Oolite Bulletins

I'm running out of ideas!

The first part of the FS code when landing on the mission target planet is :

if ((missionVariables.feudal_mission == "DELIVERY_RUNNING" && system.ID == [missionVariables.feudal_mission_location_no])) {
mission.runScreen({
messageKey: "feudal_mission_deliverysuccess"
});

So it just checks that the mission is running i.e. "DELIVERY_RUNNING" and that the system you are currently in is correct. If those are true the welcome message should appear as soon as you land on the planet - you don't need to press F8 or any other key.

Your save file has DELIVERY_RUNNING and planet number 41 (which would be Dirateri on star chart 7 {galaxy no 6}). Are you sure you are in the Dirateri system?

Your save file also gives mission location name as Reoran but this is not tested for by the script so shouldn't matter

The .GNUstepDefaults file gives the save directory i.e. "save-directory" = "C:\\Oolite/oolite.app/oolite-saves"; are you sure it is pointing to the right location?

Also, rather than DELIVERY_RUNNING try adding to the save file:

<key>mission_feudal_mission_location_no</key>
<string>41</string>
<key>mission_feudal_mission</key>
<string>TRIBUTE_RUNNING</string>

I may have made the wrong assumption as to which mission you are doing.

DGill wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 7:57 pm

Also, rather than DELIVERY_RUNNING try adding to the save file:

<key>mission_feudal_mission_location_no</key>
<string>41</string>
<key>mission_feudal_mission</key>
<string>TRIBUTE_RUNNING</string>

I may have made the wrong assumption as to which mission you are doing.

Well, with that one I ended up landing at Shenony customs control... (with #3 I ended up back at the shipyard).

Since I don't have Stranger's PlanetLand loaded (which creates all sorts of planetary landing sites) I removed Galactic Almanac oxp which struck me as being possibly responsible for the various planetary locations.

It was.

With your tweaks to the save file and the removal of Galactic Almanac oxp, I was able to deliver the tribute.

One presumes that this is fixable, rather than needing to declare a conflict with GA. I'll post this issue on the GA thread.

Thanks for your help!

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 12:28 pm

By the way: should these cargoes really be invisible and take up no space?

Added cargo as a SpecialCargo mainly because it is simple to do

Tycoon!

Ugh! Ugggh!!

My darling Araminta would be horrified! Cousin Digby would take out an assassin's contract on me!! They would burn my effigy in the Grand Manse back in the Dismal Desert... My name would be abhorred for generations as a curse and imprecation...

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 11:57 pm

Tycoon!

DGill wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 10:03 pm

simple to do

Sir!

I finally was approached in the station at G7 Onarmala to raid Commie Veanso in the South East.

(I was previously approached to raid Commie Qugeza up to the North West - but was labelled as a fugitive for unfathomable reasons while bouncing around Ateslete so I quit that one! Not a Feudal States OXP issue, I think.)

The announcement came whilst mooching around in the Main Orbital Station and wanted an immediate response. To immediately leave for distant Qugeza (c.200 hours flying the quick route) seemed nuts (especially since I was castigated as a coward for taking time out to check the visa/war situation). Veanso was a bit more reasonable - and believable.

On arrival at Veanso I had rather less than 1ly of fuel left so flew towards the sun to scoop the solar flux/wind. I'm playing with Stranger's World where everything costs fuel, even sitting still! It took forever to refuel (slowly scoop 0.2 ly of fuel, advance using the Torus drive until back down to 0.1 ly fuel in the tank (if you drop below 0.1ly then your speed is cut and you can no longer scoop!), rinse and repeat...) and when I finally arrived at the scrum, it was a confused scrap with Commie Raiders & Fer-dL's, GalCop, the Thought Police, two flotillas of traders who were trying to sail through and even a visiting Liner!

I got tagged as a "100" fugitive which made perfectly good sense and as the raid drew to a close tried unsuccessfully to rescue a fellow Onarmalian.

My analysis of the raid is perforce feeble. Too busy fighting (potted 6 of the blighters!) to really understand what was going on.

