Oolite Bulletins

Posted: **Mon Feb 16, 2009 2:13 pm**

Does no-one out there have any views on the escort questions?

While I'm waiting to get that sorted, I've been testing out the other feudal missions. So far I have 5 themes: Courier, Escort, Raid, Justice and Ransom, and have been scripting up the success and failure conditions for each. In theory there's also scope to combine some of the different mission types into a consistent storyline. I've been using placeholder AIs for the moment but I'll want to go in and customise them a bit to make things challenging enough.

I still need to come up with something for the space castles. I might just try sticking a tower onto an asteroid like I did with the Imperial Astromines.

Posted: **Mon Feb 16, 2009 2:52 pm**

Ramirez wrote:
Does no-one out there have any views on the escort questions?

One way to do it is to add some js when the potential mothership's spawned.

Code: Select all

this.shipSpawned = function(){for (var i=this.escorts.lengh-1; i>=0;i--) this.escorts[i].remove();}

should do the trick nicely, leaving the mothership ready for new escorts...

Posted: **Mon Feb 16, 2009 3:01 pm**

Ramirez wrote:
I still need to come up with something for the space castles. I might just try sticking a tower onto an asteroid like I did with the Imperial Astromines.

I think there's mileage in doing great big gargoyle/animal heads ... these could be quite crudely carved, but it's all about status and display. A castle on an asteroid might look a bit odd, although I suppose it could be the ancestral pile shipped into space (and no more odd than a great whacking big gargoyle head, really). And easier to make generic models.

How about something like a rock hermit asteroid with three or four castle-ish towers mounted all round it -- maybe at the apexes of a tetrahedron? With plasma turrets mounted on top?

Posted: **Mon Feb 16, 2009 3:04 pm**

Or loads of asteroids dragged together to form a ring with a central "tower" structure in the centre - a castle in the old fashoined sense - i.e. big "wall" with a central defendable living section.

Posted: **Mon Feb 16, 2009 3:45 pm**

Try again!

Aaaarg! why won't change size! It's not even that size any more!

EDIT damnit just noticed Disembodied had already suggested the gargolye head with the docking bay in the mouth

Posted: **Mon Feb 16, 2009 3:50 pm**

Disembodied wrote:
I think there's mileage in doing great big gargoyle/animal heads ... these could be quite crudely carved, but it's all about status and display. A castle on an asteroid might look a bit odd, although I suppose it could be the ancestral pile shipped into space (and no more odd than a great whacking big gargoyle head, really). And easier to make generic models.

I always thought the idea of carving faces into mountains at a tzar-scale would be odd...but it happened, not too far ago. Thus I can perfectly imagine castles on an asteroid, especially since super rich people nowadays like to buy castles and such to display the whole world how far superior they see themselves (ending up pretty low in my eyes).

I don't know why I missed the development of this thread for some time...seems I have to check it more often. The ship with those shields is really a good appetizer for the waiting crowd! ZygoUgo, your drawing...I can imagine pretty well for a house similar to that of Harkonnen!

Screet

Posted: **Mon Feb 16, 2009 4:12 pm**

I thought it should display plenty of competative ego. It could perhaps just be the front of a floating citadel, just as a suggestion, so they replace the main stations, but exist further out than the original station did.

The central section with the normal mapped gargoyle face could also differ for each 'family', along with the heraldry.

Posted: **Mon Feb 16, 2009 8:31 pm**

Thanks people, I think a combination of all those ideas would work quite well. ZygoUgo's given me some much-needed inspiration, and I've used the sketch to create a rough dock structure that could be stuck into the side of an asteroid. On top of the asteroid I can then stick a couple of towers with plasma turrets. Having some lights as shown in the sketch with glow maps would look really good.

(I've run the pic through poster edge to hide my poor texturing plus I also think it makes it look more like a concept sketch)

I'm planning to put these, whatever they're eventually going to be called, a bit out of the way of the main space lanes. The main GalCop-controlled stations will remain.

I've also just tried out Griff's wavy flag test, and there's scope to use some of those effects to make things look even more interesting.

Posted: **Mon Feb 16, 2009 8:53 pm**

Just a little idea I've had myself, as far as the gargoyle face thing goes...

What about using something similar to the face of the Lord Marshal from 'The Chronicles of Riddick' movie?

I don't know if this would be the style that you are looking for though.

Just a thought...

G.

Posted: **Mon Feb 16, 2009 10:22 pm**

Ramirez wrote:
I'm planning to put these, whatever they're eventually going to be called, a bit out of the way of the main space lanes. [...]

Hunting lodge? Keep? Donjon? Burg?

Posted: **Mon Feb 16, 2009 10:51 pm**

Disembodied wrote:
Ramirez wrote:
I'm planning to put these, whatever they're eventually going to be called, a bit out of the way of the main space lanes. [...]
Hunting lodge? Keep? Donjon? Burg?

Hmmm...lets have a look at german:
castle - burg
fortress/stronghold: Festung, a new word since 16th century for veste / festi (typically translated as feste, but that's a type of fortress from WW1 era!)

A brief article where you can see such names, including the german-typical merging of words, is that one:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franzensfeste
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franzensfeste
...it's about another, relatively new fortress, built on order of a Kaiser, though.

Fronveste would be a place to imprison/torture people and have them do force labour.

I believe if german names get in, we should also have such names from as many cultures as possible! I don't want to favor any nation and it would even enhance the deepness of the oxp. I bet different feudal families would be very proud of their heritage, coming from regions with different languages.

Screet

Posted: **Tue Feb 17, 2009 12:30 pm**

really nice to see this develop. Also siege missions on space castles would be exiting

Posted: **Tue Feb 17, 2009 4:52 pm**

@Ramirez, glad you liked the look of it

Small request though, pwweeeaase put plasma cannons in the eyes, I'd love to fly by it seeing it shooting plasma out of its eyes at someone

(..or maybe that's just me)

Posted: **Tue Feb 17, 2009 5:49 pm**

ZygoUgo wrote:
@Ramirez, glad you liked the look of it Small request though, pwweeeaase put plasma cannons in the eyes, I'd love to fly by it seeing it shooting plasma out of its eyes at someone (..or maybe that's just me)

I like that idea for another reason: It probably would end up appearing that the statue got two eyeballs looking at the player (or some attacker), and tracking that one! That should be great!

Furthermore, those people surely would want a possibility to shoot any approaching hostile out of the sky, and that's best done with turrets around the docking bay.

Screet

Posted: **Tue Feb 17, 2009 9:49 pm**

Starin' at me wid dem crazy shaky eyes!

Oolite Bulletins

The Feudal States