Oolite Bulletins

A handful of comments so far...

1) I rather like the red lights as you come up to the beacon... what an imaginative detail!! But a set of keys/entrance code would still be nice... Just think: I could mosey along up to my uncle's abandoned Rock Hermit, then zap it with my entrance codes, watch the red lights come on and it start slowly revolving, and when the lights finally turn white I can then enter... How about that for some realism? And of course, in the fullness of time the issue of the keys/entrance codes could be developed and come into its own...

2) When I arrived and starting nosing around the black market my Uncle was running, I was greeted by somebody offering to show me around!

This is an employee? Or someone from the seedy side of the main orbital via a holoFac (Dark Wheel §2)? Or a ghost?

3) Some tips on what to do would eventually be good (but not at the moment...):
•Either in the avuncular missive,
•or else in the form of tips picked up either at home or en route in the liner or in the Orbital station's bar,
•or maybe we can bamboozle Cody to write a short novella for a "Dark Wheel" hermitage version...
•OR we could chop down one of Lave's RainForests and produce our very own version of

The Hermit Almanac

Weighing in at a hefty 14,000 pages, it is said that the hand-bound pages of Red Chaldo's The Hermit Almanac were responsible in part for the deforestation of Lave.

Covering such diverse topics as GalCop Asteroid excavation regulations (40 chapters) to the finer points of Galactic Brandy tippling. The Almanac will be found in any serious Rock Hermit's quarry. Antique hand-scribed versions (like the one shown) have been known to change hands for over 100,000₢. One particularly famous copy (said to have belonged to Chromebeard) was used as stake collateral aboard FurCorp heiress Magda DeMug's own CoachWhip liner in a no holds barred poker game. This copy is reputed to contain the only sure-fire prophylactic against the Hermit's Bane, apparently involving vast quantities of lethal spotted craboids boiled up in Dileonian lethal water and the resulting concoction dissolved in lethal brandy and the resulting salve then applied to the affected parts. This is usually regarded as sounding too much like someone's sense of humour to have any chance of success. The last person who tried it (another one of those eccentrics who seem to populate Galaxy 7 in vast hordes) died in the process, foaming at the mouth about some sort of Dawn Chorus, which must have been some sort of reference to the Orbelaxe Academy.

Source: http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Rock_Hermit_(Oolite)

<chuckles>

Dawn Chorus, which must have been some sort of reference to the Orbelaxe Academy.

Would that be the Orbelaxe Academy of Early Music?

FINALLY! (About time, dammit! )

This time, I decided to build a proper installation.
I archived ManagedAddons and deleted Jadeshadow and Hermitage from AddOns.
And I installed the next version.
And I proceeded category by category, tested between categories until I get to the Ambience Gategory.
I managed to test 7 times until Ambience and, at every test, it worked fine (finally! ). I got the Waypoint Messages and THE Rock Hermit was here.

This was working perfectly fine until I added several Ambience OXZs.
And, NOW, I know the Culprits, on my side. And, certainly, that would occur on your side, too.

DO NOT, and I repeat : DO NOT install RandomStationsNames, Pirate Cove and RandomShipsNames if you want to play with Hermit safely. If you are like me, easily-stressed-individual, please, please avoid them at all costs.
That said...

Rexebe Take #1 (Yep, let's go! Aaaah!)

When I finally got into my "new brand" Cobra Miner, I knew immediately that I would start a new, exciting and great adventure.
Uncle was so generous to me, with his gift, that I was pondering how I could repay him, in a posterious way, of course.
Suddendly, the idea of mutating the Rock Hermit into a Refuge, a Shelter for unlucky and poor people, came to my mind. And I nodded many times, thinking that was the right thing to do.
I just had to install Docking Computers, in my Cobra, and I took off the Station. The Darkness of Space, the Shining Stars, the Silence of the Void, the Peace of this System, all that was calling me.
Uncle really had all carefully prepared. The Messages of the Waypoint lead me and my Cobra to The Final Destination : my New Home.
I was smiling of content during all the time it took to finally dock inside...

