Oolite Bulletins

Cody wrote:

Gimi wrote:

Our posting of DDF proposals here is currently being discussed on the Frontier forum.

Yeah, I've been reading the gripes, Gimi. If it's causing so much hassle, you might as well stop posting the agendas.

Diziet Sma wrote:

... which has just motivated me to make my first post there myself.

Cody wrote:

And a fine entrance it was too!

As I have mentioned before I don't think having an NDA is a realistic option, not only because the logistics of policing it would prove troublesome, but also because we do ultimately want as many of our backers as possible to see what decisions are being made. People backed the Kickstarter in accordance with their means, and whilst we're grateful to those that backed the most, we don't want to create a 'walled garden' that isolates anyone that could not afford to pledge above a certain amount. That wouldn't be in the spirit of the Kickstarter at all.

Cody wrote:

Gimi wrote:

Our posting of DDF proposals here is currently being discussed on the Frontier forum.

Yeah, I've been reading the gripes, Gimi. If it's causing so much hassle, you might as well stop posting the agendas.

Gimi wrote:

-We wait for at least 48 hours before we carry over a DDF proposal.
-We do not copy any discussion here over to the DDF.
-We do not copy any discussion from the DDF to this forum.

Main reason for the last two: None of the posters have given their explicit permission to have their posts copied and also, it could be problematic if posts are read out of context.

Last one is something I have decided for myself, mainly because I don't want to argue other peoples opinion and I think it would be unfair to the other DDF members.
-I will not post other peoples opinion or suggestions in the DDF, but I'm happy to be persuaded or "indoctrinated" as appropriate.

JazHaz wrote:

I will point out something here. It's not Gimi that originated this, but me.

Ashley Barley wrote:

I'll post my thoughts about this but then this thread needs to go back on-topic:

We're happy with the way the DDF is running as it is. Ultimately there are no perfect systems and the way it currently runs is, in my opinion as least, the best compromise we have between DDF exclusivity, allowing everyone to see what decisions are being made, and the designers getting the most out of the system to help them design a better experience.

As I have mentioned before I don't think having an NDA is a realistic option, not only because the logistics of policing it would prove troublesome, but also because we do ultimately want as many of our backers as possible to see what decisions are being made. People backed the Kickstarter in accordance with their means, and whilst we're grateful to those that backed the most, we don't want to create a 'walled garden' that isolates anyone that could not afford to pledge above a certain amount. That wouldn't be in the spirit of the Kickstarter at all.

One thing we could do is make the DDF 'read only' so everyone can see what is being discussed. However I don't think this would realistically achieve much, and due to the iterative process of the DDF may just cause more confusion than enlightenment.

Obviously if people think we're wrong about this, you're more than welcome to make a new thread in the 'suggestions section' citing your reasons, or PM me personally. But I think the fact that this is the only real example of people questioning this system after 10 months of it running goes to show that it is working for the vast majority of the community, for that reason I see no genuine reason why it needs to be reviewed right now

JazHaz wrote:

I don't agree about the 48 hours limit. Everything else is fine.

I have in the past taken people's comments from the Oolite BB and posted them on the DDF pretty much verbatim, but only IF, I agreed. The discussions on the Oolite BB have helped me get my thoughts more ordered around some DDF proposals.

Zieman wrote:

Whoa, what's happening?
What's this fuss all about?

Because I seem to have triggered it (didn't start the practise, but since no one really asked DDF members to NOT post the proposals @ Oolite boards, didn't think it would do any harm), I think I need to apologise for being over-eager to post the revised System Travel proposal at Oolite BB.

The (new, revised) proposal was so spot on, I got overly excited and went on to spread the info, forgetting all decency in my excitement and joy. Sorry about that. I will show MUCH more restraint in the future, probably so much as to never being the (first) person to re-post a proposal 'elsewhere'.

I just trawled through the Oolite thread, and I'd like to remind everyone that we've tried to draw the line in just showing the proposal. I found only two quotes that were from the discussion, and the other one was me quoting myself .

Tom Kewell wrote:

Hi guys,

It's Friday again, and we've got that Friday feeling that makes us post proposals!

This weeks proposal ties in strongly with the background simulation, and how factions behave and change with regards to it, and what you, the players, can do to change the structure of the Galaxy.

