Tales from the spacelanes...

[RockDoctor]

Something like this?



Reference: Flight Log OXP

That would be the sort of thing, but integrated with "state saved {filename})" information. And ... is that bounty data, or profit-by-trade?

Is there enough data in the system-name (and coordinates, by (1980_source * to make a key comprising previous path and (some data)?

What OZP / MFD/ System_Status) is that from?

[Cholmondely]

That would be the sort of thing, but integrated with "state saved {filename})" information. And ... is that bounty data, or profit-by-trade?

Is there enough data in the system-name (and coordinates, by (1980_source * to make a key comprising previous path and (some data)?

What OZP / MFD/ System_Status) is that from?

I presume you've found the answers to your questions by now, but just in case,

Profit by trade I think. And yes, it is created from information which the oxp stores in the save file.

From Flight Log (the page shown is from the F4 page (ship and system interfaces) (see under Logs, if you have Flight Log loaded).

As to this: Is there enough data in the system-name (and coordinates, by (1980_source * to make a key comprising previous path and (some data)?, I don't even understand the question. Putting out 2 utterly simplistic oxp's merely means that I can cut and paste from Norby's work with minimal competence. Not that I understand what I'm doing! Sorry.

[RockDoctor]

I don't even understand the question. Putting out 2 utterly simplistic oxp's merely means that I can cut and paste from Norby's work with minimal competence. Not that I understand what I'm doing! Sorry.

"Checksumming (verbification of noun "a checksum") is a trick for validating a block of data, to find errors of entry, or deliberate falsification. I was thinking of something to make it harder for a Jameson to claim "I got a 300-system run with 7002 dead pirates before I had my tea-break. Seem my screenshot! Bow in awe!" But I'll come back to that in a bit.
The classic example of a checksup is in your wallet. The 16-digit number on your bank (or credit) card isn't a random number - it includes (and you can probably work this out from just inspecting your purse contents) information about the bank (or credit agency), your account number, possibly the sequence number of the card, and a check-sum. If I recall correctly, AmEx cards all start with a digit 2, for example (it's a long time since I had to deal with an AmEx card - it might have some other characteristic, but for the moment, let's say that). So, if a website is accepting a credit card number, and the "customer" (well, remote web-browser) claims an AmEx card but enters "3xyz pqrs abcd efgh" for the card number, the website's cord can reject that immediately, because either someone is deliberately lying, or has fat-fingered the wrong number in.
Rejecting such erroneous input at the shop's website reduces both the number of enquiries to the bank (AmEx, whoever) which are doomed to failure. More vaguely, this also reduces the "attack surface" of the payments system - there are fewer types of erroneous data that the site has to check for.
Going from the AmEx specific example to the 16-digit card number in general, all the banks have agreed to follow a common rule that there are 15 digits of data (bank sort code, account number, card number, something else) and one "check-sum" digit which is calculated from the rest to give the overall 16 digit number a particular characteristic, which the involved websites can check without raising a request against the actual payment service. Let's say the characteristic is that (for the number above) the sum 3+ x+ y+ z+ p+ q+ r+ s+ a+ b+ c+ d+ e+ f+ g+ h should produce a multiple of 7. Which ever of the numbers p, q, etc is the check digit can be within the range 0 to 9, and make the 16-digit ensemble fit that characteristic with a very low amount of effort. But if the customer invents a 16-digit number it is unlikely to have that characteristic, and if the customer fat-fingers a wrong number in, again the store's website can detect it and require it to be corrected before forwarding a request to the actual bank's website.
"divisible by 7" isn't the actual test used - I never bothered to memorise that datum. But it's a matter of public record. It's probably on Wikipedia somewhere. A few minute's thought will tell you that the "divisible by 7" characteristic couldn't detect someone typing "...pqsr ..." instead of "...pqrs...", which is a very common class of entry error. Passing that public test doesn't guarantee that the 16 digits received by the store's website is a genuine credit card number, but it does filter out common fat-finger errors, and incompetent attackers.
(I think - I've never felt the need to investigate - that the "security digits" (3 or 4) on the back of bank cards also incorporate further check sums, but that may be different between banks. I'm sure a professional card fraudster would know, but that's not a field I've ever needed. Check-sum technology was part of a Millennium Bug fuck up we had at work, and I spent several years afterwards explaining to customers why we'd suckered them into accepting a "free upgrade" to an absolute Edible Poet of a Windows version of our software. If' they'd kept the old DOS version (and it's "security device") and used it after the Millennium, they'd not have needed to pay another penny in licensing fees to us. Worlds-tiniest-violin.GIF )
Anyway, all of that background aside ...
I had been thinking if there was a way to incorporate some aspects of a series of flights into a hard-to-guess code - such as a checksum - so that a Jameson's claim of performing an extraordinary massacre could be validated. I'm sure there could be such, but since the code for the core game is open source (not so sure if that's always the case for OZPs though?), then any competent cheat would be able to read it, and make their cheat pass the test. So ... meh. It's probably not worth the effort.
Actually, one could possibly get a bit more data to hide in the checksum if you looked at the Oo-StarDate of jumps. Kind of like adding "salt" to your source text before encrypting it. But I doubt it's likely to be worth it. File under "minor issues associated with the multiplayer online version which nobody believes will ever happen" - over in the corner ; circular filing cabinet.

[josef050153]

Hi everybody,

does anyone know, wher I can ge the stories from 'Tales from the Spacelanes`?

[Cody]

AFAIK, the "stories" have never been collected anywhere. You'd have to pick them out of the thread and C&P them.

