Oolite Bulletins

Commander McLane wrote:

The device prices are not like stated in the readMe. All three variants cost only 1 cr, and the resell costs are 10, 125, and 432 cr respectively.

This is a little strange, as you are paying more for the resell than for buying the device in the first place. (Usually, if selling something, you would expect to be paid, not to pay.)


EDIT: more problems:

1) I get the "configuration: equal" message every time I launch, even if I don't have a shield cycler.

2) There are only 3 settings: equal, forward, aft. The "disabled" setting is gone.

I removed the old shield cycler from my save-file before buying a new one, in order to avoid upgrading bugs.

0) I forgot to change the prices / TL for buying from the low test values to the intended ones,
but did use the intended prices for the sell option. will be corrected in next version

the sell prices are 1 % of full price to cover the cost of removal, and you get 60% back for the 2nd hand stuff.

1) it seems i didn't add a test to check for the presence of a shield cycler upon launch. will be corrected in next version

2) the disabled option made changing configuration harder, as it took 4 N presses instead of 3 for full cycle
I added the sell options so people could still get rid of the shield cycler.
Should i bring the 'disabled' option back ?

Lone_Wolf wrote:

the disabled option made changing configuration harder, as it took 4 N presses instead of 3 for full cycle
I added the sell options so people could still get rid of the shield cycler.
Should i bring the 'disabled' option back ?

I'd say yes. I haven't used the shield cycler very much yet, but in my few trials I've tended to use it only in intense fights, and then turned it off again for normal cruising.

Perhaps, alternatively to the 'disabled' option, you could have a second equipment which functions as an on/off switch (it would get awarded automatically when buying one of the cyclers)? Although that has problems as well, making the queue of SHIFT-N equipment longer than necessary.

Hi,

I've been looking at both your approach and CommonSenseOTB's and my personal preference would be a simpler version of yours that is always on and always set to 'both' so no 'shift n' or 'n' at all, but doesn't do anything until at least one shield has discharged below a certain point (25% feels about right in my head).

But others may like the bells and whistles so I might just borrow the idea and make a strictly personal version.

Capt. Murphy wrote:

Hi,

I've been looking at both your approach and CommonSenseOTB's and my personal preference would be a simpler version of yours that is always on and always set to 'both' so no 'shift n' or 'n' at all, but doesn't do anything until at least one shield has discharged below a certain point (25% feels about right in my head).

But others may like the bells and whistles so I might just borrow the idea and make a strictly personal version.

I agree with Capt. Murphy, a simpler version would be easier to use

I will add 2 new devices :
ShieldCycler Automatic
ShiledCycler Manual config

Both control devices will use a threshold percentage settable through OxpConfig.
(default = 100 % )
both config : act when either shield is below threshold
forward config : act when forward shield is below threshold
aft config : adjust when aft shield is below threshhold
disabled config : ignores threshold setting

Automatic will use 'both' as configuration

Manual Control device
activated with Shift "n"
2 cycle modes : both, forward, aft & disabled,both,forward,aft
choose between those modes with OxpConfig

Hey Lone Wolf, nice ideas.

I have 2 things to add.

Since my oxp is of the KISS variety and yours is of the manual control variety it makes sense for you to have total customisable MANUAL control. Kudos for that!

However all those features usually come at a price. Car companies RARELY/NEVER fully load an economy model or the mid/high-priced cars would never sell. Perhaps the entry model would only have 1 or 2 features and still the drawback of inefficiency(more balanced?) and the middle model would still be missing some ultra feature(s) that would make the top model worth buying.

As for my oxp it will all be about KISS for high end bounty hunters who need automatic systems to prevent distraction in heavy combat, a niche market to be sure but a lucrative one for SERS Corp.

It's easy to dance to the same tune if nobody gets their toes stepped on. Shall we...

I just added Shield Cycler to the work-in-progress section of the [wiki]OXP List[/wiki] with a link to this BB thread.

Thanks, Maik.

CommonSenseOTB : those are good points.

I've designed a new upgrade path with 5 devices and am talking with svengali about adding some things to OxpConfig.
Next version will hopefully be ready early next week.

LW, just letting you know that I will be releasing ShieldEqualizer+Capacitorv1.0 to the wiki in the next 24 to 48 hrs. I am unsure if you have made any EQ(equipment.plist) changes so mine will be listed as compatible with Shield Cycler 0.14BETA and I will update when you have posted your final version.

Cheers!

Short update :

i've finalised the new upgrade paths and done most of the code for the new devices.
I still need to implement the threshold setting in the shield adjustment parts, then test.
Next step is to add the stuff needed to use OxpConfig to change the settings.
I won't be calling this a small oxp anymore, ShieldCycler.js has grown from 210 lines / 5kiB to 450 lines / 15 KiB already.