Fled back towards the sun to scoop the flux and then jumped to Usesen (unsure if my fugitive status would stick - and it is easy to refuel from the sun there - it has a strong Solar Flux).

My fugitive status vanished in the solar wind and I was clean again.

But on bumping into GalCop vipers, the status returned and they started chasing me. I rather think this is due to Bounty Status OXP, not Feudal States.

Have yet to return home to Onarmala. Currently cowering in Usesen, trying to remain inconspicuous.


Musings.

Mission commencement.
As adumbrated earlier, a tannoy over the station loudspeakers seems a tad crass. It would be rather more condign at the Royal Court downplanet or after an invitation to the Viceroy's Palace in the GalCop Precinct.

Rendezvousing before the raid.
Might it be better done at the previous system, just before the target system?
1) The Raiders can all jump together through the same wormhole and the player does not lose fuel jumping (crucial for Stranger's World. Crucial for long jumps (Veanso is 6.0ly from Xeer, the previous system).
Dear old Switeck has been working on AI for helping handle this.
2) The Raiders arrive as a pack rather than a disorganised mob.
3) Whoever is leading the sally can then establish his authority. And keep the group together. And one ship can stay in reserve with a full fuel tank to open a wormhole for the retreat. And a couple more can stay behind at the Witchpoint beacon in the previous system in case of pursuit!



I'm not sure how other OXPs handle this sort of thing. Galactic Navy? Resistance Commander? Are there others which involve fighting together with a group of NPCs? But there might well be code/AI somewhere which is grab-able.

Is there point in including Tsoj's suggestions here?

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Sun Aug 27, 2023 8:17 am

Is there point in including Tsoj's suggestions here?

I could not get the code to work:

Error in log that feudal_challenger_buoy was not defined - (feudal_challenger_buoy = hl[0].position.add(hl[0].heading.multiply(10E3)))

If I put var feudal_challenger_buoy = hl[0].position.add(hl[0].heading.multiply(10E3))

I get error message that the variable is null

Just thinking about the Ship's Library.

GearsNSuch specially formatted the entry for the Commies ships in the Ship's Library. Maybe we should copy his formatting.

It involves adding a menu definition to the Descriptions.plist and then incorporating that into the Shiplibrary.plist entries.

Like this:

Descriptions.plist (incomplete) Shiplibrary.plist (complete - class changed to "feudal"

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Sun Aug 27, 2023 6:00 pm

Just thinking about the Ship's Library.

GearsNSuch specially formatted the entry for the Commies ships in the Ship's Library. Maybe we should copy his formatting.

It involves adding a menu definition to the Descriptions.plist and then incorporating that into the Shiplibrary.plist entries.

Like this:

Not sure what you want to change, this is what we have at present:

{
class = feudal;
description = "Based near the Witchpoint, the hunting lodge is a centre for feudal jousting. Note that entrance is only allowed to those who bear the appropriate dress. Do not attempt entrance in informal attire as you will be barred from the premises. The staff usually maintain a selection of formal wear for inappropriately clad visitors, which can be borrowed for a consideration. The walls of the dining hall are oft-times wooden-panelled and always emblazoned with the Code of Chivalry";
ship = "feudal-hunting-lodge";
summary = "[oolite-ship-library-summary-SO]";
},
{
class = feudal;
description = "A peasant farmer who worked without pay for a lord in a feudal society";
ship = "fireW-fireworker";
summary = "[oolite-ship-library-summary-LF]";
},
{
class = feudal;
description = "Low-ranking feudal ship, piloted by a retainer of a knight or lord.";
ship = "feudal-esquire";
summary = "[oolite-ship-library-summary-LT]";
},
etc


and in the descriptions plist:

"oolite-ship-library-category-feudal" = "Feudal Craft";
"oolite-ship-library-category-plural-feudal" = "Feudal Craft";

DGill wrote: ↑Sun Aug 27, 2023 6:49 pm

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Sun Aug 27, 2023 6:00 pm

Just thinking about the Ship's Library.

GearsNSuch specially formatted the entry for the Commies ships in the Ship's Library. Maybe we should copy his formatting.

It involves adding a menu definition to the Descriptions.plist and then incorporating that into the Shiplibrary.plist entries.

