Oolite Bulletins

Just to put the record straight.

Kaks wrote:

Edit:

smivs wrote:

a weapon that is easily available to an NPC in a common type of ship

I never thought they were that common / easily available... I also thought you had specifically to get an oxp to even see one npc with twin lasers!

Erm, I don't remember saying that, not that it's important. What I did say was

Multiple lasers - Er, not so sure about this one. How is this seen, lasers you can switch between? Nice idea on paper but in practice is there really any difference between this and (cough) laser coolers? The net result would be the same, surely?
If you mean multiple lasers firing simultaneously, well that's just another un-balancing player advantage to my mind.

and certainly in my Ooniverse, far from being common, they don't exist...I don't have (won't have) any multi-laser adding OXPs installed.
I actually feel the same about Plasma Turrets. I do have Galactic Navy, and I accept the turrets on the Frigate as necessary for short-range defence as they have no lasers (same story with the Seedy Bars), but 'regular' player and NPC ships don't need/shouldn't have these things to my mind. I suppose I view them as energy-hungry weapons that only really make sense on very large vessels.
Just my 2Cr worth.

Oopsadaisy, I tried to quote too many people! It was Ganelon I meant to quote. Corrected it now!

Edit:
KW's preference for such a post-MNSR development could probably lead to a similar result as implementing laser coolers, but my own take doesn't seem to contain such a drawback.

In any case, yes there's a lot to think about when implementing new features, and no, we shouldn't implement everything that's been flagged for post-MNSR consideration!

I must admit, though, I do like the sound of 'Oolite 2:The Madness'!
Catchy name!

Kaks wrote:

A few people have mentioned it would be really nice (& Elite-ish) if ships could be set up so that you'd see 2 laser beams coming from your ship.

This is something that I really don't want to see... there are a lot of good ideas around this thread, some I quite like, others I do not... but the above idea I really don't like.

Kaks wrote:

It kind of is for your sim city/oolite dream game, unless you manage to find a few developers (4 or 5, at a guess) who share your vision!

Yeah well, you win some, you lose some. I'm a realist, I appreciate that this would be no mean feat. I take heart when I see games like Planeshift which is a huge achievement, but still when you look at its state of development and the time it's taken to get there... I think a vacation to the moon looks more likely than my "dream game" at the moment.

There should definitely be more in-system (radio?) communication.
A trader leaving a station might say:
"I'm bound for ###, if you want to hitchhike...you'd better hurry up!"
This isn't being "friendly", this is hoping for free extra escorts.
Only maybe 5-25% of traders say this, so it doesn't negate the need for a Wormhole Scanner. Fewer may announce this in Anarchy systems, for obvious reasons. I don't know if an OXP can be made to do this yet, as the jumps may be too random (done at the moment of the jump only) and not stored in a way an OXP can access.

All NPC ships might have a chance of saying something shortly before dying. "I'll be taking you with me!"...and then firing all its missiles and/or dropping a q-bomb might be one of them! I'm pretty sure the targets in Random Hits already do something like this. Q-bombs should only be VERY rare equipment though (0.01 or LOWER rarity!), found typically on "lone wolf" ships, like maybe Asps. Seeing a Q-bomb should be a very rare but memorable event. (and hopefully survivable if you're quick!)

Traders might want to "link up" with other traders in the same system to travel as a tight(er) convoy. This can mean as little as being within scanner distance of each other (about 25 km.) Might be doable with a special escorttraderAI.plist that has some traders wait for the next trader to arrive before starting towards the station. Probability of this happening should probably go up in more dangerous systems. If this becomes TOO common, very bold pirates would be assaulting the witchpoint beacon area. Likewise, bounty hunters wouldn't have or want to travel alone in very dangerous systems.

NPCs could use a torus drive equivalent in rare cases, just to duplicate what the player can do...although this could be very imbalancing for trying to catch escaping pirates, as they'd desperately want to do this once they flee off your scanner range.

Civil war systems and multi-government systems could have the factions spill over into space and create hostile forces that may not work together and may not even show up as offender/fugitive "pirates". This is more suitable as mission OXPs though...

Just as pirates might flee to neighboring system, they might occasionally arrive from neighboring systems. So if the nearest systems are anarchy/feudal/multi-government...some/many of the new arrivals at the witchpoint beacon may be pirates.

A major way to make each system a little different is to have a greater mixture of space station types, with each having fewer/more for sale and at differing prices. Or have a secondary station (place-to-visit) in almost every significant system. Best to avoid making things "crowded" in a high TL system though -- instead it just might have the best high-capacity "secondary" station (SuperHub OXP) which ends up handling as much or more NPC traffic than the main station! Even if a place is only known for always having a Rock Hermit and/or asteroid fields between planet and witchspace beacon, it'll still be more interesting than not.

As for adding new systems or even a new galaxy, this is more suited to a special mission(s) OXPs...and only reached in a non-standard method, as these would NOT be shown on the normal star charts! Maybe an ancient jumpgate on the opposite side of the sun from a planet? (You'd have to be told it was there, by a mission briefing or communications chat.) Or by following a certain NPC ship through its special witchspace tunnel.

Sensible trading behavior by NPCs...most aren't going to be carrying alien items (Thargons) or even contraband, besides maybe "rescued" escape pods. Few will be going from an agricultural world to another agricultural world unless doing a cargo contract.

