Long way round/Scourge of the Black Baron missions

[phkb]

A re-release and update for Oolite 1.80 of the Long Way Round mission, plus the sequel, the Scourge of the Black Baron, two small but classic mission packs. Both now available through the download manager.

With thanks to aegidian and Rxke who both gave permission for the update and release.

[Rxke]

Thank you for doing this!

[Cholmondely]

Just finished the LWR.

Enjoyable. Nice to have an excuse to visit that part of the galaxy. A few thoughts:

*There was no information whatsoever as to whether the chap was on board my ship. Some sort of confirmation of his existence there would have been most welcome. A squeak, maybe! It might even be a description of the chap - I was concerned that I was ferrying an elderly frail gentleman who might die at any second!
*Again, one would also have expected some sort of squeak from the worthy gentleman on being attacked by the rebel force - either a condemnation or signs of approbation. Was the rebel force supposed to be the government of the system? It all seems rather unclear and confusing.
*Once I discovered from elsewhere on this BB that he was an invisible & inaudible companion in my state rooms, and feeling guilty about his age - and with no idea as to whom he was, I bought a passenger cabin (my first ever!) for his comfort - and my privacy. While I understand from the text at the end that he would have had no spare money to reward this, would there not be scope - with for example Home System/Feudal States - for some other reward in the fullness of time? Such is indeed hinted at in his parting message.

[Cholmondely]

Just finished the LWR.

Enjoyable. Nice to have an excuse to visit that part of the galaxy. A few thoughts:

*There was no information whatsoever as to whether the chap was on board my ship. Some sort of confirmation of his existence there would have been most welcome. A squeak, maybe! It might even be a description of the chap - I was concerned that I was ferrying an elderly frail gentleman who might die at any second!
*Again, one would also have expected some sort of squeak from the worthy gentleman on being attacked by the rebel force - either a condemnation or signs of approbation. Was the rebel force supposed to be the government of the system? It all seems rather unclear and confusing.
*Once I discovered from elsewhere on this BB that he was an invisible & inaudible companion in my state rooms, and feeling guilty about his age - and with no idea as to whom he was, I bought a passenger cabin (my first ever!) for his comfort - and my privacy. While I understand from the text at the end that he would have had no spare money to reward this, would there not be scope - with for example Home System/Feudal States - for some other reward in the fullness of time? Such is indeed hinted at in his parting message.

A few more thoughts. Just ran it again, and quit. When I restart I got a superb newsflash (from Diplomancy, I presume) that Qubeen had only just signed a peace treaty with Xexeti! Not sure if the counter-revolution has happened yet!

But, it would be nice to work these mission in with Diplomancy (new peace treaties/wars as a regime changes, with resultant news bulletins). Home System, e-mail & Diplomancy give all sorts of ways to weave the mission results better into the game and make them more resonant.


1) Can I refuse to pick up Orixon Behan, declining the mission?

2) How would I tweak my copy of the OXP to get Orixon Behan to say that he is on board? Say, after visiting the F8 screen?
To deliver a message like: "Thank you for agreeing to take me back to my home planet. Please show me to my cabin, and I will leave you to manage the undocking. I think I might just have a rest"

(I can work out how to tweak his first message to say that he will board after I have visited the station market) - that is just editing the text (I hope!).

3) How would I tweak things to get him to speak just before entering the Qubeen system? During the hyperspace jump, say, or just before jumping.
"I'm so looking forwards to getting back home. I'm sure that I will get a royal welcome!"

4) On the next system arrived at after Qubeen: A GNN news flash: "Rumours are circulating that Orixon Behan, the deposed King of Qubeen, has returned from exile to reclaim his throne. Watch this space."

5) Say 5 systems later: A GNN news flash: "Orixon Behan has just been crowned King of Qubeen. etc etc"

6) And change the F7 screen to say the civil war has ended?

7) And can/how do I include a picture of Qubeen in the newsflash?