Hefty stuff I'm sure you'll agree, but have a careful read and then give us your thoughts. Deep breath, here we go:

ELITE DANGEROUS – FACTION CAUSES AND THE BACKGROUND SIM

GLOSSARY OF TERMS
System – A collection of stars, planets or other astral bodies under a single collective name, e.g. “Lave”, and requiring a hyperspace jump to reach.
Faction – An organisation that adheres to a single set of laws and that has a relationship with other factions. Factions can control single systems (such as independent systems) or multiple systems (such as the Federation)
System Authority – All inhabited systems are controlled by a faction in the form of a system authority. System Authorities can adopt statuses and causes.
System Statistics – Statistics and data about a system authority.
System Statuses – Broad stroke conditions that effect a system, e.g. war, poverty, economic boom
System Causes – Sets of missions and events with a theme relating to a specific Status.
Tick – A variable amount of time that determines when background simulation data is collated, and system statistics are updated.
System Assets – These are the various objects, resources, and points of interest in a system.

WHO RUNS A SYSTEM?
Every inhabited system has a system authority, representing the physical presence of the dominant faction in the system (or representing lack of governance in case where no faction is in control). The system authority has a number of system statistics:

• Wealth – a rating of the system authority’s capital
  • Between 1 – 1000. 1 represents low average wealth, 1000 represents a high average wealth
• Standard of Living – a rating of the wellbeing for the population under the care of the system authority
  • Between 1 – 1000. 1 represents a low standard of living in squalid conditions, 1000 represent utopian living standards
• Development level – a rating of how technologically and materially advanced the system authority is
  • Between 1 – 1000. 1 represents very low development and facilities, 1000 represents the highest development and facilities
• Security – a rating of the system authority’s military capability
  • Between 1 – 1000. 1 represents low security, with the faction owning few combat capable ships, 1000 represents a highly secure system with a large faction fleet
• Population – a representation of the number of inhabitants under the care of the system authority
  • Between 1 – 1000. 1 represents severe under-population, 1000 represents severe overcrowding
• Government Type – a description of the method of governance used by the system authority (some factions specify a government type)
  • None (the system is unpopulated)
  • Anarchy
  • Commune
  • Communism
  • Corporate State
  • Religious Cult
  • Democracy (Independent, Federal, Alliance)
  • Theocracy
  • Dictatorship
  • Feudal
  • Imperial Colony
  • Imperial Protectorate (part of the Imperial interstellar faction)
• Major Economy Type – the most prevalent type of market controlled by the system authority
  • Agri
  • Industrial
  • Criminal
  • Extraction
  • Military
  • Services
• System Authority Owned Assets – a list of points of interest under the control of the system authority
• Non-System Authority owned Assets – a list of points of interest not under the control of the system authority
• Neighbouring Authorities – a list of nearby system authorities close enough to be deemed “neighbours” and able to affect the system
  • Each entry logs the factional relationship between the two system authorities

These system statistics can change based on player activity and statuses (described later). Importantly, they are collated and interrogated every meta-game tick to determine how the system evolves.

The faction behind a system authority determines the laws of the system, as well as determining diplomatic status with other factions. Such diplomatic status affects all systems controlled by a faction.

The system authority and its associated stats determine the welfare of the system and what things happen in it.

WHAT HAPPENS IN A SYSTEM?

Each tick, by interrogating system statistics, system authorities are assigned any number of statuses and a single cause.

STATUSES
Statuses give the player general information about the system authorities’ current system stats in the form of a broad, system-wide condition.
Different combinations of stats will lead to different statuses being awarded to a System Authority. For example, in order to receive the ‘Famine’ status, the following conditions must be met:

• Populations Stat must be 9 or more
• Standard of Living Stat must be under 3
• Agricultural Assets must be fewer than residential assets

System authorities can be awarded any number of statuses, as long as their system statistics meet the requisite requirements when the tick occurs. A status can have discrete positive and negative effects:

• Adds one or more causes to the potential list from which a single cause is chosen each tick
• Determines a list of statuses that cannot be selected whilst it is in effect
• Generates stories added to the news feed

CAUSES
Causes add themed missions and events into the mission/event creator.
Causes dictate what the majority of events and missions are that will be available in the system for that tick. They represent a theme associated to a status. For example, the “famine” status might have two associated causes: “exodus” where people are generally attempting to leave the system, and “food drive”, where people are making extra concerted efforts to obtain food supplies.

Each tick a cause is chosen at random, with statuses adding weight to their related causes.
Missions generated by a cause are in addition to other missions generated by the mission/event generator.

RESOLVING STATUSES

As players perform actions in the system, and react to the available missions and events, their actions will be recorded and logged.

When the tick ends all the aggregated data for all player’s actions in that system are collated, and the system authority’s system statistics are updated accordingly.

