Oolite Bulletins

spara wrote:

As I have nothing better to do I have basically converted the oxp from legacy to js and wonder about making some changes. Any input is welcome.

Maybe also consider where the station goes? Consistently halfway down the WP lane is a bit dull (and consistently right next to the Salvage Gang if you have both installed) - you could set a locationSeed in the populator and vary it a bit.

How about a Standard Galactic Month? 30 days?

Norby wrote:

All of your ideas are good imho.

I agree with Norby. Currently, a market could imbalance the game, but in the future (after the economy plist rework lands in) it might be work to have a limited market at Black Monks stations...? Thoughts?

Thanks for the input. Sadly it looks like this will need an extensive rethink/rewrite to make it worth it. The problem is that the original is timed so that you have pay the debt in 16 jumps. The interest is balanced around the assumption of ~1000 profit per jump.

If those 16 jumps are turned into time, it breaks how the oxp is meant to work. There are (at least) two reasons for that. Firstly, jumps take a variable amount of time so the payback can be dead easy or practically impossible. There's a huge difference when jumping 1 LM and 7 LM. The second thing that breaks is equipment purchasing. In the original there is no penalty from it as only the jumps count.

The second problem can be circumvented by starting the debt counter when launching from the Monastery and leaving the expensive equipment shop on. That way you can shop with your loan before the counter starts.

The first problem is a lot more problematic. Maybe the time could be balanced from an average jump or something. Then again the time spent is squared, so that might not be a good idea.

Anyway, the jump based count is good game play wise as it gives control, but it's really hard to explain in-game. And for me the in-game explanation is essential. I'll need to ponder this more.

A little update on the progress. This one is so old that it needs a full rewrite, including AIs. It's in the works, but will take some time. I'll be rethinking/reimagining many parts of the oxp to make it up to date.

Most notably, the original is very brutal when you are overdue. Return to the manastery and you're dead, don't return and you're hunted for the rest of the game till you're dead. It's a dead end and you have to remove the oxp, if you want to continue playing. Not good game play wise IMHO so I'm going to change that.

It will work like this. When you're overdue, your debt just keeps growing and you're constantly hunted. You may return to the monastery for purification any time. They'll start with your credits. If that's not enough, they'll start ripping your functioning equipment for it's reselling value (in the current dev version they pay you 80% of the value). If that's enough you're purified of your sin and you're free to go. If not, then they will take your ship and replace it with a cheaper one (again they pay you % of the value of your original ship minus the value of the cheaper ship minus the rest of the loan). Currenty the downgrade is always an Adder, but I've been considering downgrading the player into a Worm in case you're flying an Adder or something cheaper . In case you still have debt after the downgrade, you'll be banned from monastaries till you make a GalJump.

spara wrote:

.. till you make a GalJump.

If you return to this galaxy then the hunting should continue.

I'm very happy to announce that the Monks are back! Version 2.0 is available from the expansion manager.

* Total rewrite of the OXP for Oolite 1.82. The only thing non-touched are Griff's awesome models, textures and shaders.
* All new texts by the maestro himself, LittleBear.
* Undertake short term financial pilgrimages for the Black Monks. Don't be late or you'll be facing deadly Black Monk Gunships.
* Rarely meet Black Monk Gunships doing their solemn duty.
* Buy compressed Holy Fuel from Monasteries. It will last 50 % longer.
* Find Monasteries from safe, high tech systems.

I've been doing this for quite some time and I'm quite relieved that it's finally released. As I have said elsewhere I first made a "simple" js conversion and had to ditch it as it just did not cut it. Too much had changed in Oolite and it was not good. But I just could not leave it be, the monks were screaming to be reduxed. Now the voices in my head have silenced and Jamesons can walk the path of dept again.

Big thank you to LittleBear, who answered my plea and wrote the new texts in a way I can only dream of. Even if I was to write in my native language, I could not come even close.

Enjoy and report oddities as usual. This is the first version after a rewrite after all.

Well done, Spara: a labour of love; and I too have some affection for the Black Monks and their, frankly, absolutely ludicrous philosophy. (It strikes me, actually, that there might be some potential for satire in that expansion pack. .) Installing!

Awesome work spara!

I do like the looks of this, a lot of atmosphere and added universe-building to the game; seems like there's a good bit of storytelling here! Huzzah!~

Another old classic gets the spara treatment.

Nice

Thanks all.

And the compulsory first update (2.1) is here.

* Screen IDs added to the mission screens for compatibility with other OXPs. Kindly asked by phkb for his Xenon UI.
* New higher resolution monk image. 100% my handiwork in good and bad. The old one is still in the Images folder, if you prefer it.
* Monk image is now added as an overlay. This makes it possible to add some nice screen to the background. Again asked by phkb.
* Bug fixes.



Here's an example how the overlay works with a background image, if one is set. Let's see what phkb cooks up .

I like the text; it is nicely done. However, 'accounts' is misspelt on the second image.

UK_Eliter wrote:

I like the text; it is nicely done. However, 'accounts' is misspelt on the second image.

Thanks, I'll fix it to the next version. BTW, I would be very grateful, if someone natively English would look through the texts in this new version. I'm 100% sure there are errors in those few lines I have written and the monk gibberish written by LittleBear is way above my capabilities.

spara wrote:

I would be very grateful, if someone natively English would look through the texts in this new version.

I'll do that - got the text handy, or must I download and unpack the OXP?