EDIT :

I forgot to tell that I created a new ManagedAddOns in Oolite.
Hermitage version 0.7.1

JiCeyCraft wrote: ↑Sun Aug 08, 2021 4:34 pm

DO NOT install RandomStationsNames, Pirate Cove and RandomShipsNames

re RandomShipNames - I have this installed in my setup and it works successfully for me. So, on its own it should be ok.
Re RandomStationNames, this I’m less sure about, as the only potential conflict I can imagine is it getting into a slapfight about naming the station. It shouldn’t be doing anything to the spawning routines.
Re Pirate Coves - this one would be the one most likely to disrupt Hermitage, although my initial browse of the code didn’t throw up any obvious conflicts. However, it does spawn RHs on the two main space lanes, which could result in the RNG involved in the Hermitage spawn routines getting thrown out.

In any case, I think the latest version, with the protection I added to ensure any Hermitage defined in the data will always get spawned, should resolve the issues.

JiCeyCraft wrote: ↑Sun Aug 08, 2021 4:34 pm

I archived ManagedAddons and deleted Jadeshadow and Hermitage from AddOns.

Jadeshadow? What is it? What does it do? Where did it come from? Found it! One of Mandoman's.

Is it any good?

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Mon Aug 09, 2021 8:19 am

JiCeyCraft wrote: ↑Sun Aug 08, 2021 4:34 pm

I archived ManagedAddons and deleted Jadeshadow and Hermitage from AddOns.

Jadeshadow? What is it? What does it do? Where did it come from?

OOPSIE...
It's a Ship you can get in the Wiki OXPs List.

JiCeyCraft wrote: ↑Mon Aug 09, 2021 8:23 am

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Mon Aug 09, 2021 8:19 am

JiCeyCraft wrote: ↑Sun Aug 08, 2021 4:34 pm

I archived ManagedAddons and deleted Jadeshadow and Hermitage from AddOns.

Jadeshadow? What is it? What does it do? Where did it come from?

OOPSIE...
It's a Ship you can get in the Wiki OXPs List.

Are there any other Star Wars ships on the wiki which I should link together?

phkb wrote: ↑Fri Aug 13, 2021 12:02 am

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Thu Aug 12, 2021 4:20 pm

What about Hermitage.oxp? Can we make sense out of 6 levels of Life Support System requiring a minimum TL of between 1 to 11. Or 6 varieties of fuel reserves requiring a TL of 1. 6 types of (mineral?) refinery need machinery from a world of TL2+ up to TL 11+?

This assumes I had some detailed plan in place for choosing a particular TL for each level of equipment. It could actually be that (and keep this on the quiet, I don't want it to get out) maybe I just selected an increasing TL based on increasing functionality/reliability and wanted to spread out the availability of equipment, and that's as complicated as it got! Part of what I wanted to do was to force the player to go away from their Hermitage system to get higher-level resources, and by giving a quality rating to resources based on the source TL, that seemed like the easiest fit (without completely rewriting the commodities market).

That said, I'm totally up for reworking all the TL's in Hermitage. I'm totally up for anyone wanting to engage with what I've created and partnering with me on improving the logic/meaningfulness/scope of it.

2 points.
1) TL's: if we go with the higher TL of the Orbital Station, it is not a problem. It looks odd, but the logic works. I am buying my life support unit from an Orbital Station circling a TL2 planet. The fact that on the planet they can only manage the crummy clockwork of the clock in Exeter cathedral, does not mean that the engineers on the orbital station can't manage a decent life support unit. If I were to go down to the planet surface and buy the life-support unit, it might be a very different story... (If the Orbital Station had the same TL as the planet it would not even be air tight or have electricity...)

2) So I downloaded Hermitage, whizzed over to Uncle's Hermit and don't know what to do next. If I go asteroid zapping will I be clobbered by thieves and pirates? If I sit in my hermitage drinking Fragrant Orange Pekoe, will I be plagued by invisible visitors who buy up all my stock? Uncle seems not to have left any advice... but might I not have heard some from other hermit's-bane-bitten hermits? For regular play I have Mr Gimlet, the oofiction & loads of stuff on the various websites all giving me advice which I might hear in the station cafe. It would be super to have the equivalent for Hermitage.