These updated system statistics are compared against exit thresholds values for active statuses. Each status may have a number of exit thresholds values that could result in different outgoing effects. If the system statistics match a particular set of exit threshold values, the status is removed and any outgoing effects are triggered.

OUTGOING EFFECTS
Status outgoing effects can have a positive or negative effect on a systems stats and assets.
When a status is removed it may trigger outgoing effects:

• Automatic activation of a particular new status
• Alteration to system statistics
  • Creation, destruction or alteration of a system asset
  • Alteration to system statistics numerical values
  • Changes to government type
  • Changes to factional relationships

NEWS FEEDS AND STATUSES
Statuses and causes will determine the contents of a systems news feed.

When a status is awarded to a faction, a story pertaining to that status is added to news feed for the system.

The Stories headline gives a brief description of the details of the status, with the story itself adding information on locations involved, what kind of events and missions to expect, specific details of the status and give clues to what player actions can affect that status.

When a status is resolved at the end of a tick a story should also be added to the news feed, giving players information on what the resolution of the status was as a headline, and details of the effect of the resolution and any changes to the faction’s stats and statuses in the article.

The Faction’s Selected Cause should be the main story for that tick, with news stories updated every tick.

EXAMPLE NEWS STORY
Status: Aware of Mineral Resources. Cause: Secure Mineral Resources

Federal Democracy of Sol Plans to Acquire Gold Resources
A recent discovery in the Sol system (add ‘By <Player Name>’ if player was involved in discovery) has urged the Federal government to move to secure the Gold rich asteroid field at <Asset Location> for official government use. If successful they will put an end to the unofficial mining operations that have been taking advantage of the mining opportunities, and secure the resources for the Federation.
In a statement, <NPC Government Spokesman> said, “We will be sending security forces to the area to ensure the area is safe while our construction crews begin work on creating mining facilities in the area. We’d like to ask any pilots in the area to co-operate with federal forces in their efforts to secure the area, and report any illegal mining operations to security forces.”.
Several prominent pilots have spoken out against the Federations claim, saying that the resources should be free for private organisations to mine. Some extremists have threatened to attack federation forces in order to hinder the construction of mining facilities. Others are taking the opportunity to mine as much of the precious resource as they can before the federal clampdown takes place. With mining equipment readily available from a number of ship yards around earth, the Federal government must be expecting something of a gold rush.

EXAMPLE STATUS
Status: Economic Boom
A large amount of wealth distributed among a relatively smaller population leads to economic booms. Expect events and missions relating to trading, with players offered special prices and opportunities to acquire rare goods and services cheaply.

Required Stats: Wealth >700
Population: <800
Associated Causes: Construct new Trading Post, Buy <Trade Good>, build trading ships, build navy ships, subsidise trade

Resolution 1: The bubble bursts
Required Stats: Wealth <800
Population >800
Effects: -250 to wealth, -100 to population

Resolution 2: The Boom Continues
Required Stats: Wealth >800
Population >900
Effects: +100 to wealth, +100 to population, Economic Boom status injected to next tick

Economic boom increases a systems wealth and population. Players can help to prolong the economic boom, and will get missions and events that allow them to purchase things cheaply or sell for a high profit margin while it is active. When the bubble eventually bursts the systems wealth is greatly lowered, and the status is removed.

Notes and Issues

So, it's a complex system, apologies if it's a bit confusing. It should mean that systems are constantly changing and evolving. As statuses are acquired and resolved they should alter systems stats and create a narrative for systems as they change over time.

Players should be able to perform actions in systems and have significant changes in a system. Players should be able to look at the statuses a system has and, with a little player knowledge, perform actions that promote the result they want.

We need a good selection of statuses that System Authorities can get, with end conditions and associated causes. If you guys can suggest any ideas you have on those lines that would be a great help. If you have a good idea of what the stats would be associated with your example then all the better, but if not post it anyway, we can figure them out later.

This attachment is a flow diagram of how stats, statuses, causes and player actions are processed.
statistics and statuses flow.jpg

Thanks for reading, really looking forward to your feedback!

Tom Kewell wrote:

DOCKING AT SPACE STATIONS IN ELITE: DANGEROUS

Docking in Elite has a number of stages to it. This Proposal describes the docking process through each stage, from the player flying outside a station, to entering the station, to successfully docking on a pad at the station.

