Alien Systems OXZ

[phkb]

Belated credit to phkb for help with the script. Thanks

Oh! Um, you’re welcome!

[Redspear]

And that's why it's good that we're a community

Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Ontimaxe...

Today's episode was brought to you by the commodity 'narcotics' and by the career 'piracy'!

Please forgive the facetiousness Cholmondely, I quite agree.

Oh! Um, you’re welcome!

Helped me to get my head around timers (and subsequntly up to all kinds of mischief )

[Cholmondely]

Redspear - I just stumbled across this:

I like the idea of Limo missions...

...
[Name] is seeking a [adjective], [adjective] ride to [destination] in [system] for a party to [celebrate] [his/her/its] forthcoming [event]. [Cargo] should be provided, payment will be [price] on arrival.

[adjective] loud, brash, noisy, ostentatious, offensive, pretentious, ridiculous, bangin', crazy, wicked, hoopy, irritating, over-the-top, expensive, tasteless, shiny {Please help flesh out these lists}

[destination] Peppermint HippOO, Hoopy Casino, HoOoOters, roam around space indefinitely in a perpetual party {payment per system visited as long as they are aboard} {I'm guessing most destination venues would be planetside, requiring planetfall.oxp to be installed.}

[event] wedding, divorce, senior prom, Bar Mitzvah, birthday, spawn-cycle, adult gland inflation, symbiotic conjoinment, symbiotic host rejection, euthanasia, release from rehab

[cargo] 1 ton liquor/ wines, 1 ton food, 1 ton recreational substances. {providing narcotics for this purpose would run you a risk of getting in trouble with GalCop.} {Regardless of the contract requirements, ALL booze, food and drugs in cargo will eventually be consumed by the party, perhaps 1 ton per hour of gametime or something like that}

- Hoopy casinos would be an obvious destination for some of these parties, but presumably that would require modifications to that OXP.

- If you dock at a seedy space bar with a party in the back, there's a chance they'll pay you and debark without realising they're at the wrong place. If you're quick, you can launch again before they realise their mistake. This will affect your limo-driving rep, probably negatively but possibly positively (as it turns out, they had a great night out at the SSB!).

- Sometimes when you dock, you will find that your customers have made a huge mess in the back of your limo, and you'll have to get it valetted. Whether or not they have made a mess you get the chance to ask them for a clean up fee. If they refuse, you get the chance to "insist" that they pay a clean up fee. These things may or may not negatively affect your limo-driver rep depending on (a) whether or not they really made a mess (b) how drunk they are (liquor and narcs consumed) and (c) a random factor.

- When your rep gets high enough you can get some "classier" limo jobs for a slightly more sober class of customer, as suggested earlier in the thread (laughed at the Dumb and dumber references=-) However they often tend to be criminals and mob bosses, so although you don't have to put up with the music and vomit any more, you might have to deal with assassins, requests for slaves as well and booze and drugs and somewhat more severe consequences if you displease a customer (arrive late, try to con them out of cleanup money).

[Redspear]

Redspear - I just stumbled across this:

Thanks. I've had similar ideas myself and then there have been the various taxi oxps. However, any mini-missions are likely to be a little further down the line with this one. Lots to add before that... hopefully

[Cholmondely]

Redspear - I just stumbled across this:

Thanks. I've had similar ideas myself and then there have been the various taxi oxps. However, any mini-missions are likely to be a little further down the line with this one. Lots to add before that... hopefully

Not my point - it's more vocab for Alienating more systems! I just prefer to give the context as well...

[Redspear]

Not my point - it's more vocab for Alienating more systems! I just prefer to give the context as well...

Oh, I see, you mean the highlighted text? Apologies, your tendency to quote en masse threw me

[Cholmondely]

Not my point - it's more vocab for Alienating more systems! I just prefer to give the context as well...

Oh, I see, you mean the highlighted text? Apologies, your tendency to quote en masse threw me

I think it is always important to give context. And some of the rest of that post is also thought-provoking!



Another idea: How about adding increased chances for spawning ships from species relevant OXPs in those systems?

*Hognose Missionaries: more Witchspace Lobster missionaries in Lobstoid systems (and how about some with better shields, lasers and accuracy - just for those systems - makes visiting them more dangerous if you are not lobstoid yourself - you could include a check on the player's species as entered in Library.OXP's PAD). This could make visiting Lobstoid worlds equivalent to visiting anarchies!

*Oresrians: if we had an update for this one, they could be added to some of the Insectoid worlds as a confusion.

Question: to what extent can we change things according to system distance in Oolite? Can we give a 100% chance of encountering Oresrians in Oresri and reduce the chances by distance for neighbouring systems?

