Oolite Bulletins

How odd! v5.3.0 is 2.3 MB but v5.2.2 is 3.2 MB. Usually programs/add-ons get bigger in size with age.

That would be because Eric removed some textures from Galactic Navy that were also in the core game. Thus, shrinkage!

Well, since Oolite 1.74 supports custom icons for beacons, I decided to try and make a star icon for the SecCom Stations. Unfortunately, the results turned out to be rather disappointing, as you can see from this picture.



It's both too small to have much detail, and Oolite fills in the triangles between the lower left three points of the star. So, back to 'S' for the beacon it is.

The proper fix for the star issue would be to use the “polygon sprite” code added for missile icons in 1.74. It’s not exactly a top priority, but I’ve filed a bug report.

Thank you! I'll save the code for later versions of Oolite, then.

It would be nice to be appreciated by the Gal Navy!

I wonder would it be difficult to fix up a rank system for the Galactic Navy reserve? A bit like the navies in FFE?
Something like this could really increase the player's motivation to keep fighting - Beyond mere cash, etc.

Promotions could be gained by victorious missions or the player's Pirate/Thargoid kill-counts per mission?
Medals could be a nice touch too - I feel a bit hollow when I take out a Thargoid cruisers and just get some credits.

Would such a rank system script be hard to implement?

In the 5.2.3(beta) version said models have been renamed. All that is needed is to prefix "galNavy_" to the beginning of the models in the shipdata.plist at lines 2480, 2501, 2526, 2637, 2698, 2742, 2763.

Mauiby de Fug wrote:

In the 5.2.3(beta) version said models have been renamed. All that is needed is to prefix "galNavy_" to the beginning of the models in the shipdata.plist at lines 2480, 2501, 2526, 2637, 2698, 2742, 2763.

My fault. It never threw errors with me because I also have Thargorn_Threat.oxp installed that contains the original models

Should 5.3.0 run with trunk (1.75.0 win)? In comparison with the previous version I had, it now properly opens the welcome (mission) screen when I dock at a navy station, but whatever I chose - the mission screen is simply closed, thus I cannot get any new contracts. The log, however, does not show any problems. Nothing.

Ahhh...but those engineers are great. All the missing turrets and damaged engines, all repaired! What would we do without the navy?

Screet

My apologies for being absent. SpaceChem was released a few weeks ago, and I've found it to be very difficult to pull away from.

But anyway, I'm back now, with a fairly major change to test.

In the course of examining the code for things to update, I discovered that planetinfo.plist had the same code for generating SecCom stations and system guards repeated many times throughout. I've stripped it out and replaced it with a JavaScript equivalent that's smaller and easier to edit, but there are so many SecCom stations that I can't check them all to make sure that they're working.

I've already verified that the stations in Galaxy 1 are working as intended, but that leaves the other seven.

Here is the current test version. It includes some autorefueling code to make testing the stations easier, and it will be removed after the stations are confirmed to be working.

All that needs to be done to test is to enter the SecCom system and see if the message "DEBUG: SecCom Station set up." appears.

Also, there should be some guards near the witchpoint.

This link has the list of systems in which the SecCom stations appear in. Let me know if any don't show up correctly.

I'll be checking Galaxy 2 next.

cutsibling: I'm thinking about adding ranks for future versions of Galactic Navy. Stay tuned for more details.

Mauiby, Eric: I fixed the model names in 5.3.0.

Screet: I've only run GalNavy with 1.74. I'll have to take a look at how it works with trunk at some point, though.

Could this OxP be made so that Behemoths also offer missions.

Fighter Screen
Escort
Recon

Then you have the option to go on a mission if you have a random Behemoth Encounter and you feel more 'attached' to the ship you land on.

Leading on from that suggestion, could the ability to become a career Navy pilot be added?

pagroove wrote:

Could this OxP be made so that Behemoths also offer missions.

Fighter Screen
Escort
Recon

Then you have the option to go on a mission if you have a random Behemoth Encounter and you feel more 'attached' to the ship you land on.

Ooh, nice idea! Maybe even one which takes you to deep space for a tussle with the bugs. Something like:

Greetings, Commander! Good to see you. We're just warming up the drives for an assault on the bugs: care to come along for the ride?

If the player says no, then they're kicked out pretty swift back into the previous system. If they agree, though, there's another message detailing all the preparations for the jump, then

SCRAMBLE! We have enemy ships on an intercept vector. All pilots, go, go go!

and the player gets launched out, fully fuelled, into interstellar space, with the Behemoth and some buddies, to face an unspecified quantity of the Green Peril ... after the battle is over, the player has to dock with the Behemoth to get the reward and to jump back again. If the Behemoth is destroyed they player can (if they haven't gone nuts with the injectors) still jump out themselves, but there's no reward for taking part in a losing engagement.

I always thought it would be nice if a Behemoth could somehow acknowledge or reward you when you have defended or fought in battle alongside it: Maybe offering cheap fuel/repairs.

@Nemoricus:

Cheers for that, sir! Looking forward to future versions...For now, I'll continue to enjoy the OXP!