EMP – multiplayer game

[Commander McLane]

Following a Ferdelance into the docking bay - for some reason it was not as steady as the Cobra, it wobbled more, during the docking process.

May have something to do with their different roll capacities?

I want to get the multiplayer aspect sorted before I tackle other game details such as trade.

Seems sensible.

[EMP]

May have something to do with their different roll capacities?

I haven't implemented varying roll capacities for the various ships yet, but thanks for the suggestion and I will add that on the to-do list.

I had implemented roll/pitch dampening, but it was located in my keyboard control code, so what was happening is that the roll was being dampened in the Cobra but not on the AI ships, so I didn't notice the effect until I was following the AI ship entering the station.

I've moved dampening code into the AI now, but that wasn't the only problem - with the AI code when the pitch torque was zero, roll was all over the place, and this had the side effect of not only spinning an AI ship when it was moving directly towards its target, but also causing the wobble when it entered the station.

Now the ships perform flawlessly, with no unnecessary spin and no wobble entering the station.


I've also changed the Docking Computer system so that you can't dock with an enemy station, but can still dock with neutrals such as the Generation Ships.

[EMP]

I've created the Battlestar Galactica as a generation ship, not textured (if anyone wants the sketchup model to texture and add more greebling, I'd be happy to send it)

Again there is an image capture problem with transparency, I think I need to take a photo with my camera and see how that works out - the white blob is where a mainly transparent nebula should be, and the background stars should vary in brightness (I have about 60000 stars in their correct positions for the star background).

The Cobra MkIII is a big ship, and has a problem docking.
The Galactica is already scaled up to 2km long (it is supposedly approx. 1.4km but estimates vary), I suppose I could make it twice as big again.

[Diziet Sma]

Hehehehe.. scaling problems.. the bugaboo of the Ooniverse strikes yet again.. Yeah, the Cobby MkIII is a big lass, all right..


This is very exciting stuff to see, EMP. It's a dream that's been a long time coming, for many folks.

Kudos to you.

[Selezen]

The Cobra MkIII is a big ship, and has a problem docking.
The Galactica is already scaled up to 2km long (it is supposedly approx. 1.4km but estimates vary), I suppose I could make it twice as big again.

Either that or retain the Galactica's scale and just clarify in the documentation that you can't dock with the Galactica if you have anything bigger than an Adder. Seems to fit more with the fact that the Galactica's launch bays were designed for fighters, not big ass trade ships.

[EMP]

Either that or retain the Galactica's scale and just clarify in the documentation that you can't dock with the Galactica if you have anything bigger than an Adder. Seems to fit more with the fact that the Galactica's launch bays were designed for fighters, not big ass trade ships.

Documentation! I knew I was forgetting something.

Shuttles launch straight out of the landing bay, so I don't see why an Adder couldn't.

I added some more greebling, couple of fighters in the landing bay (fighter from the sketchup 3d warehouse), 16 launch tubes and even a fighter ready to launch in one. Frame rate suffered when flying past the landing bays, probably due to the baffles in the launch tubes and the fighter model.


I don't think this model would be suitable as a Generation Ship, as the Galactica can travel at 'light-speed', and Gen-ships are supposed to be very much sub-light. But it was fun building it.


Just a note on progress.

Had side by side instances of the game coordinated through my arena server.
It was working very nicely so I decided to extend the testing and use my very old laptop as a second client.
But then I encountered several problems
1) it's graphics card doesn't support non-power-of-two texture resolutions, and I had converted all the planets to cubic projected spheres with 512x3072 textures.
2) It didn't have enough memory (1GB compared with my 8GB newer laptop), so failed loading some models - in my game cargo items are also modelled, including the edible poet steaks. I need to manage the model loading and unloading to handle memory more efficiently. Currently it just loads all models during hyperspace/launch transitions.
3) There is a glitch in the drawing code for the HUD - it wasn't properly drawing the crosshair and other static items like the borders. Not sure if it is my code or the graphics adapters fault - probably my code.

