Oolite Bulletins

szaum-ix wrote: ↑Wed Apr 27, 2022 6:41 am

Cody wrote: ↑Sun Apr 24, 2022 12:15 pm

and often run in iron-man mode.

I keep seeing references to Iron man mode. Whatever it is it sounds like it's probably my kind of thing. What is it?

When death in the game really means death rather than just reloading your last save.

Reference: (Release) Penalize Death oxps (2012)

You can make your own rules for iron-man mode (I do it session by session), but it will change how you play the game!

Switeck wrote: ↑Tue Apr 26, 2022 6:25 pm

Well... Station Exclusions may seem a great idea as a mod OXP/OXZ for all the installed stations many people have in Oolite...but the hardest part I've found in creating it is licensing. I'm in effect modifying every station that Station Exclusions either spawns somewhere else or blocks from spawning in its "expected" locations. So the legalities may stand in the way. The nuts-and-bolts behind programming it is I have to remove or modify every station's spawn script file/s...and I'd like to consolidate them into 1 master spawning script file to make things a little faster as well. So...nothing to release without contacting a lot of station makers and asking permission. Even my local attempt to do this still needs work, as I may need to modify it after each station update.

Just a thought of mine, why not remove all stations exceeding a specific mass and after that spawn them after your own criteria ? You can use hasRole station for the selection. Specific mass would exclude the "small" rock hermits or fuel stations, for example.

montana05 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 27, 2022 8:40 am

why not remove all stations exceeding a specific mass and after that spawn them after your own criteria ? You can use hasRole station for the selection. Specific mass would exclude the "small" rock hermits or fuel stations, for example.

Mass criteria might mostly work, except the order which various station scripts spawn their stations may be a bit random, so the results would be as well.
I may want fewer stations and want variety to prevent the same stations everywhere...but not random stations every time I enter a system.

I've made a game of Station Exclusions as well -- trying to achieve variety but also not eliminating stations completely. So I've made some stations only available on certain Galaxy Charts (typically ones I like less)...with a hierarchy/pecking order so some stations are common (Sothis, because it's structurally a simple form to build) while others are rare (Nuit, because it's fluffed as such). Superhub is critical, as pretty much the only station capable of docking BIG ships...mainly Behemoths -- but Superhub only appears at TL 14 and 15 systems and super-rich TL 12-13 systems.

A more complex system could pick-and-choose on a per-system basis...but that's a lot of work, so basic rules are easier and fair enough.

Switeck wrote: ↑Wed Apr 27, 2022 9:21 am

-- but Superhub only appears at TL 14 and 15 systems and super-rich TL 12-13 systems.

You might want to check out SUPER HUBS FOR EXTRA PLANETS (near the bottom of that linked page). It causes Super Hubs to spawn in a manner similar to STATIONS FOR EXTRA PLANETS.

I know about it, and have few extra planets and moons currently in my "serious" setup for the game.

Superhubs are overkill for placing around seldom-visited extra planets...because it's designed for very heavy traffic.
...Unless the plan with them is to strip-mine those planets by the gigaton.

Switeck wrote: ↑Wed Apr 27, 2022 6:50 am

Figuring out how a game does something is what I do, even if I never change a line of code in it.
"Oh, this sell amount allows any value as a manual input? I'll try minus 1 billion!"
(...sanity-checking input and output is done too little in this world.)

lmao. I share this instinct and know it well. It was most of the incentive to sign up for this bb, since once I've started to go down this hole I begin to obsess until everything works and feels just right, and I struggle to let imbalances and inconsistencies go once I know they are theoretically fixable. So... for now I'm sticking to only the easiest tweaks, and harvesting everyone else's hard work honor codes, and handwaving inconsistencies will have to do in the meantime

I've been trying to get ideas from Switeck's Shipping OXP incorporated into the game for some time.
The main thing that broke it was commodities market script changes.
It will need a LOT of rework to include the core game fixes added since I last touched it.

Just some more little things, because I feel like most of what this board discusses is almost all technical and philosophical and we don't talk enough about the fun and game we're actually having

1. I fly with weapons offline unless I am picking a fight or a fight has been picked.
Justification:
Very long ago with the original DOS Red Baron there was a mod community that complained that the game informs you of a long distance sniper kill despite the fact that there is no obvious indicator that you landed the kill shot. Similarly, the scanner informs me when I am under attack, with red "lollipops", despite (a) no shots fired and (b) (sometimes) no hostile word spoken -- surprise attack. I conclude that the on board computer calculates hostile intentions based on things knowable by scanner, being (i) weapons online, (ii) weapons locked-on as per Scanner Targeting Enhancement, and (iii) ship distance is closing. Therefore, for good manners, I fly with weapons off so as not to offend.

