Oolite Bulletins

Maybe I should add a small script to TheThargonThreat that adds a few thargoids every now and then in interstellarspace.
As long as the player is around and nothing else.
A timer should be managable with JS.

Arexack_Heretic wrote:

As long as the player is around and nothing else.

With a lot of OXPs installed this is highly unlikely. With some of the OXPs (e.g. SuperCobra) even impossible.

And Thargoids are added to interstellar space by the engine. That's the very beginning of it being populated.

I know.

What I mean:

if = status_satring equal STATUS_EXITING_WITCHSPACE
do= set timer


if = timer >= 300 seconds
if status_string equal STATUS_INFLIGHT
if planet_number equals 0
do = checkships

if = no ships around.
do = random_d3
if =
D3 equal 1 = add Thargoid 1, reset timer
D2 equal 2 = add thargoid 2, reset timer
D3 equal 3 = add thargoid 3, reset timer
else = reset timer

in short only add thargoid some time (5min) after jumping in and only when no ships are present.
(And repeat) a player need never be bored again when stranded in ISS.

Gotcha. IIRC in good old Elite the bugs kept coming and coming until your witchdrive was repaired. And that could take ages.

So, in principle, a good idea.

And why only when there are no other ships? The thargoids could also bring in reinforcemens when they are in a battle with some behemoths.

BTW (and just because I have to find something in your code): The correct planet_number for interstellar space is -1.

And so it is!

However as you may have noticed from the lack of parsable syntax, my mind is currently otherwise (pre)occupied.

IIRC your drive never miraculously repairs itself...In fact, it is indestructable. It's the fuel that is the problem.
And if I'm still remembering correctly thargoids yield only alloys, not fuelpods.

I was referring to the witchdrive malfunction that can leave you stranded out there. That one is "repaired" after some time in interstellar space. You get a screen message telling you that your witchdrive is working again. That was what I meant.

Brilliant, I must have missed that before, either that or the Alzheimers is setting in again, I tjink.

huh. i've never gotten a message either way. when i go to jump, twice now i've ended up in a "space bubble" with thargoids blasting away at people. i'm usually able to sneak past the robots and up to a warship which i can then blast in fairly short order.

sometimes i have to retreat a bit to cool off the laser. (anyone for modding high grade heat sinks?) then it's off to pick up the robot pieces. =D usually i'm doing a trade run, and the payout for furs or computers is usually higher than the payoff for alien stuff. ^^ too bad.

in any case, i'm just suddenly there. and once they are all dead, it just takes a bit of fuel to finish off the journey. actually it saves fuel all around (unless i'm afterburning a lot). ^^ of course, there is the occasional squabble about leftovers between me and some of the others trapped in the "space bubble". =D

but i've never noticed a message before. (too busy dodging lasers?)