1.1 REQUESTING DOCKING
Player Aim: To Communicate with their target station and gain permission to dock

• The player must Select the station as a target and must open communications
  • The player can only communicate with a station if the station is in range of their communication equipment
• The player selects the ‘request permission to dock’ option from the communication menu, to request permission to dock at the station
  • If the player is too far from the station they will be denied permission, and told to close to within 1.5km of the station and request permission again
  • If the player is currently wanted for crimes against a faction the station is affiliated with the station will refuse to give them permission to dock
    • Below a certain threshold a station may allow a player to dock
    • The player may have the option to communicate that they are turning themselves in, in which case they will be given permission to dock
    • Police may be dispatched to the player’s location if they’re wanted for serious crimes
  • If the Player’s weapon bays are open they will be informed to close them before approaching the station
• The player is directed to fly to the stations entrance and informed to wait for clearance before approaching the entrance
  • The player is given a waypoint outside the station to fly to (this is the holding area for entering the station)
  • Once the player reaches this waypoint they are added to the queue of ships waiting to dock at the station

1.2 ENTERING A STATION
Player Aim: Flying through the space station’s aperture to the stations interior

• When a player is given clearance they are communicated with and informed they have a short window to pass through the stations entrance
  • Player ships are always given priority over AI ship in the waiting list
  • Players can pay for premium docking rights with some stations to get priority docking
  • Entering a station when not given clearance causes the player to receive a fine
• When the players window is open the station will open its docking bay doors to allow the player access to the stations interior
• The player must fly their ship through the stations aperture and into the station

1.3 INSIDE THE STATION AND LANDING ON A PAD
Player Aim: Navigate the Stations interior and Land on a Landing Pad

• When the player is inside the station they will be told which pad they have been assigned to dock on
  • The player will be given a waypoint marker in their hud that guides them to the area above their designated pad
• Once above the designated pad the player must activate their landing gear to enable the docking GUI
  • On their main screen the player will be shown GUI showing the horizon, according to the landing pad, and the players height above the landing pad
    • This allows players to quickly level their ship to the same orientation as the pad, and easily check their height and orientation at a glance
  • On a secondary screen the player is shown a downward facing camera, showing the docking pad below
    • This camera has an AR overlay that tracks the landing Pad below the player
    • The player must keep the pad lined up below their ship and slowly decend onto it
  • A marker on the front of the landing pad (perhaps a set of marking lights or an advertising billboard) shows the player when they are lined up with the landed pad at the correct height
• Once the player has aligned their ship to the landing pad they press a button to trigger magnetizing the pad
  • If the player has aligned their ship correctly they will land safely
  • If the player is too high off the landing pad the magnetization effect will cause the ship to hit the pad hard and will damage the player’s ships landing gear
  • If the player does not trigger the magnetization soon enough their ship will graze the landing pad and damage the players ship
• The Players ship is now docked

1.4 LEAVING A STATION
Player Aim: Request Permission to launch and Exit a Space Station

• From the landing pad the player selects ‘request permission to launch’
  • o If the player has remaining fines or charges to pay they will not be given permission to launch without paying them
• The players pad will de-magnetize and the player’s ship can now be powered up and flown
• The player must fly to a holding point near the stations exit
  • Once the player’s ship reaches the holding area it is added to the list of ships waiting to leave
    • Leaving ships are given priority over ship trying to enter the station
• The player is informed when they have clearance to leave
  • The Station’s aperture will open to allow the player to leave
  • If the player fails to use their window they are moved to the bottom of the queue to leave
• Once the player has flown out of the station the player has successfully un-docked

1.5 OTHER DOCKING CONDITIONS
Some stations may have other rules and conditions that the player may have to adhere to in order to be allowed to dock. These may include:

• Speed limits
  • For a set radius around a space station the player must adhere to a set speed limit
    • Being observed breaking the speed limit can incur a fine from the stations’ faction
    • The player’s throttle will limit itself to the speed limit, although the player can overrule the limiter and speed if they want to
• Scan before Access
  • The player must submit themselves to a scan before being granted access to the station
• Toll
  • The player must pay a fee in order to be allowed access to a station

1.6 DOCKING FOR FUEL
Some stations may have exterior points where players can dock to refuel. Where this is possible, the player must follow the following procedure.