The idea of writing some of Red Chaldo's Hermit Almanac really appeals, but I have no idea what to put in it other than tips on putting in the milk first when you make a cup of tea...

Would it make sense to have a natter about this?

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Sat Aug 14, 2021 10:18 pm

Would it make sense to have a natter about this?

Absolutely!

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Sat Aug 14, 2021 10:18 pm

I am buying my life support unit from an Orbital Station circling a TL2 planet

Keep in mind, you’re not buying any station upgrades from the Orbital station. You’re getting resources that you need to build the upgrade yourself (or at least the automated systems responsible for building upgrades, anyway. Handwave handwave)

To explore this in a bit more detail, all the upgrades for your station are in reality just blueprints, that are unlocked as the TL of your station increases. Once you hit a particular level, upgrades are available for building. The only reason to visit the main station (or any other station) is to gather higher TL resources in order to complete the upgrade, or to buy upgrades for your ship.

As for what to do after you arrive at the station, the goal is to make money. If your market is empty, none of the visiting ships will be able to purchase anything, which means you won’t be getting any income. If your fuel reserves get to zero, none of the visiting ships will be able to refuel, again, impacting on your income. Everything revolves around getting your station profitable by having a steady income from selling resources and fuel. Then, after you have upgraded your station in various ways, other income streams become available that could allow you to skip mining asteroids and move on to something else.

Don’t feel like mining asteroids? You can employ someone else for this job, but once again, that is a cost you will have to offset against the income that employee will generate.

I might need to write up a more expanded version of how to earn income with Hermitage (and I tossed around doing a story based version as well), but hopefully the above will be sufficient to get you out of your divan and into your pilot seat. And always be careful to not drink and fly! Spilt tea can wreak havoc on sensitive electronic controls.

I should add: the basic, initial mode of operation is, mine asteroids to get splinters, take your splinters to the built-in ore processor of your station, and send the results to the market. Rinse and repeat. It actually shouldn’t take too long to fill your market capacity with the results.

Good.

Thank you for the above. It gives me something to get my teeth into - and when I've had a bit of a faff, I can then see about writing something...

I was quite perplexed, I'm afraid.

phkb wrote: ↑Mon Aug 16, 2021 8:33 pm

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Mon Aug 16, 2021 7:20 pm

Confounded thing has a Black Market. I've shut it down twice and it keeps on popping back up again

sounds like a bug. I’ve removed the Black Market from the starting scenarios for the next release, but it should stay deactivated if you’ve done that. I’ll investigate.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Mon Aug 16, 2021 7:20 pm

I find that the asteroids get blasted into splinters, minerals and the occasional chunk of gold. When I scoop them up, they mysteriously transmogrify into minerals - even the gold!

That sounds like an OXP is interfering with standard mining processes. If I can’t identify which one I might need to see your OXP list to work out the possibilities.

Well, I started off with a vanilla-ish Hermitage. Once you sorted out the beacon problem, it became tutti-frutti after my first save. So, yes, I too am convinced that my minerals problem is some sort of OXP clash. I suppose in the fullness of time it might need sorting out for the benefit of those who wish a mining career.

I've not done so much yet. First save was after I got there. I now have a second save after the mining sortie. Comments so far (in case I get flattened by a charabanc):

Noticed peculiarities/Immersion breakers
1) I cancelled the Black Market. Then my Narcotics & Firearms were sold off, seemingly for nothing!!
2) When I accessed the black market, I encountered a chap who then disappeared on my return visit. Did this twice - and now I’ve an operating black market again! Is this chap sitting in uncle's rock hermit?