Still, without planets, I was able to have a head-to-head game with my son in different rooms.

I am able to manipulate the server response latency to simulate country-wide game play.
From here to the UK is about 400ms latency (opposite side of the world) - I think game-play would be noticably erratic, but achievable, at that distance. For example, in my tests I would spin my thargoid craft in front of the Cobra, and when I stopped rotating the thargoid warship it would appear to continue rotating and then suddenly flick back to the position that it was stopped in.

[Commander McLane]

You could ask Draco Caeles for permission to use his  Generation Ship as a Generation Ship. Why re-invent the wheel?

[EMP]

You could ask Draco Caeles for permission to use his  Generation Ship as a Generation Ship. Why re-invent the wheel?

I had already imported his Generation ship into sketchup, it is a nice model but I didn't particularly like the texturing (though I couldn't do any better).
I don't think a metallic ship in deep space would rust, even if it has been cruising for a thousand years, due to the lack of free oxygen in space.

Here are my generation ships next to his...


The ship on the far right is the Battlestar Galactica to scale.

I'd like to have several different models of generation ships - they will be placed in system space but far from any planets.
The only way you would encounter them is if you find them, so I might post messages on station bulletin boards that a generation ship has been spotted in system..., let the players find them.

I would love some feedback as to what trade goods a generation ship would supply and consume?

[Commander McLane]

I don't think a metallic ship in deep space would rust, even if it has been cruising for a thousand years, due to the lack of free oxygen in space.

But it would be battered by millions and millions of micro-meteorites, and a dozen types of radiation, and what-have-you. The result could look pretty similar. We're talking about centuries in space, without outside maintenance.

I would love some feedback as to what trade goods a generation ship would supply and consume?

I actually like it very much as it is in Oolite: you can't interact with the Generation Ship. There's no docking and no communication. Nobody even knows whether there is still life in one of them. It's just a big enigma, wrapped in a huge mystery.

[Cody]

... you can't interact with the Generation Ship. There's no docking and no communication.

I believe any interference with a Generation Ship is punishable by spacing, by GalCop decree!

[CommRLock78]

...including the edible poet steaks.

Poor edible poets never do catch a break, do they ? (Great detail there EMP )

[Tricky]

... you can't interact with the Generation Ship. There's no docking and no communication.

I believe any interference with a Generation Ship is punishable by spacing, by GalCop decree!

Reminds me of "Schism" by Drew, although that was an internal punishment.

[Rese249er]

Seems as though there should be some interaction, to me. A mission based on a Generation Ship would be highly interesting...

[EMP]

But it would be battered by millions and millions of micro-meteorites, and a dozen types of radiation, and what-have-you. The result could look pretty similar. We're talking about centuries in space, without outside maintenance.

Maybe, but they are spending most of their time in interstellar space, so they may end up being polished smooth and shiny by the interstellar medium.

I would love some feedback as to what trade goods a generation ship would supply and consume?

I actually like it very much as it is in Oolite: you can't interact with the Generation Ship. There's no docking and no communication. Nobody even knows whether there is still life in one of them. It's just a big enigma, wrapped in a huge mystery.

I'm sure someone would have knocked on an airlock and asked.

Maybe there is a genship out there populated by Canines, and the Felines have discovered it and gifted them with Trumbles.
And least they will have furs to trade.

Anyway, I think docking with a Genship will provide a more interesting aspect to the game. Elite is all about Trading, right?

[Cody]

I was wrong - it's not spacing but marooning!

Generation Ships: Before the development of the WS Thru-Space drive, in all its various forms, interstellar travel occurred in large, self-sustaining environment ships - Generation Ships - most of which have now been logged and their progress monitored. There are more than seventy thousand of these immense vessels ploughing their way through the galaxy, some of them into their 30th generation. The penalty for interference with such a vessel is marooning.