(WIP) Hermitage

[Prester John]

Like it!
Haunted hermits - I could have a field day with that idea!

I like it as well, never looked into it but I guess with effect data it would be easy to spawn a ghost ship as visual only. Left by disease offers another option, easy to take over but it will be kind of expensive to clean once you realized the bacteria/virus is still there and killing your staff.

I like these 2 ideas

I finally found ONE (1!) RH in Tianve. Bought it 50millionsC (yes, I have cheated, I edited my character save fiile for testing purpose) from the ex-owner…
GalCorp Accreditation, transfert of cargo, reactor+life support+ernergy storage units repaired (phiew!), transfert of remaining cargo…
… and bought one Utility Ship + upgrade Life support…. and… and… -ARGH!*
…. couldn't acces "Upgrades" AND "Rock Hermit Management" anymore AGAIN, *ARRRRGGHH!!*
Damnation!

One Question/Suggestion for the Owner Version :
Do you think that beginning with only 100C is enough for managing a rock hermit? I mean : you have to buy Radioactives for your reactor quick before it gets down. I mean, it's not a ship, right? You can make easy money when you have a ship and you can upgrade it later. But, a Rock Hermit?
Could we (I Don't know, hum) aggree on some sort of an heritage and have (let's say…. hum-hum *COUGH!*) 1millionC (or at least 100,000CC) for a start?
*hides*

[Damocles Edge]

Actually you don't have to buy radioactives

Take a look at this oxp: http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Ore_Processor

[Prester John]

Actually you don't have to buy radioactives

Take a look at this oxp: http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Ore_Processor

OMFG!
Thanks for the info!

[phkb]

Take a look at this oxp: http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Ore_Processor

I modeled the built-in refinery on the Ore Processor, and tried to make sure it would work with this OXP.

Damnation!

My deepest apologies for the frustration you've experienced.

Could we (I Don't know, hum) aggree on some sort of an heritage

Well, how about I bump up the start scenarios to 1000Cr for the next release, and see how that plays? It's kind of the point of these tests, to see how easy/difficult it is to earn money from a RH. If I gift too much to the starting scenarios, much of the urgency to bring in resources to keep things running will be gone. Plus, if you find you need to award yourself more credits just to keep things running, that tells me something about balance which needs to be addressed.

Anyway, today I have some Oolite time, so I'm planning on running a few more tests of what happens when you run out of resources, to make sure it's possible to recover successfully, and get a release out later today. Stay tuned!

[phkb]

I modeled the built-in refinery on the Ore Processor,

Note: in the version you have, the Refinery interface item will only be visible if you have unprocessed splinters in your hold. In the next version I'm keeping the F4 interface item always available, and you'll be notified if you don't have any splinters to process when you attempt to use the facility.

[phkb]

v0.5 is now available (links in the first post). I think I nailed all the bugs that were preventing access to the F4 interface page. FIngers crossed (which is a worldwide-recognised and supported method of releasing software ).

[Prester John]

v0.5 is now available from this link Hermitage.zip. I think I nailed all the bugs that were preventing access to the F4 interface page. FIngers crossed (which is a worldwide-recognised and supported method of releasing software ).

Testing right now!

To ease my money needs, I have installed all the "In-System" activities such as taxis, cargo movings, etc... So, i will stay in my Home System to earn Crs and take care of my RH.
I also noticed there is a "Black Monks" Station, in Aleusqu, will try it

[Prester John]

Did I tell you guys I was cursed? Well, I am, really.

Aleusqu take #1 ;
Towbars are a no-go for an Adder. Learnt it the hard way. *argh* Savefile deleted because couldn't make it.

Aleusqu take #2 :
*argh* Now, I know who/what the Black Monks are. Never tried them before. Savefile deleted too and Black Monks uninstalled. *grumf!*

Aleusqu take #3 :
On my way to Aleusqu Station, met a bunch of pirates, couldn't defend myself, injectors not quick enough to evade a Fer-de-Lance : BOOM! Game over *ARGH!* Savefile deleted.