1) 30 ships docked according to the F4 page. So many!! How do they get to be there? 30 ships!! 3 loading and 4 unloading. What?
2) But my own ship is not in my personal hanger! Seems odd.
3) Lots of people buying fuel. Am I supposed to go and skim some myself for sale?
4) Who is doing all this business selling Fuel & black market goods while I’m not there?
5) And between my first and second gaming starts, my commodity market values changed vis-a-vis the main orbital’s - I had done nothing, tweaked nothing. Again, odd.

1) Life support vs Messages: I get warning messages that my life support system is on the blink. But then when it starts improving I get the same warning messages (Life support encountered an issue and has dropped to 74%, followed by life support has an issue and has dropped to 79%!

1) Rock Hermit Management > Personnel > people are “items”? I know I'm a feudalist, but really! Even we don't go that far...

Righty-ho! That's the tally to date. There will be more, I hope. You may well see some of it as irrelevant. Fair dibs.

I wouldn't bother trying to change stuff yet (I very much want to see what you will do with your anarchies overhaul)... Hermitage is keeping me happily involved.

By the way, decided I was not utterly hopeless and that I should give your Ship Configuration a shot. I really liked the way that my ship started heating up just before Witchspace jump! Very clever...

We'll take 'em one at a time:

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 3:00 am

1) I cancelled the Black Market. Then my Narcotics & Firearms were sold off, seemingly for nothing!!

That's strange, not sure what happened there. Were the commodities in your ship's hold or on the station market when they disappeared?

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 3:00 am

2) When I accessed the black market, I encountered a chap who then disappeared on my return visit. Did this twice - and now I’ve an operating black market again! Is this chap sitting in uncle's rock hermit?

The "person" in the Black Market is from Smugglers. As mentioned, I'm removing the Black Market from the starting scenario, so that if you want to add one to your station it's a deliberate choice, and thus the presence of an extra person is somewhat explainable. There is probably another conversation to have around whether the Black Market needs a local presence of some sort (where are they from, who do they represent etc).

Other issues:

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 3:00 am

1) 30 ships docked according to the F4 page. So many!! How do they get to be there? 30 ships!! 3 loading and 4 unloading. What?

OK, that's Station Dock Control, and I haven't done a full integration with that OXP yet. I do have plans to leverage it, but at the moment, SDC is just seeing your Hermitage as a standard RH and applying it's own rules to traffic. We'll flag this one a WIP.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 3:00 am

2) But my own ship is not in my personal hanger! Seems odd.

Your personal hanger is for stored ships, not your active ship. Your active ship would be in the normal ship hangar, alongside any visiting NPC's. Although, if you feel it adds to the immersion to have your active ship in your personal hangar, I can rework the display to show your active ship in the hangar.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 3:00 am

3) Lots of people buying fuel. Am I supposed to go and skim some myself for sale?

You can, or you can arrange for a transport to deliver some.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 3:00 am

4) Who is doing all this business selling Fuel & black market goods while I’m not there?

Robotic AI! It's the latest craze! Well, for the Black Market, there's the local dude who wants to show you around, but otherwise, automated systems are in place for general ship activities (selling fuel, buying/selling cargo, etc).

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 3:00 am

5) And between my first and second gaming starts, my commodity market values changed vis-a-vis the main orbital’s - I had done nothing, tweaked nothing.

That one is odd. I've got code in place that should be storing and reloading the market prices of your station. I'll need to run some tests. I might be doing the change too early or late or something.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 3:00 am

Life support vs Messages: I get warning messages that my life support system is on the blink. But then when it starts improving I get the same warning messages (Life support encountered an issue and has dropped to 74%, followed by life support has an issue and has dropped to 79%!

We're talking about the station log here, right? At the moment I'm logging everything, so you can see how things change. If there's too much info going in I can cut it down, although if Life Support encounters an issue, I'd count that as a loggable event. Although perhaps I could limit it to when a major mark is crossed (ie, 75%, 50%, 25%, rather than every drop).

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 3:00 am

Rock Hermit Management > Personnel > people are “items”?

Ah! That... yeah, it's a bug. (Well, more an "oversight" than an actual bug, but still...)

Thanks for the reports. Keep 'em coming!

