Oolite Bulletins

Cody wrote: ↑Mon May 31, 2021 5:08 pm

montana05 wrote: ↑Mon May 31, 2021 2:36 pm

My first impression, 5 mounts fore, 5 mounts rear, turrets port and starboard.

An Orion-class and its 4 (or 5) Constrictors would make a formidable little squadron!

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Mon May 31, 2021 5:29 pm

Iff the pilots knew what they were doing!

Cody wrote: ↑Mon May 31, 2021 2:06 pm

If I'd been designing HIMSN (which I wasn't, of course - that would've been way beyond me), I'd have wanted it to be a small navy that punched well above its weight. For heavy fighters, I'd have used Griff's Constrictors, and for Capital ships, I'd have had Orion-class Destroyers. I once asked a shipwright to create a custom model for me, but I can't find it (I suspect it's on an old HDD which no longer spins). Untextured, it looked like this:



To give an idea of its size, those recesses near the bow would have been docking bays for Constrictors.
Along the sides would've been point-defence turrets (probably plasma cannons).

cbr wrote: ↑Mon May 31, 2021 6:14 pm

Certainly an interesting design, no lasers...

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Sun May 30, 2021 11:58 pm

So ... we could maybe have a Sothis-style override for GN fixing the markets? ... Is anything else broken? I just read it was broken and never took it any further, being incapable of doing anything about it!

montana05 wrote: ↑Mon May 31, 2021 12:08 am

Fixing the market is pretty simple, we just need an overwrite. Either by using Spara's market script or adding a complete new market it shouldn't take longer than 1 h, including tests.

montana05 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 06, 2021 12:06 pm

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Sun May 30, 2021 11:58 pm

So ... we could maybe have a Sothis-style override for GN fixing the markets? ... Is anything else broken? I just read it was broken and never took it any further, being incapable of doing anything about it!

montana05 wrote: ↑Mon May 31, 2021 12:08 am

Fixing the market is pretty simple, we just need an overwrite. Either by using Spara's market script or adding a complete new market it shouldn't take longer than 1 h, including tests.

Just remembered this conversation, so if we create a new market what a navy station would need ? My first guess would be firearms, alien items, food, textiles, maybe some machinery and computers. What would be your suggestion ?

Btw, I think it would make the most sense to add this override to already existing ones, maybe Sparas Galactic Navy Facelift OXP.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Sun Jun 06, 2021 12:28 pm

1) I would suppose that it depends on what they get up to in the station! Is it primarily a barracks with recreational facilities? Or a repair shed for the ships? A research facility? Or regimental headquarters where they entertain in great style? And if not all 4 of these, then where else do they have their barracks/repair shed/regimental HQ. Do the servicemen/creatures have spouses and children? ... and where do they live? And is there a fourth possibility which in my ignorance I've ignored?

If a repair shed element is included, are they are manufacturing (need alloys & machinery) or just importing parts and sticking them on where needed (just need "machinery" or maybe a less raw variety of "alloy").

So presuming alloys are a necessity, we have:
Barracks + HQ: Food & Wine/Liquers (oodles imported)/Luxuries/gems (small quantities?). Textiles/Gemstones&jewellery if families live there too. Quirium Fuel (unless they harvest it themselves ...!).
Repair shed: Alloys (oodles), machinery (oodles), computers (small quantities), alien items (small quantities), platinum (small quantities)
Research: computers, alien items, (gold, platinum, some gemstones ?).

I have no feel for any of this having never played with the GN. My Isinor is devoid of these chaps/chapettes!

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Sun Jun 06, 2021 12:28 pm

2) No preference as to where the update goes, as long as it does. (unless it matters vitally in some way I can't visualise!). Once it is out, it can always be tweaked.

It would be nice eventually to have some graphics for it - a naval launch tunnel sequence, a naval welcome screen, maybe another interior or two (I'm presuming that none of this exists in the OXP). But they are hardly the priority.

Working ships and working station are the minimum, no? And from what you said we are almost there! How super! ... and how sad that somebody didn't cotton on to all this years ago! With the other stuff worked out, maybe someone would have worked out whatever thorny AI issues need polishing off...

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Sun Jun 06, 2021 12:28 pm

What can I do to help?

montana05 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 06, 2021 1:02 pm

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Sun Jun 06, 2021 12:28 pm

1) I would suppose that it depends on what they get up to in the station! Is it primarily a barracks with recreational facilities? Or a repair shed for the ships? A research facility? Or regimental headquarters where they entertain in great style? And if not all 4 of these, then where else do they have their barracks/repair shed/regimental HQ. Do the servicemen/creatures have spouses and children? ... and where do they live? And is there a fifth possibility which in my ignorance I've ignored?

If a repair shed element is included, are they are manufacturing (need alloys & machinery) or just importing parts and sticking them on where needed (just need "machinery" or maybe a less raw variety of "alloy").

So presuming alloys are a necessity, we have:
Barracks + HQ: Food & Wine/Liquers (oodles imported)/Luxuries/gems (small quantities?). Textiles/Gemstones&jewellery if families live there too. Quirium Fuel (unless they harvest it themselves ...!).
Repair shed: Alloys (oodles), machinery (oodles), computers (small quantities), alien items (small quantities), platinum (small quantities)
Research: computers, alien items, (gold, platinum, some gemstones ?).

