Galactic Navy OXP - Mission Ideas Needed

[another_commander]

Precisely. If there happen to be problems with version 2.0 of GalNavy, they will have to be investigated elsewhere.

[matt634]

Of course, that would have been too easy to fix Just for my edification, is 2.0 working on anyone's computer other than my own?

[Commander McLane]

Turns out it works fine on my system (Mac OS X 10.4.11, Oolite 1.70, Navy OXP 2.0)! Jumped into a SecCom system for the first time, and at the witchpoint I met a fleet. As there were also two Thargoid Carriers, a nice battle started. I had no interest in taking part (or blowing all up), so I headed for the planet (after all, that's what I'm paying my taxes for, isn't it?), and met the SecCom station and another fleet or two next to it. On docking I got all the features you would expect. So it's just fine.

I noticed, though, some other issues in the OXP. Probably none of them responsible for not running under Vista, but you should know, anyway.

planetinfo.plist: apart from the morethan (which is allright, as we all now know), there is a superfluous SPACE in the beginning of each last entry of the addShips-methods. Instead of

Code: Select all

<string> addShipsAtPrecisely: [navy-ship] 1 psu 0 0 0.11</string>

it should be

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<string>addShipsAtPrecisely: [navy-ship] 1 psu 0 0 0.11</string>

descriptions.plist: Not sure about that, and it seems to be working as it is. But I have noticed that all descriptions with only one item (domestic-news, frontline-gaines, frontline-losses, etc.) are not contained in an array. Why that? Small observation: in system-name all entries are included in SPACEs, except the first one, Biarge.

characters.plist: I'm not sure whether they do anyhing anyway, but if you have random_seeds in the entries, they should be different, shouldn't they? Ahruman has developed a small JS-script to create random seeds, if you are too lazy to do it yourself. It's here and it will give you a different seed each time you click on the link.

shipdata.plist: There is a superfluous SPACE in front of many entity-keys that start with "picket". Not harmful as such, but could perhaps lead to funny results when these entities are called by their unique entity-keys without the leading SPACE. Also: Eric Walch taught us that if you want to force a ship to have a specific AI in its launch_actions, you should use switchAITo instead of setAITo.

And one general remark: Ahruman has hardcoded a range-limit for equipment_price_factor (although I don't find the reference ATM). Values below 0.5 are ignored by the engine. Therefore it is not possible to give a discount of 75% on equipment. The biggest possible discount is 50%. You should adjust your SecCom stations to that limitation, changing not only the shipdata accordingly, but also the missiontexts and everything else concerned.

[matt634]

Thanks for finding the extra spaces. Those come from my copy & paste style of scripting and I'll be sure to fix them as well as the launch actions. I remember reading somewhere that windows Oolite is more sensitive (case sensitive to be specific) so these extra spaces could be the problem. The random seed really isn't used much as I've defined most of the characters' characteristics. I didn't know about the 0.5 minimum on price_factor but luckily that's all I need. SecCom's normal price_factor is 2.0 so 0.5 gets me the 75% discount . I think the only time you need an array in descriptions is when you want Oolite to randomly choose one string from the list. If you only have one string I don't think you need arrays.

Thanks so much for your help and everyone else's on the board. There's no way I could have pulled this thing together on my own.

[matt634]

The solution to the windows problem has been found in the Testing & Bug Reports forum! I'll have the bug squashed in the final update sometime shortly after Christmas. Today I'm traveling to land that technology forgot, so I won't have any internet access. Talk to you all when I return.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

[Eric Walch]

characters.plist: I'm not sure whether they do anyhing anyway, but if you have random_seeds in the entries, they should be different, shouldn't they?

Not really, as the random seed will always be the same for one character. So the resulting character will always be the same. So you can just as well define all the characteristics by hand. (It took me also a while to realise that defining a specific the seed in a character.plist is useless)

And one general remark: Ahruman has hardcoded a range-limit for equipment_price_factor (although I don't find the reference ATM). Values below 0.5 are ignored by the engine. Therefore it is not possible to give a discount of 75% on equipment. The biggest possible discount is 50%.

Maybe in 1.70 but in the 1.69 code it does not limit the value. just try it with something that has a rather constant prise like minerals.

I think the only time you need an array in descriptions is when you want Oolite to randomly choose one string from the list. If you only have one string I don't think you need arrays.

You don't. McLane probably wanted to say that with just one entry you could just as well put the text directly into the script. But it is good programming practice to put text that the user sees in a separate list as you do.

[Commander McLane]

And one general remark: Ahruman has hardcoded a range-limit for equipment_price_factor (although I don't find the reference ATM). Values below 0.5 are ignored by the engine. Therefore it is not possible to give a discount of 75% on equipment. The biggest possible discount is 50%.

