Oolite Bulletins

Killer Wolf wrote:

sounds like a cracking OXP.
what about having some nasty pirates/Thargoids spoof a distress signal, so they get victims speeding into an ambush?

Beat me too it! I think all OXPs (where applicable) should be a little Ying and Yang, great idea, but should have the occasional downside (this used to happen on "Rescue on Fractalus" (for those with a C64 or Atari 800))

- you two are nasty....

So the Thargoids / nasty pirates disable the engines of a standard escape pod, leave it sitting in space and go and hide behind an asteroid until someone turns up to rescue it......sounds like fun.

It sounds like something Deep Space Pirates might do to attract prey away from the space-lanes.

Mmm - I've just had an even nastier idea along these lines....but I'll keep that one to myself for now....

Capt. Murphy wrote:

- you two are nasty....

So the Thargoids / nasty pirates disable the engines of a standard escape pod, leave it sitting in space and go and hide behind an asteroid until someone turns up to rescue it......sounds like fun.

It sounds like something Deep Space Pirates might do to attract prey away from the space-lanes.

Mmm - I've just had an even nastier idea along these lines....but I'll keep that one to myself for now....

You guys have a devilish side don't you. Whatever it is should be a very small percentage chance of happening say 2% to 5%. But it makes sense that rarely a pirate or thargoid sets an ambush using a pod as the bait. That might also apply to derelicts as well.

Perhaps there could also be very rare pods found, battered, micro-meteor pitted, leaky and extremely old pods where there isn't much to save any more - not even a brain you can put in a jar. There could be a little ceremony/mission screen/reward for finding the last resting place of Commander Smith lost some 90 years ago...

DaddyHoggy wrote:

Perhaps there could also be very rare pods found, battered, micro-meteor pitted, leaky and extremely old pods where there isn't much to save any more - not even a brain you can put in a jar. There could be a little ceremony/mission screen/reward for finding the last resting place of Commander Smith lost some 90 years ago...

+1
(Somebody needs to make a +1 addon for phpBB)

DaddyHoggy wrote:

Perhaps there could also be very rare pods found, battered, micro-meteor pitted, leaky and extremely old pods where there isn't much to save any more - not even a brain you can put in a jar. There could be a little ceremony/mission screen/reward for finding the last resting place of Commander Smith lost some 90 years ago...

Would interstellar space be the place to find lost pods? Or 2 to 3 scanners+ from either of the spacelanes? That's a great idea DaddyHoggy.

CommonSenseOTB wrote:

Would interstellar space be the place to find lost pods? Or 2 to 3 scanners+ from either of the spacelanes? That's a great idea DaddyHoggy.

Two this week, a record, I must be on a roll!

This can get you into some interesting scrapes. Had a notification of new escape pod distress signal when docked and decided to launch and have a look. Found it along with about 30 thargoid lollipops engaged in killing off a few traders. Yikes. Anyway got the pod, managed to bag a couple of warships and then ran from the Thargorn battlecruiser.....

Version 1.2 is uploaded - see first post for updated readme and download link.

Version 1.2: 20/11/11 – Minor tweak to the scripts to ensure correct beacon placement on being spawned. Reduced density of beacon by another factor of 10. Gave beacon a display name so it plays nice with Talkative Space Compass.oxp.

Capt. Murphy wrote:

Gave beacon a display name so it plays nice with Talkative Space Compass.oxp.

Did you give it a proper beacon code, too? If not, I'll shared the blame, since I've been meaning to mention it since you first started this project, and keep forgetting. If so, good on you!

Yep- both Display Name and Beacon Code are "Escape Pod".

I've got the next version of this OXP which just fixes a few very minor bugs ready for release after a bit of testing.

However in the meantime I have received a request via PM to consider limiting the range of the equipment to say something like 20 x normal scanner range. The requester's main reason for asking was to limit the range in interstellar space as the compass doesn't work there anyway, but suggested that a limit should apply in normal space as-well. It is logical that the Escape Pod distress beacons haven't got unlimited range.