Oh! ... And how can I get a "Home System" initial investment equivalent 6 systems later? And also get an e-mail thanking me for my help?

I don't need to know how to do it all immediately, but it would be nice to be able to tweak & experiment just a tad. And to start to work out what all the impenetrable jargon in the code means!

[phkb]

There was no information whatsoever as to whether the chap was on board my ship

Well, there should have been a notice on the F5F5 Manifest screen saying: "Deliver Orixon Behan to Qubeen.". But nothing other than that.

When I restart I got a superb newsflash (from Diplomancy, I presume) that Qubeen had only just signed a peace treaty with Xexeti! Not sure if the counter-revolution has happened yet!

A chance, unrelated message, and probably from Diplomancy (I'd have to check - it could also be from GNN).

Can I refuse to pick up Orixon Behan, declining the mission?

You don't have a choice with LWR. You are offered a choice with the Black Baron, though.

How would I tweak my copy of the OXP to get Orixon Behan to say that he is on board? Say, after visiting the F8 screen?

You should get a mission screen when you arrive in the system to pick up Orixon, something that starts with "---INCOMING MESSAGE". You can fiddle with that text to your hearts content. I'd probably avoid having any triggers dependent on visiting a particular screen - the mission screen text should convey everything the player needs to know. If you want additional messages to appear, I'd probably use console messages with a longish view time.

...suggestions of various OXP integrations...

All possible. LWR was one of the first OXP missions created, and it was created at a time when all these other OXP's didn't exist. As such, it is more reminiscent of the core, built-in missions of the game, and I believe it was deliberately created in that style, where it is left to the player to imagine the repercussions.

That said, because of it's simplicity, it should make it reasonably easy to work up the integrations. Some will be just a line or two of code, others might take a little more work. I'll have to dig into Diplomacy and see how I can add events etc. Again, because of the simplicity of these missions, they could serve as a fine example of how to add integrations to all those additional OXP's.

[Cholmondely]

There was no information whatsoever as to whether the chap was on board my ship

Well, there should have been a notice on the F5F5 Manifest screen saying: "Deliver Orixon Behan to Qubeen.". But nothing other than that.

When I restart I got a superb newsflash (from Diplomancy, I presume) that Qubeen had only just signed a peace treaty with Xexeti! Not sure if the counter-revolution has happened yet!

A chance, unrelated message, and probably from Diplomancy (I'd have to check - it could also be from GNN).

1) but it does not say whether he is on board, or if one has to go back to Soladies to pick the poor chap up! I was rather confused by all this!

2) No point - see the bottom screen shot here: http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Diplomancy_OXP which is from my game. It made a massive impact at the time when it came up on GNN just the once. But as you can see on the screen shot ....

To be honest, I'm hoping that if we can get nice simple tweaks for some of all this on here, that it will teach me to ... and more importantly spur others on to ... improve some of what we have in our OXP coffers! The mix of OXPs is really quite astounding. If we can get them to work together ...

[Cholmondely]

Step One: nice & simple

The OXP folder contains the following sub-folders:
•Config
•Images
•Shaders
•Textures
And also an "info.plist", a "manifest.plist" & the "readme.txt".

In the Config folder I edited the missiontext.plist to read:

Code: Select all

{
	"em1_short_desc1" = "Visit Soladies to pick up Orixon Behan.";
	"em1_short_desc2" = "Orixon Behan has taken the second bunk in your cabin. Deliver him to Qubeen.";
	"long_way_round_Biarge_briefing" = "---INCOMING MESSAGE\n\nGreetings Commander,\n\nI am Ixat Behan of the trading ship Proof of the Pudding.\n\nMy frail uncle Orixon has asked me to arrange passage to his homeworld in this system.\n\nI would be very grateful if you could pick him up from Soladies.\n\nHe's very rich, you know!\n\n---MESSAGE ENDS.";
	"long_way_round_Soladies_briefing" = "---INCOMING MESSAGE\n\nMany Felicitations Commander,\n\nI am Orixon Behan of Qubeen.\n\nI wish to visit my place of birth one last time before I pass on. If you could get me to Qubeen I will pay you 2500 Imperial credits. 500 credits now and a further 2000 when we safely arrive. \n\nI will join you onboard after you have refuelled and your market transactions have been completed. \n\nI understand that you have a spare bunk in the living quarters cabin, and that there is room for my my luggage, yes?\n\nThank you Commander.\n\n---MESSAGE ENDS.";
	"long_way_round_Qubeen_briefing" = "---INCOMING MESSAGE\n\nMany Thanks Commander,\n\nNow I am safely back on Qubeen my people and I can begin rebuilding the peace these fearful rebels have stolen from our quiet planet.\n\nYou shall have your money, and more, you have the gratitude of the Qubeenian Royal Family.\n\n---MESSAGE ENDS.";
}

At first glance, it seems to answer my initial quibbles.

Question 1: How do I implement acceptance/refusal of the mission?



Question 2: how do I use one of the screens from HDBG (say the first one) as a backdrop for the "long_way_round_Soladies_briefing" = "---INCOMING MESSAGE ?
... and how would I use this instead:

1440x880 CC-BY-NC 2.0



Question 3: how do I get IB & OB to register on my F4 docked screen P.A.D. as NPCs, once I've met them? The "Lib PAD" page in the wiki is wonderful, I'm sure ... but also quite incomprehensible to the uninitiated!

[LittleBear]

Mission Screens for Incoming Messages are fairly easy to do. You'd need somthing like this:-

Code: Select all

mission.runScreen({
title: "Type the Title for the Mission Screen - Could just be Incoming Message for Messages",
screenID:"call_this_whatever_you_like_but_make_it_unique",
message: "Text you want to appear on screen\nA backslash n forces a new line.\n\nAnd a double forces a new paragraph.",
background: ""the_file_name_of_the_image_you_want_to_display_must_be_in_the_images_folder.png",
choicesKey: "my_press_enter"},
function (choice) {
});

You don't actually want to offer any choices, but you do want Oolite to pause until the player has read the message.

So in mission.text add:-

Code: Select all

"my_press_enter" = {"1_EXIT" = "Press ENTER to close the Message - or whever text you want to put here";};

Below as an example with Conditions added is the Code that displays the Intro Message for the Galactic Almanac. And also plays an email ping sound.

Code: Select all

this.missionScreenOpportunity = function() {

if (missionVariables.random_station_names_news === 0 && missionVariables.random_station_names_news_intro_given === 0) {
if (missionVariables.random_station_names_screen == "BGS Background Style") var bgImage = "random_stations_background_bgs.png";
if (missionVariables.random_station_names_screen == "Better Screens Style") var bgImage = "random_stations_background_better.png";
if (missionVariables.random_station_names_screen == "Xenon Style") var bgImage = "random_stations_background_xenon.png";
if (missionVariables.random_station_names_screen == "Classic Elite Style") var bgImage = "random_stations_background_green.png";
mission.runScreen({
titleKey: "random_station_names_title1",
screenID: "RandomStationNames",
messageKey: "random_station_names_message1", 
background: bgImage,
exitScreen: "GUI_SCREEN_INTERFACES",
choicesKey: "random_station_names_title1_exit"
},
function (choice) {
var mySound = new SoundSource;
mySound.sound = "random_stations_ping.ogg";
mySound.loop = false;
mySound.play();
missionVariables.random_station_names_news_intro_given = 1;
missionVariables.random_station_names_news = 1;}); 
var mySound = new SoundSource;
mySound.sound = "random_stations_ping.ogg";
mySound.loop = false;
mySound.play();}

}

If you want to offer choices like accept, decline, maybe later. Then you need to define the choices in mission text as above, but add commands to tell Oolite what you want it to do when the player selects different choices like this:-

Code: Select all

function (choice) {


if (choice === "1_TOG2") {this.showAlmanac2();}
if (choice === "2_OPTIONS2") {this.showSettings1();}


});

[Cholmondely]

Mission Screens for Incoming Messages are fairly easy to do.