Let's see, they are sector-commands in friendly territory, located close to the main planet and therefore the main station (GalCop). Would repair facilities be included ? Most likely. Families of stationed staff ? Probably. R&R for crew members on a break ? I doubt so, you have a GalCop station and a planet nearby. However, the demand will be more than my first guess

montana05 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 06, 2021 1:47 pm

Next try:

Firearms and alien items:
Give us all you have, we need guns and all alien technology we could get our hands on. Doesn't matter if a research facility is included, we could ship them later.

Food and textiles:
We got a lot of mouth to feed and new uniforms or cloth for our families are always in demand.

Wine/liquers, witchfire whisky, luxuries, gemstones & jewellery:
We need some, you see there are civilians on this base.

Quirium fuel, oxygen, fresh water, medicine:
It's a space-station, so we need some of that.

Alloys, machinery, computers, platinum, quirium crystal:
We do repair our ships here so sometimes we use all of it.

Narcotics:
Small amounts are requested and high prices are paid.

Sounds better ?

I would like to propose that we also produce some new meta-OXPs.

One for rank beginners to help teach the game.
One for people with lousy combat skills
One for people with top-notch combat skills
One for people who want top-notch graphics
A Lave OXP with the various Lave addon's - updated for v.1.90 graphics! And Diso. And Tianve.

Several for populating the different galaxies with different ships/buoys/stations etc.


And, is there any way we can get our Navies up and running? HIMSN? Galactic Navy (which pervades the bally wiki and has been jolly well bust for yonks!)?

Ideally I'd like to see some System Navies which can fight each other with the player caught in the middle. Giving some teeth to Diplomancy, so to speak.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Sun May 23, 2021 9:26 am

Would there be point in updating this?

Lave OXP: we have such superb material for Lave.

Lave is the System where we begin the standard game... and we already have our Academy!

Lave is the system where HIMSN is based (and we have the ships and textures).

We have DAJT's monument (untouched since 2006)!

We have Stranger's superb new planet texture!

Could we put together a new Lave.OXP which would combine the above with this OXP (Single Moon - with the Empress's palace?), instructor & trainees & advertising droids?

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1) Would we really need to bother updating the instructors/trinkets etc? It would make sense that they use clunky-looking ships.

2) Would we want some new Lave-specific ads? (The only part I could meaningfully contribute to at the moment)

3) Could we tweak the monument in any way to make it interact with the player?

4) Would it make sense to add a HIMSN naval base?

5) Some sort of traffic between planet/naval base and the Moon Palace?

6) Would we want a Lave which is limited to just the one sun, one planet and the one peculiar moon (as in the Lore)? Or would we want a more complex solar system?

7) Add some more orbital stations? And maybe some sort of interaction with the player?
1) On starting. Say two starting missions, one for a law-abiding player and another for someone less scrupulous?
2) On returning, presumably with a better equipped ship?

• Is there anything else we might wish to add to the mix?

Again. Two stage process. Quick, fast and nasty update with the essentials (FPO Lave + Lave OXP + Monument + Academy). Then at length, tweaking to perfection (getting the moon to move, inscribing some names on the Memorial, HIMSN, etc). Wouldn't it be fun to have Mr Gimlet haranguing the new student as he takes possession of his new ship!
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Lave OXPs
* Lave OXP: single "fake" moon, restaurant ships, instructor & trinkets, advertising droid, Lave bumped from TL5 to TL8
* Lave Academy
* Monument: either close to sun or in orbit around planet depending on sun distance
* FPO Lave: new Lave texture for v.1.90
* PSLave (Planet Scanner) & Far Planets create other planets in the Lave System
* Lave is Earth: A_C_'s planetary texture demonstration

Lave Lore sources (contradictory!)
* Dark Wheel
* Imprint
* Drew's Oolite novels
* Selezen's work - see Lave page on wiki
* Rough Guide (Disembodied)

Personally I'd vote for Disembodied's Lave Lore source interpretation (he's the only one still regularly with us!), and try and fit in the others if they work with his.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Sun Jun 06, 2021 3:20 pm

We have Stranger's superb new planet texture!

phkb wrote: ↑Sun Jun 06, 2021 4:20 pm

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Sun Jun 06, 2021 3:20 pm

We have Stranger's superb new planet texture!

If you mean the "LaveIsEarth" OXP, that was a_c, not Stranger. Just for reference.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Sun Jun 06, 2021 5:23 pm

No, I meant Stranger's FPO Lave.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Sun Jun 06, 2021 2:57 pm

Firearms. Illegal. And the GN can buy them legally from the manufacturers, and, buying them in bulk can - in theory - get better deals.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Sun Jun 06, 2021 2:57 pm

Uniforms, no, surely. Would they not be made by special factories catering to the navy?

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Sun Jun 06, 2021 2:57 pm

Except possibly the fuel. Some (not all) bases, rather than buying it in, might send disobedient cadets on sunskimming expeditions in special sun-skimming craft.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Sun Jun 06, 2021 2:57 pm

Unaware that Quirium Crystal also had industrial applications, but it is 5-dimensional, and I didn't invent it!

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Sun Jun 06, 2021 2:57 pm

Narcotics: Again, disagree. Illegal. They would get it from specially authorised factories.

I can't see the GN getting involved in illegal transactions. They need to get their funding from System Governments via an enfeebled GalCop. If they are caught flouting the law, they won't get their funding. they can't afford to be seen getting involved in that sort of thing.