Like this:

Not sure what you want to change...

Apologies. I'm an idiot.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Sat Aug 26, 2023 10:11 pm

Dear old Switeck has been working on AI for helping handle this.

Not quite!
What I 'said' in a PM was:

Less otiose work I'd like to "get around to doing" would be making a general ai ship-group logic for reusing wormholes -- where only 1 ship makes a wormhole and the rest use it, to reach a distant target.
This is a lot tougher than it sounds despite freighter + escorts groups doing that on their own.
What makes coding this hard is the 'what to do' logic when ships arrive at their next jump along the way and they have to fend off any would-be attackers, all be rounded up, then choose which still-available ship is to use its limited fuel for the next jump.

I haven't even started.
I make NO promises on how long before I get something even vaguely usable.

Worse, what you're suggesting here is quite a bit more than I have any hope to accomplish.

1) The Raiders can all jump together through the same wormhole

Wormholes for short-range jumps have short lifespans, which requires every ship that wishes to use them to be within minutes of reaching them without using injectors. In the case of Anaconda freighters, not only do they have to be relatively close but also pointed in the right direction...because even turning around eats up valuable time.

2) The Raiders arrive as a pack rather than a disorganised mob.

Arrivals mimic departures -- if 1 slow ship took much longer to reach the wormhole, at the other side of the wormhole it will arrive last considerably later than the others.
Reforming into a pack after arrival will be terribly organized and may not happen if they are under fire moments after arriving.

3) Whoever is leading the sally can then establish his authority. And keep the group together. And one ship can stay in reserve with a full fuel tank to open a wormhole for the retreat.

I'm not sure there is 'simple' AI.plist logic to head back to the specific arrival point in interstellar space...worse, if the fight there is lost due to being overwhelmed by Thargoids/pirates/whoever/whatever, that's a terrible place to head back to for regrouping or leaving.

And a couple more can stay behind at the Witchpoint beacon in the previous system in case of pursuit!

The previous system doesn't "exist" as far as the game is concerned, only the current system the player is in...with a slight memory of ships that wormhole'd their way to the system you're in.
It can be hand-waved as an event that happens but not something that is directly programmed.

I rather think that this might just be relevant:

szaumix wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2023 1:36 am

If feudal dueling stations weren't invariably such easy money, and so poorly placed, with such poor adversaries, I wouldn't hate them. As it stands, I have always hated them. I wish they were not ASC findable, between the planet and sun, and that the adversaries weren't such lame ducks. WHY do these titans of dogfighting just cruise in a straight line for you to shoot them in the butt? Bah, humbug.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2023 1:08 am

1) Have you tried phkb's rejig (v.2.1) of Feudal States? He brings down the wager amounts to something more sensible. And you could probably tweak the amounts further as he javascripted it all.

szaumix wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2023 12:43 am

I don't want it to reward less. I want them to not be easy wins. I want them to move like geckos and not like boas, I want them to fire back, I want them to weave, I want them to be military or vimana fore and aft, and to be a chance of jammer or cloak. I want a serious challenge, and I want to be a serious chance of LOSING, and if I can't have that, I at least want to earn the win.

Not so sure about the logic of them not being ASC-able.

But szaumix's AI issues seem relevant to me (easy money/such poor adversaries). I presume from reading the enclosed "Version History.rtf" that phkb did not sort out the AI with his v.2.1 rejig? (but did sort out the easy money).

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2023 2:16 am

Not so sure about the logic of them not being ASC-able.

Feudal systems are violent nightmares. My logic is that I find it hard to imagine that much of anything would want to advertise in anarchies and feudals. I always saw Feudals as an "if you know, you know" sort of dockable -- which is in line with the exclusive nature of feudal courts, family lines, honor, etc in real life. Feudalism is inherently hostile to democracy, it is very much status quo, hierarchy, and closed in-group.

I wouldn't mind the ability to buy nearby Feudal Duelist locations from Space Bars and rock hermits, as per S:TGU.

Anyway the ASC and location issue is much lower down on the gripes than the easy wins. I hate, with a capital "H", things that are too cheap or easy.