Just for the record:

The Config folder contains:
missiontext.plist (simple text for missions; been there, done that... see above)
script_copy._plist - looks to be in legacy script - and I suppose that the underscores make it unreadable - so I presume that it's Aegidian's original, preserved for posterity!
script.js - I presume that this is the file I need to clobber!
shipdate.plist - presumably details of the rebels/loyalists at Qubeen

Tweaking commencing! Have cookies, cognac, corkscrew & calipers!

[LittleBear]

You can do it either way.

Both:-

messageKey: "random_station_names_message1",

(with the random_stations_names_message1 defined in mission text)

or

message: "Type your message directly into the line in the mission.runScreen section of your script",

will put your message on the screen.

[phkb]

Mission Screens for Incoming Messages are fairly easy to do. You'd need somthing like this:-

Code: Select all

mission.runScreen({
title: "Type the Title for the Mission Screen - Could just be Incoming Message for Messages",
screenID:"call_this_whatever_you_like_but_make_it_unique",
message: "Text you want to appear on screen\nA backslash n forces a new line.\n\nAnd a double forces a new paragraph.",
background: "the_file_name_of_the_image_you_want_to_display_must_be_in_the_images_folder.png",
choicesKey: "my_press_enter"},
function (choice) {
});

You don't actually want to offer any choices, but you do want Oolite to pause until the player has read the message.

If you don't want to offer the player any choice, but just want to show the screen, the "choicesKey" and "function" are unnecessary. Oolite will automatically show a "Press enter to continue" type of message.

[phkb]

I'm trying to make the experience of ferrying OB back home a bit more believable. So I want some croaking from him en-route.

One arrives at Soladies to pick him up.
Old Stage 2: I want to turn his speech into a formal accept/reject offer. I will probably need help there, but I've enough at the moment to be going on with.

New Stage 3: After arrival at Soladies, but before departure, I want him to announce that he is coming on board. Hence, I'd like a message or other screen to "pop up" after the player has pressed any of the F buttons (or any two of the F buttons, I'm not too fussed). Is this doable?

What I'd prefer would be if he could ask the player at stage 2 to buy him some special item from special requisitions on the F4 screen (a batrachian bubble bath, say, or a decent coffee machine) or some such. One could either have a special F4 screen Soladien ship-chandler with a selection of bizarre & bijoux bits, again - a mission screen set up. OB would pay for it, of course. And then after the transaction a mission screen announcement that OB is coming on board with his baggage.

Say 4 mission screens:
i) OB's offer needing a response, and tip about the bubblebath provider
ii) Bubblebath provider contacts player with offer
iii)Details of lengthy installation - I have one or two ideas about where to look for semi-decent sound effects
iv)Announcement of OB's embarkation...

But is this doable?

Stage 4: After arriving at either Usanat or Cetiisqu, I want him to make some small talk, and then announce that he's off to his bubble-bath (or to make a macchiato...). Hence my questions above.

Stage 5: Digebiti, centre of the Universe. I'd like him to visit a chum in the feudal lodge who will then arrange a visit to the Orbital Station for a conspirational confabulation and maybe the collection of a special package to go in the cargo hold. I would hope that by this stage I can do all this myself. But I would appreciate some advice about how to provide escorts to the Orbital!

Stage 5.5: somewhere between Digebit and Qubeen - another "dialogue" with OB. But I believe that this is not doable - I can't predict what will happen where - there is too much choice en-route as to where to go and how to get there.

Stage 6: Arrival at Qubeen , I'd like him to make a comment about coming home. Again, I would hope that by this stage I could do all this myself.

Copied from the Tweaking thread.

[phkb]

I thought I'd go through what I understand from your comments first, then we can get down to the code changes required.