2. [Broadcast Comms]: I believe and react to the specific words said by other pilots, not just the "category" of thing they are saying.
Justification:
As the guy behind the computer, I know the programming categories of ship communication and I've tweaked and added a crapload to each category... but if I play to what I "know" then I may find that I react inappropriately to words and actions because I "know what they really mean." And yes, if I weren't such a hotshot this might have gotten me killed a number of times

3. [Broadcast Comms]: I do not greet every ship just to suss them out.
Justification:
That's like.. waving at everyone from your truck just to see if they'll wave back. It's weird! I may greet a few for a purpose but I'm a mildly self-conscious pilot. Many of my responses factor for a "who are you and what do you want?" paranoid vibe, given the rampant dog-eat-dog nature of the Ooniverse. Cool guys gotta act cool

4. It's not all about the money and the frags!
Justification:
I regularly leave fights or dropped cargo because it would be unprofessional to my clients to stay around too long and get them when my clients' wishes are at stake. I mostly leave people under attack and crying for help to their own devices, because what may seem like piracy might be completely justified revenge or some other none-of-my-business issue. If the pirates broadcast a statement telegraphing obvious piracy (lucre via violence upon the innocent), I'll often hop in for the bounty and the glory.

5. Sometimes Emergency Hull Repairs (Repair: 135cr) is so bad that it costs extra.
Justification:
Battle Damage mod by smivs has a feature(bug?) that I really like: if you buy it straight away it remains on the equipment list. Basically you can buy as much as you like. If, however, you save your game before it has been bought, then load, upon reloading your save just one purchase will remove it from the list and finalize your hull repairs -- so it's basically your choice. All hull damage is not equal, so occasionally when I have taken such bad punishment that it's definitely needed, I'll pay 2 or 3 times because it's clearly not just a fracture on the hull.

blah blah blah
I'm still hoping to hear more of other commanders' honor and playing codes

You might find that adding some of the following into your game would give your "honour code" a shake-up:

1) Refugee Adder (2 versions, one is Iron Ass OXP vol4)
2) Missionaries (2 versions)
3) Boyracers (2 versions, one is Iron Ass OXP vol4)
4) Hotrods

It's interesting that 3 of the above are Murgh's, and that he was involved in helping get Hotrods out.




Any chance of your publishing your tweaks to BroadcastComms? You could just add your descriptions.plist to the thread, or as done here

There's no honour out there, only survivors!

szaumix wrote: ↑Thu May 12, 2022 1:53 am

I'm still hoping to hear more of other commanders' honor and playing codes

I don't feel I have many codes, in fact this thread has made me feel a little dishonourable.

My second generation Oolite commander (the death of Young Murgh's computer claimed Jameson I) is coming along very slowly, I keep a clean commander but have scores of test commanders spread around the galaxy for ship experimenting purposes. While they are ersatz profiles with inflated kills and credits, and many shameless murders of police and upright citizens, my one pure Jameson has a modest purse, still less than 40 kills and has (so to speak) never fired the first blast nor strayed outside the shipping lane. Milk runs or calculated optimal trading doesn't come into it since the main goal is to move across the galactic chart, with just an intuitive approach to slow steady profit.

While Torus drive use between encounters has never bothered me (merely framejacking time when nothing happens) the moments shared with an unknown ship on the radar is the key to the fundamental Elite thrill which is easily elevated by a good suspenseful playlist. When outnumbered and/or likely to be slaughtered I have no moral qualms about fleeing like a coward.

Reading this I see I haven't evolved in 36 years.

Old Murgh wrote: ↑Thu May 12, 2022 8:59 pm

Reading this I see I haven't evolved in 36 years.

For my part, I don't kill innocents.
I don't trade slaves, narcotics or firearms.
I always accept the first plea for mercy (this one can really cost you).
I answer calls for help from innocents if I have some realistic means of actually helping (even if it's only one missile to launch at the chief attacker).
I don't bounty hunt but I will defend myself.
I will flee from a risky combat if alone but not if answering a distress call.

That's certainly the bulk of it.

Accepting the first plea of mercy is interesting. Not that I'm merciful on anyone that's shown a demonstrably unjustified willingness to endanger myself or others in a bad way. I'm pleased to hear this, and I really have to keep that in mind as I continue to pick edits and additions at cim's CommsPackA and Broadcast comms.

I just want to "thank" Cody for the following comments:

Cody wrote: ↑Fri Apr 29, 2022 10:25 am

Cody wrote: ↑Mon May 09, 2022 9:26 pm

..because of which I was so miffed by my sense of (in-game) self-importance and elite indestructibility, that I went and took an unnecessary risk about a week ago and tried to shoot down a missile when I had plenty of fuel for injector dodging in a dogfight that I had completely under control... just because I wanted to see if I could do it and I felt like such a hotshot. I missed. I have consequently had to double-tap my escape pod twice in one week (first thing I buy) -- in Iron Man mode with Hard Eject -- the second time was because the new ECM failed against a standard missile in time (mod) and I had a pod but not injectors yet. I missed one contract deadline but my savings carried me through.

I will also report that the wide-eyed, can-this-be-happening feeling of despair in having to tap the eject button and lose almost everything is unreal. Yes, at least I survived; my pilot truly unkilled, my save is still pure as snow.

I further report that being still alive using strict honor code metrics, and slowly crawling back to being a dangerous and respectable contractor saving up for what will probably be a hauler, all of this with my pretty-close-to-maximum (tolerable) difficulty and realism levels.. produces the most savage fist-pumping yes-shouting satisfaction a gamer can imagine.

This is why we play honor code. I've been Dangerous before, but with loading and saving and cheap easy economics and taking advantage of every thing we can do instead of should do... it meant nothing and I started again several times and deleted the save in self-disgust. Playing this way, and in character, every time I look at my pearly white pure save I feel a fantastic satisfaction. When/if I get to Dangerous again, I'll know that I well and truly earned it.