ALEUSQU TAKE #4 :
Time AND Money are definately the ennemies of a new owner.
Thanks to OoCheat.oxz, it helped me solve the money issue, I needed 5,000Cr to buy 2 necessary equipments at Aleusqu Station. You ABSOLUTELY need to have Docking Computers and Advanced Compass in your Ship, because 1- you don't damage your ship while docking and 2- it's difficult to find your RH without AC when you get out of the Main Station. The RH I own in Aleusqu is close to a Salvage Gang. So…
So, as usual, I got my RH fully repaired and reactivated by transferring Radioactives, Alloys and Minerals from the MArket to the storage. *yay* Then, I went to the Statoon to do what you've read above. Checked how the things were going on the Hermit Remote Control of the station (F4). Guess what? The time I spent to install my 2 new equipments on my ship, the reactor swallowed almost all the Radioactives of the Storage. I bought what I could in Aleusqu Market and hurried back to my RH, where I transfered the Rads to the Storage. *phiew!*
5 tons of cargo in the Adder, well, erm, you imagine it's not enough to go further in your business, right? I needed to add a Large Cargo Bay to my Adder. This time I decided NOT TO CHEAT : I took a taxi course in-system to earn some good money. The Time I spent to make it, Life Support in the RH dropped down to 19% *facepalm* Minerals please? No, sure? *ARGH* "Abandon ship! Abandon ship!"

la lala tralalala lala lala lalaaaaa teeelalilalaaaaa LMAO!

[phkb]

*hides guffaw behind hand*

That sounds ... bad...

I know it’s probably rude of me but you did tell the story so well I couldn’t help laughing a little bit.

So, do I need to put a custom Adder in play, with a slightly more generous hold, maybe at the expense of top speed? I didn’t want to start the player in a Transporter as they are really slow if it’s your only ride, but throwing a Cobra Mk1 at the player seemed a bit, well, cushy.

And maybe making the equipment not quite as prone to breaking.

[GearsNSuch]

Perhaps a few different start scenarios that vary in difficulty might be a good way to go, giving an opportunity for different playstyles.

Some ideas:
Easy: Cobra 1 and 1000cr in a somewhat stable system
Normal: Modified Adder and 1000cr in a moderately stable system
Hard: Stock Adder with 100cr in an unstable system
Harder: Adder with 0cr in an Anarchy
Krait: Krait with a slightly larger cargo bay and 100cr in a moderately stable system. The Krait is fast enough and it might be interesting to manage a Hermit in a driveless ship.

[dybal]

I haven't tried this OXP yet, but perhaps there could be an initial phase where the RH infrastructure may be kept at a low level, life support off (owner living in his ship), reactor at low output, etc, while the owner stocks up on essentials (using a small cargo bay ship) before opening up for business?

[spara]

Aleusqu take #2 :
*argh* Now, I know who/what the Black Monks are. Never tried them before. Savefile deleted too and Black Monks uninstalled. *grumf!*

With the Monks you must take a pilgrimage to purify yourself from taking a loan. Not very suitable for monetizing mining industry. Unless you take the loan, do the pilgrimage, hopefully accumulate some capital on the way and then start your mining industry.

[Prester John]

*hides guffaw behind hand*

That sounds ... bad...

I know it’s probably rude of me but you did tell the story so well I couldn’t help laughing a little bit.

So, do I need to put a custom Adder in play, with a slightly more generous hold, maybe at the expense of top speed? I didn’t want to start the player in a Transporter as they are really slow if it’s your only ride, but throwing a Cobra Mk1 at the player seemed a bit, well, cushy.

And maybe making the equipment not quite as prone to breaking.

Or!... mayyybe the Adder would have Large Cargo Bay, Docking Computers AND Advanced Space Compass as extra Equipments? Ahem… *cough!*

[Prester John]

Perhaps a few different start scenarios that vary in difficulty might be a good way to go, giving an opportunity for different playstyles.

Some ideas:
Easy: Cobra 1 and 1000cr in a somewhat stable system
Normal: Modified Adder and 1000cr in a moderately stable system
Hard: Stock Adder with 100cr in an unstable system
Harder: Adder with 0cr in an Anarchy
Krait: Krait with a slightly larger cargo bay and 100cr in a moderately stable system. The Krait is fast enough and it might be interesting to manage a Hermit in a driveless ship.

THAT would be a great idrea.
Just modifying the 8 'Owner choices" that way would be a good solution to the problem, maybe? *grin* *cough cough!*
The players who want to play Hard would be happy and the ones wanting to play cool (like me) would appreciate SO much. *grins again*

[phkb]

I'm actually beginning to think that, given most of the issues you encountered were due to resources (or lack of them), starting the scenarios with a small stockpile of critical ones might be a better idea. That means you've got a little bit of time to get other things moving.

I'll still look at the other starting options though. Maybe having 8 is a bit much - reducing it to Easy, Medium, Hard, Insane list is probably better in the long run. While the relative safety of a system is a factor, the biggest contributor to the viability of a RH is in the amount of traffic the system has, so the initial 8 scenarios were selected to have a cross section of different possibilities. However, that goal is probably lost in having too many choices with no real way to tell the difference between any of them.