So, first up, mission initiation. At the moment, the mission is kicked off when you arrive in Biarge, whether you want the mission or not. So, first question: should the question as to whether you want to do the mission be performed here, at the start?

Assuming the mission has been started (whether automatic or manual), we then head to Soladies to collect the gentleman. Having another question screen here to accept the mission is simple enough, although we'd need to make the call on whether we'd be having two of them (one at Biarge, one at Soladies).

Let's continue as if we've accepted the mission. You say you want to change the text of the acceptance of the passenger to include the requirement that the player purchase a special item. We don't need to have a separate F4 screen for this. We can create a unique equipment item that would appear only on the F3 screen, and only be visible if (a) the player has accepted the mission, and (b) is in the Soladies system. We can give the equipment item whatever cost and then furnish the player with the money so they can purchase it, or make it a negligble cost and refund the cost after purchase. Either way, purchasing of the equipment item would then be the trigger for the gentlement to come on board -- this would be the point to throw up the mission screen announcing his boarding. This gives us a clean entry point. We can also give this custom equipment item a lengthy installation time, independent of the cost of the equipment, so that the time differential is handled by the core game.

Sound effects can be played for the installation.

If the next phase of the mission can't be triggered until the player purchases the equipment, there is the chance the player might depart Soladies without the equipment, and thus without the gentleman. We could allow for this, and give the player a bit of leeway to come back and purchase the equipment on their own (perhaps with a reminder of some sort). If they don't return in time, the mission can be failed with a strongly worded email or mission screen.

Monologue in Usanat/Cetiisqu: If this is to be on arrival at the witchpoint (rather than when docking at the station), then using comms messages is probably best, especially if no interaction is required from the player (ie it's just some flavour text). Using comms messages (as distinct from console messages) means the message would appear in the comms log, so the player will have a record of the message. It can be times so that the message is transmitted a few seconds after arrival, so it doesn't look it's obviously triggered by the jump into the system.

Now, concerning Digebiti. At the moment, there is no guarantee the player would visit this system on route. In fact, given it's feudal state, many players would avoid it intentionally and head through the much safer corp state of Anxebiza. If you want this to be a formal part of the mission it would need to be clearly stated to the player that they need to visit this system on the way.

Of course, you could leave this part of the mission as a hidden "Easter egg" kind of thing, so that if the player does take the risk there is a reward for it, but otherwise the mission can be completed without it.

Having a dialog with OB on route is straight-forward, although I'd be using the Broadcast Comms OXP to handle the mechanics of it during flight. No matter which route you take, the player must go through either Zainlabi or Teesdi. They would be ideal candidates for a mid-mission comms (around 2/3rds the way, with a minimum of about 4 jumps left, traffic contingent). The question is, this will mid-mission comms lead to a change in destination? Is the point to get the player to do some additional steps? And will the player have the option to decline the additional steps and just head to Qubeen?

The final step, on arrival in Qubeen is simple enough to change, with the only additional step being to remove the equipment item installed on Soladies.

So, in summary, I think everything can be handled in some way. With the answers to the questions above, we can start the process of coding up the expansion to the mission.

[Cholmondely]

I thought I'd go through what I understand from your comments first, then we can get down to the code changes required.

So, first up, mission initiation. At the moment, the mission is kicked off when you arrive in Biarge, whether you want the mission or not. So, first question: should the question as to whether you want to do the mission be performed here, at the start?

Assuming the mission has been started (whether automatic or manual), we then head to Soladies to collect the gentleman. Having another question screen here to accept the mission is simple enough, although we'd need to make the call on whether we'd be having two of them (one at Biarge, one at Soladies).

I just want to add (to add a lot) to Aegidian's concept, not to alter the essentials (unless they make no sense). So additions (Digebiti jaunts) can be declined. The only essential change as I see it, is introducing a choice at Soladies.

