@Kaks:
I will try to answer as good as possible.
The NEU is in the WiP version of OSE re-defined as such via equipment.plist as follows:
Code: Select all
<array>
<integer>16</integer>
<integer>5000000</integer>
<string>Naval Energy Unit</string>
<string>EQ_NAVAL_ENERGY_UNIT</string>
<string>Bleeding-edge Technology. A special improved efficiency energy recharge unit, as supplied to Navy vessels.</string>
<dict>
<key>portable_between_ships</key>
<true/>
<key>incompatible_with_equipment</key>
<string>EQ_ENERGY_UNIT</string>
<key>available_to_all</key>
<true/>
</dict>
</array>
A few explanations.
There are eight special worlds in OSE that don't belong to GalCop, one in each galactic sector. They are far out of the way, all of them.
Four of them are TL 16, three are TL 17 and one is TL 18.
In the OSE universe, the Scanner Jammer is TL 16, the Scanner Jammer blocker and the NEU are TL 17, and the CD is TL 18.
Their prices are set much higher. The two ultratech missile equipments cost 150k and 250k Cr respectively, the NEU costs 500k Cr and the CD costs 2 million Cr.
The missile addons are no problem and pretty balanced in gameplay as far as I and the betatesters can see yet. In the final OSE version, there will be a small chance that other ships have this equipment, too. 1-2% for some trader, 10-12% for military/galcop or pirate carrier high-up ships.
The NEU and CD, if awarded by a mission, are awarded as always. So there is no problem.
That they are only repairable in those eight systems is balanced by that they are repairable by repair drones, which will be part of final OSE. So that would probably be the usual way to go when in the OSE universe. Did I mention that I will write an actual manual about the new options and basic strategies that arise therefrom for OSE newbies?
For the first time I understand the savegame problem with the NEU, though. The following problem could arise, if I understood that correctly:
1. Someone installs OSE and buys an NEU before the thargoid plans mission is finished
2. The thargoids plan mission is finished with OSE still in, and the player gets not NEU awarded as there is already one there, and the TL requirement doesn't get rewritten because the NEU TL is 16 and not 99 in the code
3. Later, that player removes OSE.
4. While they had OSE, they could rebuy the NEU in one of the four systems where it is buyable and it was getting transferred between ships anyways. But now the NEU is no longer transferable, as this is not in Oolite core, and the NEU TL is again 99, because it was not reset at the completion of the mission, and there are no TL 99 worlds around.
If you devs decide to make the NEU transferable anyways - I would think that makes some sense without OSE, too - that problem would solve itself, I think. Do I overlook something?
setting the NEUs tech level the 'official' way, & setting it to 17 (which doesn't exist in standard Oolite) would create savegames that won't allow NEUs for sale within standard Oolite, but will finally make NEUs properly buyable in OSE... (at least if I understand correctly what Eric was saying)
What is "the official way"?
Without this information, I fear I don't understand how the abovementioned clash is supposed to happen
Lestradae, is the NEU transferable in OSE now, after the change you made?
The NEU was already transferable before, and still is in OSE. What I added in (and forgot to update with the Oolite revision) is the incompatibility of the EEU in OSE's NEU code.
To the best of my knowledge all save games from OSE so far result in perfectly playable games in vanilla Oolite.
I think this is correct, too. The "NEU no longer available under certain conditions" bug I explicated above has, if I'm not mistaken, nothing to do with the savegame, but that under those conditions a variable in the thargoid plans mission doesn't get reset and without OSE that removes the option to aquire a NEU. But nothing at all happens to the savegame.
But, "at this rate it looks like" that we might have to! Anyway, most of the dedicated oxp pages in the wiki do explain the differences between them and Oolite, but sadly we don't have that opportunity atm...
Just to make this clear: I am absolutely ready and willing to do everything I can that OSE stays compatible with any other oxp and especially the core game as completely as anyhow possible.
If I find out that any oxp clashes with OSE, I will (and already have) treated this as a bug and will contact the oxp author and try to get things compatible again. When OSE comes out, there will be a manual, and a short list of things OSE changes so that everyone knows what kind of differences are to be expected. If the wiki is writeable again then, I will put that there, too.
@McLane: I have a request in that direction, btw. It seems that the Cataclysm.oxp removes or disables the MASC and Anti-MASC equipment as soon as cataclysm is installed, or so Screet has hinted at.
I assume this is an oversight on your part (I might have created one or a hundred of them in my time here, too
), because this is simply breaking my oxp's ability to make this equipment available.
It's completely logical if you disable those two pieces of equipment for the duration of your missions. It would be nice if there was some little story of how the thargoids have a third item that creates a dampening field that reverses the polarity flow of MASC and counter-MASC or somesuch, but that's your decision obviously.
Please remember that when I found out that one of my eight special systems would clash with your calatclysm.oxp because I had asked who used them too I immediately moved "my" system away from where it was originally intended to be (Ribilebi) so as not to clash with your oxp. I would ask you to extend the same courtesy to me and only disable the MASC's when your mission is running. Thanks in advance.
@Kaks again:
Plus, as you rightly say, RS & OSE are bringing together a lot of other OXPs, and I'm aware it must be a monumental task.
Word!
And I'm sure out of 100 bugs you find within OSE, probably only 1 gets posted to the forum, all the other 99 get quietly and possibly thanklessly corrected by the people involved in the beta testing.
Actually, while the betatesters are most helpful, as of now the person then going and removing those bugs is me. The persons finding them are usually them.
And yes, that's correct. In OSE, a very long list of problems has been removed without any noise or thanks. Due to the fact that only eight people or so have it and can look into it.
Additional betatesters are always welcome! Especially ones that are ready to have a look in and also remove bugs themselves. Would divide the monumentality by some number, that.
Perhaps I will make the newest version of OSE available for all discussion members here. I am also ready to explain how it is supposed to work and create ingame balance. I am more than happy if additional people find errors or problems so that I can remove them.
L
I still wouldn't have a problem buying it again, considering the handwavium required to make people buy the other equipment! 