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 3:00 am

I very much want to see what you will do with your anarchies overhaul

That one is, aside from the station model, currently in the planning stages. It'll be a while, probably after I work out the in-game keyboard config patch.

phkb wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 4:04 am

We'll take 'em one at a time:

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 3:00 am

1) I cancelled the Black Market. Then my Narcotics & Firearms were sold off, seemingly for nothing!!

That's strange, not sure what happened there. Were the commodities in your ship's hold or on the station market when they disappeared?

Rock Hermit market - I never knowingly bought them, honest, guv! I presume that dear departed Uncle bought them... At a guess, the unasked-for re-awakening of the black market would have led to their sale.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 3:00 am

2) When I accessed the black market, I encountered a chap who then disappeared on my return visit. Did this twice - and now I’ve an operating black market again! Is this chap sitting in uncle's rock hermit?

The "person" in the Black Market is from Smugglers. As mentioned, I'm removing the Black Market from the starting scenario, so that if you want to add one to your station it's a deliberate choice, and thus the presence of an extra person is somewhat explainable. There is probably another conversation to have around whether the Black Market needs a local presence of some sort (where are they from, who do they represent etc).

Other issues:

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 3:00 am

1) 30 ships docked according to the F4 page. So many!! How do they get to be there? 30 ships!! 3 loading and 4 unloading. What?

OK, that's Station Dock Control, and I haven't done a full integration with that OXP yet. I do have plans to leverage it, but at the moment, SDC is just seeing your Hermitage as a standard RH and applying it's own rules to traffic. We'll flag this one a WIP.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 3:00 am

2) But my own ship is not in my personal hanger! Seems odd.

Your personal hanger is for stored ships, not your active ship. Your active ship would be in the normal ship hangar, alongside any visiting NPC's. Although, if you feel it adds to the immersion to have your active ship in your personal hangar, I can rework the display to show your active ship in the hangar.

That would be nice... why bother having one's own RH if one has to dock with the hoi polloi... actually - this is an interesting one. Important people etc have their own garages/docks etc. This is something that could be developed if we ever work out what the inside of an RH/orbital station looks like...

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 3:00 am

3) Lots of people buying fuel. Am I supposed to go and skim some myself for sale?

You can, or you can arrange for a transport to deliver some.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 3:00 am

4) Who is doing all this business selling Fuel & black market goods while I’m not there?

Robotic AI! It's the latest craze! Well, for the Black Market, there's the local dude who wants to show you around, but otherwise, automated systems are in place for general ship activities (selling fuel, buying/selling cargo, etc).

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 3:00 am

5) And between my first and second gaming starts, my commodity market values changed vis-a-vis the main orbital’s - I had done nothing, tweaked nothing.

That one is odd. I've got code in place that should be storing and reloading the market prices of your station. I'll need to run some tests. I might be doing the change too early or late or something.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 3:00 am

Life support vs Messages: I get warning messages that my life support system is on the blink. But then when it starts improving I get the same warning messages (Life support encountered an issue and has dropped to 74%, followed by life support has an issue and has dropped to 79%!

We're talking about the station log here, right? At the moment I'm logging everything, so you can see how things change. If there's too much info going in I can cut it down, although if Life Support encounters an issue, I'd count that as a loggable event. Although perhaps I could limit it to when a major mark is crossed (ie, 75%, 50%, 25%, rather than every drop).

Not my point: The improvement in Life Support from 74% to 79% was labelled as a drop.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 3:00 am

Rock Hermit Management > Personnel > people are “items”?

Ah! That... yeah, it's a bug. (Well, more an "oversight" than an actual bug, but still...)

Thanks for the reports. Keep 'em coming!

Pleasure. This idea of yours is definitely worth the effort... You have some real humdingers!

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 5:27 pm

Not my point: The improvement in Life Support from 74% to 79% was labelled as a drop.

What happened was there was an initial drop to 74%. Then, over time, it recovered somewhat to be over 79%. Then there was another issue and it dropped to 79%.

Would it help if the message said something like "Life support encountered an issue and has dropped from 100.0% to 74.0%"?