At the moment, IB throws out an offer to the player. There is no acceptance/refusal. If the player wants to do it, the player waltzes over to Soladies. If not, not. I'm happy with that. It seems reasonable, it makes sense. It might be a bit eccentric... so what? The only issue is the player "notting", and then visiting Soladies a year later to find... ?

Let's continue as if we've accepted the mission. You say you want to change the text of the acceptance of the passenger to include the requirement that the player purchase a special item. We don't need to have a separate F4 screen for this. We can create a unique equipment item that would appear only on the F3 screen, and only be visible if (a) the player has accepted the mission, and (b) is in the Soladies system. We can give the equipment item whatever cost and then furnish the player with the money so they can purchase it, or make it a negligible cost and refund the cost after purchase. Either way, purchasing of the equipment item would then be the trigger for the gentleman to come on board -- this would be the point to throw up the mission screen announcing his boarding. This gives us a clean entry point. We can also give this custom equipment item a lengthy installation time, independent of the cost of the equipment, so that the time differential is handled by the core game.

Sound effects can be played for the installation.

If the next phase of the mission can't be triggered until the player purchases the equipment, there is the chance the player might depart Soladies without the equipment, and thus without the gentleman. We could allow for this, and give the player a bit of leeway to come back and purchase the equipment on their own (perhaps with a reminder of some sort). If they don't return in time, the mission can be failed with a strongly worded email or mission screen.

Actually, it probably makes more sense if OB purchases it ... "he's rich, you know". The player just has to allow the plumbers to come on board. See my next interjection...

Monologue in Usanat/Cetiisqu: If this is to be on arrival at the witchpoint (rather than when docking at the station), then using comms messages is probably best, especially if no interaction is required from the player (ie it's just some flavour text). Using comms messages (as distinct from console messages) means the message would appear in the comms log, so the player will have a record of the message. It can be times so that the message is transmitted a few seconds after arrival, so it doesn't look it's obviously triggered by the jump into the system.

Now, concerning Digebiti. At the moment, there is no guarantee the player would visit this system on route. In fact, given it's feudal state, many players would avoid it intentionally and head through the much safer corp state of Anxebiza. If you want this to be a formal part of the mission it would need to be clearly stated to the player that they need to visit this system on the way.

Of course, you could leave this part of the mission as a hidden "Easter egg" kind of thing, so that if the player does take the risk there is a reward for it, but otherwise the mission can be completed without it.

Actually, I was intending to make the Usanat/Cetiisqu conversation a request for the detour to The Centre of the Universe. But to leave the decision up to the player. (And probably do the same with the batrachian bubble-bath installment above). And then when the rewards are meeted out at the end, take the decisions here into account. That means that the bbb installment requires a Yes/No option - and registering the decision. And if the decision was yes, maybe have one or two console messages en-route recording that there is burbling from the batrachian in the bubble bath... Or sound effects... ?

Having a dialog with OB on route is straight-forward, although I'd be using the Broadcast Comms OXP to handle the mechanics of it during flight. No matter which route you take, the player must go through either Zainlabi or Teesdi. They would be ideal candidates for a mid-mission comms (around 2/3rds the way, with a minimum of about 4 jumps left, traffic contingent). The question is, this will mid-mission comms lead to a change in destination? Is the point to get the player to do some additional steps? And will the player have the option to decline the additional steps and just head to Qubeen?

I understand the mechanics. I query the aesthetics. For me, Broadcast Comms is about ship-to-ship communications. Not on-board communications. Also, I would now be adding a requirement to have a non-vanilla HUD installed and for the player to know how to use it (;/:/n/b).

Questions:
i) Can BC's MFD really be made just to pop up, all on its own, without the player having to prime it?
ii) Could the BC HUD be modified - change the colour, for example - to distinguish on-board discussion of the History of the Philosophy of the Eschatology of Architectonics from ship-to-ship banter?
iii) Is my sneaky suspicion that the Vanilla HUD includes invisible MFDs built on anything other than quicksand?

iv) Is there no other way of doing it?