CommonSenseOTB wrote:

LW, just letting you know that I will be releasing ShieldEqualizer+Capacitorv1.0 to the wiki in the next 24 to 48 hrs. I am unsure if you have made any EQ(equipment.plist) changes so mine will be listed as compatible with Shield Cycler 0.14BETA and I will update when you have posted your final version.

Cheers!

Yes, there are plenty of changes to equipment.plist.
The new setup is desgined for flexibility, if you add "EQ_SC_SHIELD_CYCLER_INTERNAL" as incompatible equipment for your equalizer all will be fine with the new version.

Thanks LW, it's in my equipment.plist now. Good to go and setting it up!

Version 0.20 released :

NOTE : not compatible with the equipment from older versions, sell them before installing 0.20 !

Buyable Devices :

Shield Cycler Basic, 100 credits , TL 2
works automatically, both setting.

Manual Configurator Basic 200 credits, TL 1
requires SC Basic
primable with Shift+n
allows in-flight manual switching between both/forward/aft/disabled configuration
uses ship power of 2* energy banks for each change

Shield Cycler Standard, 24900 credits, TL 11
reduced powerloss
requires Shield Booster, compatible with Mil. Shields

Manual Configurator Standard, 36600 credits, TL 11
requires SC Standard or Advanced
primable with Shift+n
allows in-flight manual switching between both/forward/aft configuration
reduces powerloss of SC Standard & SC Advanced by 20%
uses ship power of 2* energy banks for each change

Shield Cycler Advanced, 61500 credits, TL 14
reduced powerlosses

Manual Configurator Advanced, 146400 credits, TL 14
requires SC Advanced
primable with Shift+n
reduces powerloss of SC Advanced by 50%
uses ship power of 2* energy banks for each in-flight change

Sell Shield Cycler, 100 credits, TL 1
remove all shield cycler devices

Sell in-flight configurator, 100 credits, TL 1
removes the in-flight configuration devices and thus reverts all to the automatic version


Power losses are related to the anount of energy that needs to be transferred

transferred energy < 64 64 - 127 128 - 191 192 - 255 256 - 319 > 320
Shield Cycler Basic 4 5 6 8 12 14
Shield Cycler Standard 3 4 4 6 8 10
Shield Cycler Advanced 2 2 3 4 6 7

Note :
since all Shield Cycler & Manual Configurator devices are actually many small devices spread out through the ship, it doesn't make sense for them to get damaged.
as the equipment invulnerable property is not settable through equipment.plist, this is taken care of in the JS script.

--------------------------------------------------------------
Changes

- brought back disabled setting (was removed in 0.14 )

- shipLaunchedFromStation didn't check if player has a shield cycler, fixed

- Equipment names changed to EQ_SC_AAAAAA scheme
- variables now all start with sc_

- both automatic and manual versions are now available, see above for details

- halved power needed for switching configuration, as old number meant 4 switches would drain a complete energybank

- preparations to use OxpConfig for changing settings in later version

--------------------------------------------------------------

TO-DO List

Use OxpConfig to enable the following options :
Shield Cycler Basic
add on/off switch, effectively disables/enables all automatically & in-flight functionality

Shield Cycler Standard
configurable threshold

Shield Cycler Advanced
start configuration can be changed

Manual Configurator Advanced
fully configurable switching options
examples : both, both + disabled , forward + aft + disabled, forward + aft, both + forward + aft + disabled

Just bought the equipment and already found a bug: only selecting the 'forward' configuration costs energy, cycling through the other three doesn't subtract energy.

Commander McLane wrote:

Just bought the equipment and already found a bug: only selecting the 'forward' configuration costs energy, cycling through the other three doesn't subtract energy.

I'll check the values with the debug console, but looking at the code only the 'disabled' setting doesn't subtract energy.
( since that one doesn't change the shield setttings at all, it didn't make sense to me to subtract energy.)

NOTE : energy for cycling is only subtracted when energy has been transferred.

ex : If you cycle to forward with a full forward shield, nothing is subtracted.

ex : If you cycle to aft , and aft shield is already full nothing is subtracted.

Lone_Wolf wrote:

NOTE : energy for cycling is only subtracted when energy has been transferred.

ex : If you cycle to forward with a full forward shield, nothing is subtracted.

ex : If you cycle to aft , and aft shield is already full nothing is subtracted.

That's not how it works for me. I buy the shield cycler and the configurator. I launch, both shields are full. I select the configurator and start hitting 'N' again and again. Whenever it cycles through 'forward' I am losing about 1/5 of an energy bank. For the other states nothing happens. If I press fast enough, the energy goes all the way down.

I guess that when coming from the 'equal' state a variable is set differently than when coming from the other states.