[Cholmondely]

Seeing as I was cruising round the Steel Halo, I decided to visit Avernus Orbital, and play torus-dodgem with the asteroid swarms. I pulled out of Zaenza main, initiated a jump to Lazaso, mis-jumped myself into interstellar space - and emerged straight into a bunch of Thargoid warships that were right on their game. Four, I think it was, but I was too busy to count 'em, as they were already giving me a right hammering. Luckily, Rolling Thunder's flight-systems* were having a rare good day, and I survived - at some cost though. When the last warship blew, I had time to check the instrument panel - damn close-run thing! F5 was a sorry sight, and the damaged kit items were going to be very costly to repair, as the NEU was amongst them. Then I flipped to the second page - and found that they'd killed my ship's cat! Poor Lord Effingham - who I had become rather attached to - was dead, gone, departed! <howls in anguish>

[*the joystick]

Currently stomping over to your old hunting grounds!

I need 1000 kills to engage the G5 Resistance Commander mission - so want to invest in a Military Shield Enhancement (vital with Stranger's World running, as Torus flight knocks my shields back to 25% and they take time to recharge).

With my older version of Weapon Laws also running I should be able to buy one at Cecear (TL14, but more importantly, a Confederacy)!

Where is Lord Effingham buried? Do you want Araminta to leave some flowers?

[Cody]

Lord Effingham was laid to rest in an apple orchard on Zaaner.

[cbr]

Took a brand new Gecko SG (clean as hell ) out for a spin at Tionisla.
Made a nice selfie in front the station https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?p=290884#p290884.
Suddenly a big viper patrol surrounds me all showboatin, one bumps into the new Gecko...
Then Red alert!? laser fire and game over bl@@dy Hell

[Cody]

<smirks> In real life, selfie-takers are prone to such "accidents" - mown down by trains, falling off mountains, etc!

[Cholmondely]

So with help from some of our Antipodeans (Wildeblood & Phkb) I created a new Jameson to start in G2.
By accident (I made a mess of the system#) I ended up in Reerqu.
OXPs include Diplomancy, Stranger's World, Thargoid Wars & my favourite older (more restrictive) version of Weapon Laws.

How super! Reerqu is a moderately safe Confederacy (rather like Isinor but without the swamps or the frogs), and a poor agricultural with excellent price differentials. I found that there was a rich industrial corporate on the doorstep (Vezaaes) which was at peace with Reerqu so I could easily buy Diplomantic visas to visit it, and bingo! A nice milk-run right where I started.

As the money started pouring in, naturally I wished to upgrade my ship. But the local Weapon Laws precluded buying much in the area. I visited Laatso and got some good deals in the SLAPU, but could only buy a SniperLock (at a good discount) - no Scanner Targeting Enhancement, no Beam Lasers. And when I tried out my pulse laser, I was unsure what I was aiming at, and if I was hitting it!

Meanwhile, on returning to Reerqu, the Thargoids attacked the station while I was there! With my lousy combat skills and armed with a pea-shooter, I ducked the confrontation and stayed put. After being tarred and feathered, I then realised that I needed to get some better equipment, pronto. So I decided to make a pilgrimage to Ansoreat (TL13 Dictatorship). I'd made a nifty pile of dosh (12,000₢ or so by the time that I got there and sold my various trade goodies), and finally bought my beams and STE, as well as some other bits and bobs. There had been no obvious rock hermit at Telaan (another poor agricultural confederacy) so I decided to try feudal Atrazama to the SW. Bingo! 3 Rock Hermits! I loaded up on platinum, gold and gems (and also managed to find somebody in the Black Market who would sell me the location of the Telaan hermit) and started making my way back to Ansoreat to make a fortune. Refueling at Telaan again, I bought some of the local commodities and then suddenly the station there was attacked by the Thargoids.

But now I had teeth - and could see what I was doing. So I launched immediately and went on a bug hunt. There were two of them - and they both came after me. Fleeing, I tried to split them up, and the first was luckily distracted by the locals. Taking rear shots and trying to avoid his own lasers, I eventually did in the second - as well as his Tharglets, which he disgorged as I was clobbering him.

The first was sorted out by the locals, so I docked again so I could buy a visa for Ansoreat. And, before I could collect my scattered wits, the bugs attacked again! I made another sortie, and managed to clobber another mother-bug. But this time, I got heavily mauled in the process. With the coast clear, I docked for the third time. I just had time to repair my front shield generators when the station was assailed yet again! This was enough! I had all sorts of people telling me that my ship was leaking and needed replating, and I decided to make a run for the hermit whose location turned out to be 30,000km away in the middle of nowhere! But the Bugs started having a go at me, and I fled them. Not seeing where I was going, I found that I could not escape yellow alert. It turned out that I was heading towards the planet, and was caught in its gravity well. I started edging away with two Thargoid mother-ships hot on my trail. Twisting and weaving, I managed to work myself away from Telaan's gravity well and then engaged Torus and headed for the hermit. It took forever to get there - and when I did arrive, the locals starting making more comments about my damaged ship. Their shipyard wanted an arm and a leg to fix it, so I just bought a visa (and cleared them out of platinum etc) and then made my way to Ansoreat to get things fixed and buy some more equipment. I made a small fortune with my trade goods, fixed my hull, and was even able to buy a Deep Horizon Advanced Navigation Computer (that 10% saving on fuel for long jumps can make the difference between life and death in Stranger's World).

So that's it for the moment. I'm resting up and licking my wounds and trying to work out if I should go to Zaedvera or Usceed to buy my Military Lasers.