Oolite Bulletins

Posted: **Mon Dec 09, 2013 4:03 pm**

<grins> Aye, tried and tested indeed. The tutorial does look cool though - good stuff!

In other news, the commodity prices are cool now, cim.

Posted: **Mon Dec 09, 2013 9:46 pm**

With the fixes on the topic branch, the tutorial runs for me. However, if I read a bit slower I would have crashed into Lave before being told how to slow down (and I was at status yellow because of altitude when the tutorial said “If it is green, as now, …”.

Posted: **Mon Dec 09, 2013 10:20 pm**

JensAyton wrote:
With the fixes on the topic branch, the tutorial runs for me. However, if I read a bit slower I would have crashed into Lave before being told how to slow down (and I was at status yellow because of altitude when the tutorial said “If it is green, as now, …”.

That's odd ... you should be starting at a station a good 10^7 metres from Lave, and probably not pointed in that direction either. Does S.stations before you launch show another station in the system, and if so, where?

Posted: **Mon Dec 09, 2013 10:36 pm**

Code: Select all

Tutorial mode active
> S.stations
[[Station "Tutorial Station" "Tutorial Station" position: (822244, -8.11881e+06, 723731) scanClass: CLASS_NO_DRAW status: STATUS_IN_FLIGHT]]
> S.planets
[[Planet ID: 173 position: (0, 0, 452760) type: STELLAR_TYPE_NORMAL_PLANET radius: 41.160km]]
> PS
[PlayerShip "Cobra Mark III" position: (-46922.9, 57492, 428992) scanClass: CLASS_PLAYER status: STATUS_IN_FLIGHT]
> S.planets[0].position.subtract(PS).magnitude()
77923.0234375

Posted: **Mon Dec 09, 2013 10:44 pm**

JensAyton wrote:

Code: Select all

> S.stations
[[Station "Tutorial Station" "Tutorial Station" position: (822244, -8.11881e+06, 723731) scanClass: CLASS_NO_DRAW status: STATUS_IN_FLIGHT]]

Well, that explains it. It's supposed to be at (-1.29467e+06, -7.5775e+06, 3.60552e+06). It's positioned at "OUTER_SYSTEM_OFFPLANE #600" which should be the same regardless of settings.

Wait.... where's the sun? I get

Code: Select all

[Sun ID: 104 position: (-782892, -340254, 754874) radius: 84.449km]

Posted: **Mon Dec 09, 2013 10:54 pm**

Well, now…

Code: Select all

> S.sun
[Sun ID: 187 position: (-2.0284e+06, -881568, 1.23551e+06) radius: 84.449km]

Posted: **Tue Dec 10, 2013 8:04 am**

It’s not mentioned in the build log because of a deficiency in the script, but the Mac nightly now includes the tutorial stuff. Note, however, that yesterday’s bugs aren’t fixed in master yet.

Posted: **Tue Dec 10, 2013 6:29 pm**

JensAyton wrote:

Code: Select all

[Sun ID: 187 position: (-2.0284e+06, -881568, 1.23551e+06) radius: 84.449km]

That explains that, then. I did consider making the tutorial based on a strict save to deal with this problem, but that then makes it untranslatable. Maybe we need a convenient way to load translations even in Strict mode.

Posted: **Tue Dec 10, 2013 7:08 pm**

I ran without any OXPs (even Debug) and still had Lave in my face.

Posted: **Tue Dec 10, 2013 7:36 pm**

JensAyton wrote:
I ran without any OXPs (even Debug) and still had Lave in my face.

I've changed the station position to be hard-coded to the position in the savefile, which should fix that problem. I don't see how the sun ended up there without OXPs, though - that must be much more than 25 times the planet radius.

Posted: **Tue Dec 10, 2013 10:45 pm**

Entity dump with absolutely no OXPs:

Code: Select all

[searchPaths.dumpAll]: Unrestricted mode - resource paths:
    ~/Programming/Projects/Oolite/oolite/build/Debug/Oolite.app/Contents/Resources
[shipData.load.begin]: Loading ship data.
…
[universe.objectDump]: DEBUG: Entity Dump - [entities count] = 14,	n_entities = 14
  [universe.objectDump]: Ent:   0  PlayerEntity "Cobra Mark III" position: (-48497.3, 59520, 428139) scanClass: CLASS_PLAYER status: STATUS_IN_FLIGHT range: 0 (visible: yes) mass 214738
  [universe.objectDump]: Ent:   1  ShipEntity "GalCop Viper" position: (-47200.3, 60197.6, 426788) scanClass: CLASS_POLICE status: STATUS_IN_FLIGHT range: 1991.75 (visible: yes) mass 34040.7 AI: nullAI.plist:GLOBAL
  [universe.objectDump]: Ent:   2  OOSparkEntity position: (-51119.9, 61959.1, 429298) scanClass: CLASS_NO_DRAW status: STATUS_EFFECT range: 3764.34 (visible: yes)
  [universe.objectDump]: Ent:   3  OOPlanetEntity ID: 189 position: (0, 0, 452760) type: STELLAR_TYPE_NORMAL_PLANET radius: 41.160km range: 80627.6 (visible: yes)
  [universe.objectDump]: Ent:   4  ShipEntity "Cargo container" position: (1712.56, -623.603, 330077) scanClass: CLASS_CARGO status: STATUS_IN_FLIGHT range: 125517 (visible: no) mass 993.37 AI: dumbAI.plist:GLOBAL
  [universe.objectDump]: Ent:   5  ShipEntity "Cargo container" position: (1745.23, -680.152, 329939) scanClass: CLASS_CARGO status: STATUS_IN_FLIGHT range: 125665 (visible: no) mass 993.37 AI: dumbAI.plist:GLOBAL
  [universe.objectDump]: Ent:   6  ShipEntity "Cargo container" position: (1765.99, -749.288, 329775) scanClass: CLASS_CARGO status: STATUS_IN_FLIGHT range: 125834 (visible: no) mass 993.37 AI: dumbAI.plist:GLOBAL
  [universe.objectDump]: Ent:   7  ShipEntity "Cargo container" position: (1785.55, -802.037, 329621) scanClass: CLASS_CARGO status: STATUS_IN_FLIGHT range: 125988 (visible: no) mass 993.37 AI: dumbAI.plist:GLOBAL
  [universe.objectDump]: Ent:   8  ShipEntity "Cargo container" position: (1815.91, -858.653, 329481) scanClass: CLASS_CARGO status: STATUS_IN_FLIGHT range: 126136 (visible: no) mass 993.37 AI: dumbAI.plist:GLOBAL
  [universe.objectDump]: Ent:   9  ShipEntity "Cargo container" position: (1843.26, -922.184, 329334) scanClass: CLASS_CARGO status: STATUS_IN_FLIGHT range: 126293 (visible: no) mass 993.37 AI: dumbAI.plist:GLOBAL
  [universe.objectDump]: Ent:  10  DustEntity position: (0, 0, 0) scanClass: CLASS_NO_DRAW status: STATUS_ACTIVE
  [universe.objectDump]: Ent:  11  OOSunEntity ID: 190 position: (-782892, -340254, 754874) radius: 84.449km range: 897726 (visible: yes)
  [universe.objectDump]: Ent:  12  StationEntity "Tutorial Station" "Tutorial Station" position: (2.06775e+06, -7.5775e+06, 243095) scanClass: CLASS_NO_DRAW status: STATUS_IN_FLIGHT range: 7.92697e+06 (visible: no) mass 5.15484e+08 AI: nullAI.plist:GLOBAL
  [universe.objectDump]: Ent:  13  SkyEntity position: (-48472.9, 59500.9, 428146) scanClass: CLASS_NO_DRAW status: STATUS_EFFECT

Posted: **Sat Dec 14, 2013 10:47 am**

Disembodied wrote:
Thinking about this some more … given that slowing the station's rotation doesn't make much difference to how hard it is to dock; and given that it would be a good thing to help give a sense of difference to different kinds of systems; and given that it might be a good thing to make it a bit easier for brand-new players to pick up the knack of docking; how about this?

Systems of TL 8 and up have docking lights, similar to Thargoid's [wiki]Neo-Docklights OXP[/wiki] (maybe systems with TL 12 and up have fancy ones that change colour, whereas the lights on TLs 8, 9 and 10 are just white).

Systems of TL 7 to TL 4 stay as they are.

Systems of TL 3 and lower don't even have buoys. Players have to line up the old-fashioned way, by eye.

This, of course, could all be done by OXP; but if we genuinely want to help new players get into the game, I think it's worth considering building something like this in to the core. It shouldn't make any difference at all to experienced players (except for making low-tech dockings just that little bit more challenging), but it could be a genuine help for new players - at least on their first jump away from Lave.

This is a great idea and something already done via Dock Assist OXP...

About loading goods taking time, I am all for it, with the following caveat:

maybe one could do all his load and unload and then hit a "DO IT" button that calculates the minimum number of load/unload operations requred to do what he wanted.

Posted: **Sat Dec 14, 2013 5:26 pm**

The next stage of the tutorial - a test of basic flight skills which also starts to teach the basics of running away from danger - is up and should be part of tonight's nightly builds. Experienced pilots should be able to obtain the maximum score with relative ease.

Posted: **Tue Dec 17, 2013 1:26 pm**

...and two more lessons now in - finally, you get to shoot at something. Some of the targets actually take some work to hit, and there's a bit at the end of lesson 5 which even experienced pilots might find succeeding - rather than surviving - to be a little challenging.

Posted: **Wed Dec 18, 2013 12:48 pm**

...and lesson 6 is in now and will build tonight. This is a combat lesson, against progressively more dangerous opponents. Completing the first step - since they don't have missiles - should be fairly easy even for new pilots. The second stage is optional, but people who have been paying attention in the earlier lessons probably stand a chance. If nothing else, it will introduce players to the concept of beam lasers being much more powerful than pulse lasers. There is also a third stage, which will be a bit more of a challenge even for experienced pilots.

Comments on the difficulty balance of this lesson are very important, since combat is one of the areas new players often struggle with.

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