Maybe in 1.70 but in the 1.69 code it does not limit the value. just try it with something that has a rather constant prise like minerals.

Misunderstanding. We are talking about equipment here, not commodities. So the reference is an Escape Pod, not Minerals. And in 1.70 you won't get an Escape Pod for less than 500 Cr. Nowhere. And IIRC the discussion that resulted in this change took indeed place after the release of 1.69.

I didn't know about the 0.5 minimum on price_factor but luckily that's all I need. SecCom's normal price_factor is 2.0 so 0.5 gets me the 75% discount .

Oh! I hadn't realized that the discount is meant off the double prices. Okay, then of course everything is fine.

I think the only time you need an array in descriptions is when you want Oolite to randomly choose one string from the list. If you only have one string I don't think you need arrays.

You don't. McLane probably wanted to say that with just one entry you could just as well put the text directly into the script. But it is good programming practice to put text that the user sees in a separate list as you do.

Not so much directly into the script. I would rather have expected it to be in missiontext.plist instead of descriptions.plist.

[matt634]

Happy New Years!! I've returned home to my beautiful, beautiful internet. I really don't understand how people can live without it.

I got a good bit of scripting done, but I forgot to download the Wiki pages on scripting to my hard-drive before leaving so I was at a loss for a few commands. There was also a good bit more festive eating and drinking (especially drinking) than I expected which also delayed some scripting. Bottom line - I haven't finished the update but it's nearly complete.

The windows bug fix is in, the one time mission in Galaxy 6 is in, and the random reserve missions are almost done. I'm really liking the reserve missions and I think they'll add a good bit of variety to the game. Currently there's 4 types of assignments you might receive: full out system invasion of thargoids, navy fleet vs thargoid fleet, reserve fleet vs pirate fleet, and rescue of damaged/crippled navy ship. I was going to put in an escort type mission also, but I always hated them in space sims so right now they're out.

I've decided against a ranking system for reserve commanders but I have a unique little alternative I think people will like. I can't say for sure when it will all be done, but definitely before the start of my semester on the 14th.

[Commander McLane]

For a long time I forgot to mention one small addition I'd like to see in the OXP: On the screen where you buy the Navy Bonds, it would be nice to display not only the number of bonds already bought, but the player's current credits as well. (You wouldn't want to unknowingly ruin yourself for the navy, would you?)

[matt634]

A nice addition indeed,

I've set Wednesday as my target release date for the full version.

[matt634]

It's Finished! It's Up!

Version 2.5 (the Full Version) is up on the Wiki! I made several small improvements, added a new npc, the Navy Landing Craft, put in a one time Special Ops mission for Galaxy 6, but mostly notably:

Added Navy Reserve Duty as an option at SecComs!

It turned out to be more complicated than I had anticipated, but it works and I think it works well. Should add a great deal of replayability to the open ended Ooniverse. All the missions are tough. The Special Ops mission may well be impossible if you don't know what you're doing. I included a test save so people can give it a spin and let me know.

Please post the inevitable bug reports here.

Thanks to the community for helping me get this done. Special thanks to Eric Walch, Commander McLane, Captain Hesperus, Roberto, Disembodied, LittleBear, Cmdr Maegil, and another_commander.

[Ark]

I am wondering if I am the only one having problems with the extraction of this zip file

Every time I try to expand it I receive the message

D:\programs\oolite\new\galactice navy v2[1].5.zip: cannot create folder galactice navy version 2.5\Galactic_navy.oxp the system cannot find the path specified.

for every item of this zip file (74 times if memory serves)

The zip file seems to be ok so I assume is a mac to pc transplantation problem.

Help I am lost

[Lestradae]

"Every time I try to expand it I receive the message

D:\programs\oolite\new\galactice navy v2[1].5.zip: cannot create folder galactice navy version 2.5\Galactic_navy.oxp the system cannot find the path specified.

for every item of this zip file (74 times if memory serves)

The zip file seems to be ok so I assume is a mac to pc transplantation problem"

My PC is a Pentium IV running with Windows Vista. The oxp does (again ) not work on my system.

[matt634]

My apologies Windows users... I think the blame lies with the crapware zipper I was using. I uploaded a better zip to box.net and tested it on the XP side of my Macbook. Everything seems to be working now!

For the Mac users:

How's she play? Is no news good news? I've had several go's at the Spec Ops mission in Galaxy 6 and have been able to complete it successfully only 1 out of 10 times and that's knowing the strategy. The reward is huge so I want it difficult but not impossible. How about the reserve missions? Are they working for people?

[Commander McLane]

My apologies Windows users... I think the blame lies with the crapware zipper I was using. I uploaded a better zip to box.net and tested it on the XP side of my Macbook. Everything seems to be working now!

I'm just using the built-in zipper from the context menu ("create archive" or something of the like), and had no complaints yet.