXP. Actually, if the jump gate always appeared on the deep-space side of the witchspace marker, and the far side of the space station, they would be less inconvenient than they are.

And they are not much of a time-saver; they provide a low-risk-to-docking benefit rather than save time.

[Spartan]

I was looking at it more from an "in character" view than actual gameplay. And I think the far side of witchspace bouy/ station is a good idea.

[BuggyBY]

I encountered my first pair of gates (the spider variant) today, and was surprised to see how blocky and aliased the texture looked on the edges when I got close. Perhaps a new texture is in order?