I'm considering 3 options. The 1st would be simpler to implement, the 2nd and 3rd would involve a bit more work.

1) Disable the locator in interstellar space. Leave as it is in normal space. The logic being that escape pods are programmed not to broadcast their distress call in interstellar space to avoid being captured by Thargoids.

2) Disable the locator in interstellar space and restrict the detection range in normal space to something like 20 x scanner range.

3) Have a restricted range in both normal and interstellar space.

Do other users have any particular preference?

Capt. Murphy wrote:

I've got the next version of this OXP which just fixes a few very minor bugs ready for release after a bit of testing.

However in the meantime I have received a request via PM to consider limiting the range of the equipment to say something like 20 x normal scanner range. The requester's main reason for asking was to limit the range in interstellar space as the compass doesn't work there anyway, but suggested that a limit should apply in normal space as-well. It is logical that the Escape Pod distress beacons haven't got unlimited range.

I'm considering 3 options. The 1st would be simpler to implement, the 2nd and 3rd would involve a bit more work.

1) Disable the locator in interstellar space. Leave as it is in normal space. The logic being that escape pods are programmed not to broadcast their distress call in interstellar space to avoid being captured by Thargoids.

2) Disable the locator in interstellar space and restrict the detection range in normal space to something like 20 x scanner range.

3) Have a restricted range in both normal and interstellar space.

Do other users have any particular preference?

Capt. Murphy

yes I have (and thanks for offering )
I will like option 2 but is it possible to make the range of the detection a choice of the player (i like it to be 2 times the range of the scanner and not more)

Richard

Thanks for the input Richard-H. I had another response via PM along the lines of leave as it is.

So in the interests of end-user choice and compatibility with other OXP's I've rewritten the script so that the range can be set by the end-user (via a minor script edit) or via another OXP. The defaults remain an unrestricted range in both normal and interstellar space.

Version 1.3 is now available for download - see first post for full updated readme and download link. This is a major revision. I've tested it reasonably thoroughly and it all appears to be working as intended, but please do report any bugs you come across (I don't think there are any.... ).

For info about setting the range please see this extract from the readme.

The main script includes two variables which can be changed to limit the detection range of the equipment, either by the end-user or via script by another OXP. Range can be set independently for normal space and interstellar space. Default value for these variables is null which equates to infinite range. End-users can limit the range by editing escapePodLocator.js with an appropriate text editor, and changing the value ‘null’ to a number in lines 10 & 11.

Default:

Code: Select all

this.ecl_normalSpaceRange = null;
this.ecl_interstellarSpaceRange = null;

In this example….

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this.ecl_normalSpaceRange = 20;
this.ecl_interstellarSpaceRange = 1;

….detection range is limited to 20 x scanner range in normal space, and 1 x scanner range in interstellar space. To effectively disable the equipment in either case set the value to 0.000001.

OXP makers can access these variables from other scripts using

Code: Select all

worldScripts[“escapePodLocator.js”].ecl_normalSpaceRange
worldScripts[“escapePodLocator.js”].ecl_interstellarSpaceRange

This OXP includes code to detect if the range has been altered by another OXP and will log detected changes in latest.log.

The changelog for this release is

Version 1.3 11/12/11 – Major script revision. End-users and other scripts can now set a maximum detection range for the equipment independently for normal and interstellar space. Default setting is infinite range. New script method also fixes a minor bug in that escape-pods jettisoned from cargo were not correctly detected. Fixed minor bug with beacons being removed slightly too early in scooping process. Included modified homeAI.plist which fixes two minor core game bugs with the escape pod AI that can cause escape pods that escape a scoop attempt or are jettisoned to become ‘dead in space’.

Capt. Murphy wrote:

I've tested it reasonably thoroughly and it all appears to be working as intended, but please do report any bugs you come across (I don't think there are any.... ).

Spoke to soon - not a bug as such - but v 1.3 was potentially open to rare harmless errors in latest logs re entity validity. So v 1.3.1 is now uploaded.

Version 1.3.1 12/12/11 – Added some entity validation to prevent rare and spurious errors in the log.