Sunskimmers

[Switeck]

Escort-type ships make little sense as Sunskimmers, since most cannot hyperspace on their own and most also have no way of storing quirium fuel from scooping. (Krait I believe is a rare exception that can't hyperspace but has injectors.)

This means they are unlikely to have sufficient heat insulation -- even the amount the player can get is insufficient.
Following a sun-skimming Anaconda around would fry them before they could dive into the Anaconda's wormhole.

[Cody]

Following a sun-skimming Anaconda around would fry them before they could dive into the Anaconda's wormhole.

I'd expect the escorts to hang well back while the mother ship skims. Then it would move out to re-join them before jumping.
Bandits would also stay well clear of the corona. What would actually happen in-game is another thing entirely!

From the gameplay point of view, the OXP simply adds traffic to the WP/Sun route.

[phkb]

Do these look about right, positions-wise?

Well, I can’t tell from looking at the numbers whether they’re on the sun-wp lane, but given the code in play, I’d say they were. The log entries were really just to see that something was spawning, and to possibly give you some indication of what to look out for.

[Cody]

... but given the code in play, I’d say they were.

That'll do for me. I can't actually test anything, all I can do is launch the game, then exit.

[Old Murgh]

Try this out: Sunskimmer.oxz

I recreated Dr Nil's original but used the more current populator methods. I also included some logging elements, so you can check your log file to see if anything was spawned.

I did give this a CC-BY-NC-NA 3.0 license, because while Dr Nil's original doesn't have a license, there isn't any of the original code in this version (apart from the readme). Probably a grey area (copying the idea, not the implementation of said idea), so if someone has some legal reason to can this, just let me know. If there are no objections, and we get some good test runs done, I'll add it to the manager shortly.

Also, I've put this in the "Misc" section for now, but feel free to suggest a better group.

I reached out to Dr.Nil by an old eMail I found, hoping for his blessings to go ahead with an Ironass revamp of his Missionaries.oxp I'm playing with.. –and he is still out there to be found, seeming in good spirits, specifying no license but granting his permission to revamp his old projects.

He also asked me to pass on his greetings to "everyone new and old in the Ooniverse".

[Cody]

Excellent news! <waves at Dr. Nil>

[Old Murgh]

Excellent news! <waves at Dr. Nil>

On behalf of Dr. Nil, let me wave back.

Of course now after this enduring manhunt, I find that he made the same generous declaration many years ago, ("Feel free to use..").
At least I now can say for certain that he hasn't changed his mind.

[Cholmondely]

Excellent news! <waves at Dr. Nil>

On behalf of Dr. Nil, let me wave back.

I'll wave too...

Missionaries and Commies were inspired ideas.

[Old Murgh]

Missionaries and Commies were inspired ideas.

Yes, full of creative, fun stuff.

AstroGulags alone has the potential to be at the centre of various riveting missions.

[Cody]

The Sunskimmer logging: that would only list those ships spawned by the OXP, right? So I presume the pirate Python and its pals which I just encountered along the WP/Sun lane (that weren't logged) would've been spawned by Oolite itself, yes? It's good to see that route busy occasionally!

[phkb]

The Sunskimmer logging: that would only list those ships spawned by the OXP, right?

Correct.

So I presume the pirate Python and its pals which I just encountered along the WP/Sun lane (that weren't logged) would've been spawned by Oolite itself, yes?

Highly likely.