Cargo contracts and passenger "taxi" contracts should be a little more sensible. It's pointless to deliver anything from >15 LY away, except for specialty items beyond the basic cargo types. This would also mean a penalty for selling the cargo and re-buying "equivalent" cargo along the way! A planet that's desperately needing food will get it from <6 LY away because it can do so quickly. It's practically a crass insult to see low-paying contraband contracts to 50+ LY away if you have a high contract reputation -- that sort should only be somewhat likely if you have a low/negative contract reputation. Anything that's further away than a couple jumps deserves a bonus profit -- in the in-universe time it takes to make one 6-7LY jump, you could've been going back-and-forth multiple times between 2 close worlds...so it's actually a money LOSS to take a very distant but seemingly "well-paying" contract. Any contract to or from an anarchy system should also have a bonus profit...it's a dangerous place, there should be a reward for it!

Switeck wrote:

There should definitely be more in-system (radio?) communication.
A trader leaving a station might say:
"I'm bound for ###, if you want to hitchhike...you'd better hurry up!"
This isn't being "friendly", this is hoping for free extra escorts.
Only maybe 5-25% of traders say this, so it doesn't negate the need for a Wormhole Scanner. Fewer may announce this in Anarchy systems, for obvious reasons. I don't know if an OXP can be made to do this yet, as the jumps may be too random (done at the moment of the jump only) and not stored in a way an OXP can access.

This is doable already. Actually, almost all of these proposals are achievable by OXP. One of the nice things about Oolite is that there is little need to implement radical changes in the engine itself, since almost all of it is already open and accessible to scripting.

Oh yeah, a "rumor mill" pseudo-mission that gives some info about this and nearby systems when you dock with stations. This is more like the "local news" than BlOomberg Markets v2.2.oxp or Snoopers2.0.7.oxp , but could probably interface with Snoopers2.0.7.oxp news reporting method.
Stuff like "lots of pirates spotted in this system"..."but wiped out by the player". Maybe even a tiny bonus award for doing so, (like 10 extra Credits per pirate) beyond the standard (galactic navy issued?) bounties.
Thargoid presence is basically ALWAYS news-worthy, especially who killed it or was killed by it.

Commander McLane wrote:

Perhaps we need a better entry-point for fiction. Does every Oolite installation come with Status Quo, or at least with A Virtuous Misfortune? If not yet, then make it so in the future. I still think these should be the first stories a player gets offered to read.

I'd be most honoured if Status Quo was included in the default Oolite Installation. Shouldn't add much to the overall download size.

It was written specifically to give new-Oolite-ers an overview of the game. Please feel free to 'make it so'.

Ganelon wrote:

Lastly, we need more media/fiction/story. There are some great stories already, and they can deepen the playing experience for new or established players. When I was first trying Oolite, I stumbled across the fiction section. The first story I read there was El Viejo's "Coyote", and it really "set the hook" for getting me into the game and playing to see how much the game could be like the story. Over the next couple weeks I read everything available in the fiction section of the forum. LOL But how about movies? There are short movies coming out like Sintel, where they were done by open source community and are pretty amazing. Maybe there are people here with the necessary skills and ideas, I don't know. But I know I'd watch an Oolite movie or series if they existed. Songs or music specific to the Ooniverse maybe? How about something like a radioplay that could be added as an OXP with soundclips so people would hear the events gradually unfold over their communications channels while playing? They could be anything from high adventure to a space soap opera. Might have important clues for an OXP mission.

Would love to see an Oolite movie or series too, but we'd need some pretty heavy hitting open-source contributors to do that.

Cheers,

Drew.

Anyway lots of lots good ideas here. There's still tons of depth in the current engine.

But yes a new stable release is probably what we should aim for.

That leads me to the question. Is there still a so called 'developers team' or are you guys more working on an individual bases?

pagroove wrote:

That leads me to the question. Is there still a so called 'developers team' or are you guys more working on an individual bases?

There most certainly is.

Switeck wrote:

All NPC ships might have a chance of saying something shortly before dying. "I'll be taking you with me!"...and then firing all its missiles and/or dropping a q-bomb might be one of them! I'm pretty sure the targets in Random Hits already do something like this. Q-bombs should only be VERY rare equipment though (0.01 or LOWER rarity!), found typically on "lone wolf" ships, like maybe Asps. Seeing a Q-bomb should be a very rare but memorable event. (and hopefully survivable if you're quick!)

It's renegade pirats who often drop Q-bombs when killed.

another_commander wrote:

pagroove wrote:

That leads me to the question. Is there still a so called 'developers team' or are you guys more working on an individual bases?

There most certainly is.

Aye!

Hmm, so called? Quotes? Strange question!

Pagroove, allow me to ask you this:

Did you & Svengali allegedly 'collaborate' on BGS, or was it more that each of you did things on your own?

Kaks wrote:

another_commander wrote:

pagroove wrote:

That leads me to the question. Is there still a so called 'developers team' or are you guys more working on an individual bases?

There most certainly is.

Aye!

Hmm, so called? Quotes? Strange question!

Pagroove, allow me to ask you this:

Did you & Svengali allegedly 'collaborate' on BGS, or was it more that each of you did things on your own?

No sorry, I don't mean it in any way skeptical. I was just curious if the orgininal dev team was still complete

who's the "original dev" team? Is Winston still around?

crap, I'm derailing my own thread now.

The current dev team is not the original one (as in, the group of people who did the first playable versions of the game). People come and go, but there have always been enough active developers to be able to call them a team.