The final step, on arrival in Qubeen is simple enough to change, with the only additional step being to remove the equipment item installed on Soladies.

I'd rather leave the BBB on-board, allowing the player to remove it at a later stage if wanted. I rather like the idea of gazing at the F5 list and seeing the BBB prominently displayed... ! Bartholomew's Batrachian Bubble Bath, special factory model B-phk-B! Ship's cabin version. With special bubble-blowing accoutrements for the frail and elderly...

So, in summary, I think everything can be handled in some way. With the answers to the questions above, we can start the process of coding up the expansion to the mission.

I have to say, thinking about it, that I really don't want to expunge Aegidian's original from the system. It would be unmannerly and disrespectful. Maybe this should be entitled as the bubble bath version - and allow the player to choose which on the EM?

I've been picking apart the Black Baron to try and see how the Yes/No option works - and peering at the programming pages on the wiki. Not obvious to me, I'm afraid, but hopefully by the time you read this, I'll have tried something!

Edited to add: talking to your passengers: Passenger Coms v0.5 by BryonArn (2014): https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3N9li ... x2Zlk/edit - see https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.ph ... 31#p224131 According to the description it seems to generate random messages at various moments and also at changes to yellow alert or whatever.

Re-edited to add: it's a bit obvious really... but... we can do trumbles, we can do jelly-babies... can we do soap bubbles? And, bearing in mind the neophytes that the OXPs is aimed at, maybe restrict them numerically and just to Corporates and Democracies? And under escort in Digebiti?

And a third edit: if OB was to offer the player some Soladean Evil Brandy, can one mimic the resulting inebriation in the ship's responses for a short time afterwards?

Not that I necessarily want to do all the above... but I'm interested in what the limits are, and in what it is easy to do.

[phkb]

i) Can BC's MFD really be made just to pop up, all on its own, without the player having to prime it?

Should be.

ii) Could the BC HUD be modified - change the colour, for example

No. MFD's are only configurable via the HUD, and to change the colour we'd have to swap the entire HUD out.

iii) Is my sneaky suspicion that the Vanilla HUD includes invisible MFDs built on anything other than quicksand?

The default HUD defines 2 MFD's, which should be visible when activated.

iv) Is there no other way of doing it?

That's the fundamental question, I guess. For clarity, I was only planning on using BCC to host the response to the passenger; the actual message from the passenger I would either have in an MFD on it's own, or via a comms message (because we have to allow for the prospect that the player will have no free MFD slots left, so we would have to default back to a comms message where there is no other option).

The only other viable method I can think of, which would avoid BCC altogether, would be to create some prime-able equipment items that can be awarded to the ship when a response is required. The first of these items would have the textual equivalent of "Respond with a 'Yes'". The second would have "Respond with a 'No'". The "Yes" response would be automatically primed when given to the player, so all they have to do is activate it if they want to say "Yes". The "No" response could be defaulted after, say, 60 seconds without any response. Otherwise the player can manually prime the "No" response and activate that.

According to the description it seems to generate random messages at various moments and also at changes to yellow alert or whatever.

There's no response available to any of these comms messages. They're purely flavour text. I expanded on this concept in Enhanced Passenger Contracts.

we can do trumbles, we can do jelly-babies... can we do soap bubbles?

Well, from looking at the JellyBabies dispenser, it was essentially overriding the Trumble image and actually giving the player Trumbles. And so you end up with Jelly Babies on the screen instead of Trumbles, but all the other charactistics of Trumbles would still be active (ie filling up the hold, unable to remove them, etc). Which might be a cute side-effect of having the bubble bath on board - but one I'd prefer to avoid if possible (as a pilot and a programmer!).

And a third edit: if OB was to offer the player some Soladean Evil Brandy, can one mimic the resulting inebriation in the ship's responses for a short time afterwards?

Hmm... curious. I'll have to play around with a couple of ideas here. Not sure if we can get precisely what you want, but it will be fun to experiment.