• The player must Select the station as a target and must open communications
  • The player can only communicate with a station if the station is in range of their communication equipment
• The player selects the ‘request permission to refuel’ option from the communication menu, to request permission to dock at the station’s refueling point
  • o If the player is too far from the station they will be denied permission, and told to close to within 1.5km of the station and request permission again
  • o If the player is currently wanted for crimes against a faction the station is affiliated with the station will refuse to give them permission to dock
    • Below a certain threshold a station may allow a player to dock
    • The player may have the option to communicate that they are turning themselves in, in which case they will be given permission to dock
    • Police may be dispatched to the player’s location if they’re wanted for serious crimes
  • If the Player’s weapon bays are open they will be informed to close them before approaching the station
• The player is directed to fly to a point near the stations entrance and informed to wait for clearance before approaching
  • When the player arrives at the waiting point they are added to the queue for refueling
• When the refueling point if free the player will be set a waypoint to dock with the refueling point
  • The player must approach the point and stop in the correct place to trigger the docking process
• From this point the player can refill their fuel tank and purchase a limited range of fuels
• Once done the player must select the launch option from the refueling point
  • o The player’s ship will then detach from the refueling point and the player will be free to fly away

Notes and Issues
This docking procedure should be useful in a number of docking procedures, including ship to ship docking (with the point of contact being a way point between the two ships)
Where possible we want to include systems where player skill allows a good pilot to get docked quicker, or avoid penalties, but not create situations where a less skilled player is unable to dock. Any ideas on where we can expand this approach would be appreciated.
What level of automation would players like to see from a module such as a docking computer. Should we have docking request automation on a communications computer, but the actual flight control of landing on the docking computer? Should I have to fly inside a station manually before I can activate the docking computer? Your opinions would be appreciated.
Thanks for reading!

Tom Kewell wrote:

Hello Backers.

There's been a number of requests for a seperate place to list your example statuses, based on the linked Factions and Causes Thread.

I still think there's plenty of discussion to be had with the mechanics of statuses, and I'd like that to continue in the factions and causes thread. This thread should be used to give example statuses.

As a reminder, Statuses are awarded to a system when a systems stats meet the required conditions. These stats include Population, Wealth, Development Level, Standard of Living, and security. Government type, Economy type and any assets in a system (like space stations, factories, habitable planets etc.) are also statistics.

If a system has the required statistics it is awarded a status. A status can have discrete positive and negative effects:

• Adds one or more causes to the potential list from which a single cause is chosen each tick
• Determines a list of statuses that cannot be selected whilst it is in effect
• Generates stories added to the news feed

Statuses help determine which causes are available to a system for a galactic tick. Causes determine what missions and events will occur in a system for that tick, and give the players opportunities to perform player actions. Player actions are recorded and will change a systems stats.

Statuses will remain attached to a system until the systems stats match one of their resolutions. When a resolution is triggered it can:

• Automatic activation of a particular new status
• Alteration to system statistics
  • Creation, destruction or alteration of a system asset
  • Alteration to system statistics numerical values
  • Changes to government type
  • Changes to factional relationships

We'd like you to use this thread to post your examples. Remember that statuses should be quite broad in their subject, and can resolutions can feed into new statuses, creating a narrative chain of statuses.

Example Statuses
The following are examples of statuses from the mechanics thread that we though make for good examples. If you don't have exact statistic numbers for your example please feel free to post it anyway, we'll figure out the set up for it if it's a compelling idea.

Status: Scientific Breakthroughs
Scientists in this system are having a golden age of discovery. With strong government funding and specially built scientific equipment, this faction could be on the edge of a scientific breakthrough.
Required Stats
Wealth >7
Development Level >6
Population <9
Scientific research station
Government Type: Not Anarchy

Resolutions
Cure Diseases
Requires:
Population >8
Wealth >8
Development Level >5
Result:
Standard of Living +2, Population +1, Wealth -1

Improve Weapons
Requires:
Wealth >8
Security >7
Result:
Security +2,
Wealth -1,
Add 'Expanding Navy' Status

Terrorists Attack on the Research Station
Requires:
Security <4
Result:
Security -1
Standard of Living -1
Destroy Scientific Research Station
Add Terrorism status

Status: Nuclear Meltdown
At least one of the System Authorities settlements is suffering from a nuclear meltdown, either from a generator or an attack.
Required Stats
Development level 6
Security <4
Scientific research station

Resolutions
Evacuate Survivors
Requires:
Wealth >7
Population >6
Result:
Standard of Living -1
Population -1
Development Level -1

Nuclear Clean up
Requires:
Wealth >9
Development Level >9
Result:
Standard of Living -1,
Wealth -1,


Evacuation Sabotaged
Requires:
Security <4
Result:
Security -2
Standard of Living -2
Destroy of affected colonies

Please add your examples to this thread. Any discussion of the systems mechanics should be in the other thread. Thanks!