Oolite Bulletins

Fritz wrote:

This would store all rock hermits the player has seen (and targeted!) in the save file

Random Ship Names already stores oodles of rock hermit stuff in the save-file - would this be another long list?

That's a good example for what I would like to avoid! But probably it isn't worth thinking about too much, because in modern times, a few KB more or less shouldn't be problem. My current save files including the Randomshipnames list have less than 50 KB, that's essentially nothing - they would fit into the memory of a C 64, and three of them would fit on a C-64 floppy disk. Most people today don't even know what KB means, they only know TB, GB and perhaps MB, if they have a very old smartphone...

The data with the coordinates for two rock hermits in each of the 2048 systems would need about 4096 * 170 characters, that's about 680 KB if stored like spara stores the coordinate of the relocated hermits. Even this is not much in today's terms, it would delay loading a game by a few milliseconds. And because I would only store the known hermits and compress the list, e.g. by rounding the coordinates, the list would be much shorter than that.

Fritz wrote:

Most people today don't even know what KB means...

<grins> I'd wager most people here know exactly what KB means.

The icon file for Oolite has a size of 71 KB. If you tell somebody that this is more than the 8-bit Elite game, he probably won't believe you!

Cody wrote:

most people here know exactly what KB means.

Then which is more, YB or ZB? Please do not post the answer, it is a puzzle - I guess we all will know it once still in our life.

Humongous thanks for testing and commenting, everyone .

Cody wrote:

A lower-case 'r' and 'reg'? If 'reg' means regula...

Oh that again . Beacons removed.

Anonymissimus wrote:

What about compatibility between this and ye olde hermit markets ?

Olde hermits uses market script, this one tweaks market rules in shipdata. Script overrides rules. I suggest testing this without Olde Markets though. Olde Markets defines all hermits to be alike, like the used to be. This OXP enhances and redefines the differences written into core game, hopefully producing three markets that feel different.

Cody wrote:

Removed Ye Olde Hermits and the market seems better - but the patrols were attacking me, even though I was a fugitive.
Destroyed their own hermit in the process, they did - something ain't right, methinks!

Two things here. The pirates use core AI, which checks the reputation of the player instead of legal status. You might be fugitive, but if you have trader or trader-courier in your roles, they could attack you.

Core AI does not seem to check for obstacles between ship and it's target. Destruction of their own base seems to be an unfortunate result of that. I have now doubled the energy, but kept the recharge ratio same. I don't want to make them indestructible like the main station and I don't want to cheat with canceling friendly fire as with the current max energy you need some help to take the base down. Keep on reporting.

ocz wrote:

A thing I noticed. The chaotic hermit don't have beef this the feds, right? (If I'm wrong here, the rest of the posting is obsolete.) If there goons have offender status, won't the cops go for them?...

According to AI documentation, the threshold for going after offenders depends on system. I believe it's the same with hunter behavior. The bounties given are quite low (5-15), so I don't think it will happen, but if it does, please report and we'll see if something has to be done about it.

Fritz wrote:

..."Rock Hermit Memory" OXP...

This is kind of funny, as I wrote a crude version with exactly the same idea into this OXP, but ditched it since it did not feel good for this oxp. The data structure for moved hermits originates from there. I think it's a good idea overall, so I suggest going onward with it.

Fritz wrote:

...a few KB more or less shouldn't be problem...I would only store the known hermits and compress the list, e.g. by rounding the coordinates...

I would not put too much thought on save file size. If it affects game play, then it's a different matter, but with the sizes of RAMs today, you would need to produce a ridiculous number of characters.

However, I'm considering resetting the relocation memory at every gal jump. I think it's a bit academic to save them over gal jumps and that would simplify things a bit. Fritz, I suggest the same thing for you, if you move forward with your Rock Hermit Memory OXP. One might assume that the hermits would have changed after a roundabout. They really haven't, but wiping the beacons would help with the illusion.

And here's the new version without beacons and tougher pirate hermits:

Version 0.10: https://app.box.com/s/d4fdkm8uuh7kxj5l849do5b1fuwlato6

spara wrote:

The pirates use core AI, which checks the reputation of the player instead of legal status.

Ah yes, reputation... it's been a while since I flew on the dark side.

I would like to keep the data after a galactic roundabout. I don't think it would make things more complicated, it only would increase file size a bit. But it would help feeling "at home" after returning, let's say, to Lave or Diso after a long time!

How long does a galactic round trip take? A 6.8 ly jump takes about 45 hours of game time, nearly two days, but I never paid attention how long a galactic jump takes. But it's probably not a very long time compared to the age of the hermits, that began to appear "in the early days of asteroid mining".

I think it's a good idea overall, so I suggest going onward with it.

I'll probably start this weekend, because I want to have it definitely!

Galactic jumps take no in-game time at all (they probably should - something which has been discussed before).

Fritz wrote:

How long does a galactic round trip take?

35 minutes 29 seconds (game-time) is the time to beat

I think, I've got it . Now try to break the pirate hermit with friendly fire, I dare you.

Download (0.11): https://app.box.com/s/zlmn7s1dyboxtgojotrwvme7gq9m7h3r

Fritz, fair point about the familiarity of the system when coming back. I'll keep the current behavior. It will probably also work better with your upcoming oxp .

I think, both OXPs won't (and shouldn't) have much in common: Yours changes the behaviour of hermits, mine will give them a beacon. The current behaviour doesn't collide with my ideas because relocation would be an exception, and of course the ship computer wouldn't know where the new hermit is!

I did think about delaying the recreation of hermits at their old position. This could be a second phase of my OXP. But even this would not collide with what Spicy Hermits does, because I would have to detect your OXP and the relocated hermits anyhow. I think, I'll keep them relocating if your OXP is installed, and do the (simpler?) delayed recreation if not. But perhaps even a combination would be possible: Pirates relocate, miners rebuild, and chaotic hermits can behave in either way. The appearance of relocated hermits could be delayed too.

Now try to break the pirate hermit with friendly fire, I dare you.

There is another method, but this was with the old version: This Krait chose to flee from me, and it probably hit the hermit with injector speed.

Fritz wrote:

I did think about delaying the recreation of hermits at their old position.

I do not think that a recreated hermit must keep the beacon. If a beacon is stored in your ship then not a big surprise if the rock is moved then you will not find it. Moreover no need to recreate in the same position after destroyed, more logical if the next hermit is drilled into another rock without doing extra effort to tow it into the original position. So no problem if you forget the beacon in this case imho.

What Norby said... and there could be a few abandoned proto-hermits dotted around the charts, which only the dark-siders would know of, ready to be re-occupied. In fact, with my pirate boss hat on again, I'd have an unknown back-up hermit ready and waiting. Rule #1 - always have a fall-back option!