NB: The listed inhabitants of Oresri are rodents, so the Oresrians must be a minor species on Oresri. Presumably the original indigenes from their name. Other systems with related names are in G8 (Oresreat & Oresrati).

[Redspear]

Another idea: How about adding increased chances for spawning ships from species relevant OXPs in those systems?

I've considered that since my very first on these boards some 10 years ago ?

to what extent can we change things according to system distance in Oolite? Can we give a 100% chance of encountering Oresrians in Oresri and reduce the chances by distance for neighbouring systems?

I don't see why it can't be done proportionately. Distance to system of origin or difference between system coordinates = probability chance within a condition script.

I've stalled on either of those approaches as it's easier to be heavy handed than not. More interesting for me is the limit some ships to system I habitants via the shipyard (e.g. only for sale in Rodent systems).

[Redspear]

• v 0.2 available https://wiki.alioth.net/img_auth.php/2/ ... ystems.oxz
  • includes music by P.A.Groove/Blurred Vision for non-colonial systems and... one or two other locations (it's two, two locations)
  • additional messages upon arrival into the system
  • messages dwell a little longer for readability
  • some (old) typos addressed thanks to the Cholster

Special thanks to P.A.Groove/Blurred Vision (formerly of these boards) for the use of his atmospheric music (one piece of which is currently stuck in my head).

These tracks were formerly used for earlier versions of famous planets but removed for later versions and so are now back in the game.

Check out his bandcamp page here https://pagrooveblurred.bandcamp.com/album/peace-park

It's swollen up to 27MB now but there's still so much I want to add, thus it's 0.2, not 1.2.
Anyway, it's here and it works (or it did 5 minutes ago) and I hope some of you enjoy it... (awaits inevitable game of spot the typo).

[Cholmondely]

Special thanks to P.A.Groove/Blurred Vision (formerly of these boards) for the use of his atmospheric music (one piece of which is currently stuck in my head).

Redspear, did you actually manage to get a response from him?

[Redspear]

Redspear, did you actually manage to get a response from him?

Yes. I explained my request and he was kind enough to grant permission.

[Redspear]

v 0.3 available here

Adds some species specific detail to the f7 screen; mostly flavour-fluff.


v 0.4 perhaps not far away, likely to deny entry to non-colonial systems by usual means.
I've got what I consider to be a good idea of how to do it but want to consider a bit more to ensure its flavourful rather than just annoying.

[Redspear]

And v 0.4 is now available with a much more radical addition: restricted system entry

A standard hyperspace jump isn't always enough to get you to a non-colonial system with this oxp installed.

However, there are at least 4 methods that will work. Without spelling them out, any one of these will (or at least should) work:

• using non-player assistance
• jumping from a specific location
• jumping with a specific cargo
• using a specific piece of equipment
• piloting a relevant ship (for future versions)

Please do not spell these out either here or (especially) on the wiki. Here at least we have the spoiler feature where further hints can be provided.

Spoiler

Thusly...

As for the hows, whys and wherefores, I'll give a very simple (and partial) explanation below but in doing so there will also be a clue to one of the solutions. Alternatively, there is (very) minimal explanation in game albeit rarely so.

Part of the appeal of this oxp is to make alien systems more mysterious.

• Why are they refusing some pilots and not others?
• How is such a thing even possible?
• What is there to be seen? (not implemented yet but planned)
• How does one get in with the in-crowd? (see above)
• What is GalCop doing about this?

If that's not enough for you then there's an explanation on the second point (how is such a thing even possible) in the spoiler below.

Spoiler

The assumption here is that a ship's hyperspace motor is in communication with a system's witchpoint beacon in order to jump there. So the exact coordinates can be denied by the buoy if the ship's ID is in some way problematic. Of course, a clear signal would require clear conditions. Furthermore, there might be some wishing to compromise such clarity in order that their signal might be misidentified.

Why GalCop doesn't use this technology to deny fugitives is likely because even the sale of pirate booty at the stations still profits GalCop as the omnipresent middle-man in all trade deals. Why they invest in policing at all is both to keep control of the stations and further to encourage both the slow freighters and the new career traders to keep the money rolling in. Fail to encourage traders and then the pirate target becomes GalCop itself.

Anyhow, once word of a loophole gets around, any such restriction is moot.

[Wildeblood]

Is this creating a variable called _alienVisa in the global namespace/scope/terminology-you-prefer, not restricted to your world script?

Code: Select all

this.startUp = function() {
	_alienVisa = 0;	//	set jump restrictions
}

If yes, then why?

If not, then insightfulize me, please, I've apparently forgotten how variable scoping works?

[Cholmondely]

Are you using the ability in Library.oxp’s P.A.D. to define your home system? (Default is Lave)