Generation Ships 1.1 OXP

[phkb]

A bit of a necro here, but I've just updated the Generation Ships OXP to version 1.4, and added it to the download managed.

- updated populator function to use new methods.
- switched "pirate-victims.plist" to "role-categories.plist".
- converted "shipdata.plist" to ASCII format, updated subentities to newer format.
- added Email System interface for Galactic Court message.
- spelling corrections.
- converted rtf readme to txt format.
- repackaged as an OXZ, added to download manager.
- requires Oolite 1.80 as minimum.

Old version is still available on the wiki if required.

[Norby]

Thank you! I also installed this a few weeks ago when I searched dockable ships. Was a good exercise to fly into due to moving, but now the missing is_dock parameter is the biggest obstacle.

I think this one is worth to be dockable, maybe with a big market also and change the category from ships to dockables.

You can add your name into the author line in manifest - due to we have not a column to show who is the owner of the manifest this can help to find the new maintainer.

[Layne]

Thank you! I also installed this a few weeks ago when I searched dockable ships. Was a good exercise to fly into due to moving, but now the missing is_dock parameter is the biggest obstacle.

I think this one is worth to be dockable, maybe with a big market also and change the category from ships to dockables.

Norby, the whole in-universe canon for Generation Ships has to do with them being totally off-limits for contact due to a GalCop interdiction. You're not even supposed to be allowed to hail one of these things if you see one, let alone dock and trade with them.

From the original Elite manual, as quoted in the OXP readme:
"The penalty for interference with such a vessel is marooning."

[Cody]

What Layne said!

[Norby]

You're not even supposed to be allowed to hail one of these things if you see one, let alone dock and trade with them.

Thanks for the info, so phkb fixed a bug of the original package by disabling the dock.

[ffutures]

I just loaded this and instantly had a misjump! No sign of a generation ship though, so it was probably just pure chance. I gather that seeing them will be VERY rare, is there anything I should watch out for in the way of weird scanner indications etc.?

[phkb]

is there anything I should watch out for in the way of weird scanner indications etc.?

It's pretty big (slight understatement!). You should be able to see it if you look around, if it's there, but it is quite rare.

so phkb fixed a bug of the original package by disabling the dock

I wish I could claim this was fully intentional. Let me explain what happened. As I was converting the shipdata I noticed that there was a "dock" subentity, but thought, "That can't mean this ship is actually dockable, surely? I mean, these ships can't possibly be dockable. What could the player buy from them? How would a modern ship even interface with the GenShip systems? It must just be a requirement of a ship definition." So I converted the entry and didn't think about adding "is_dock" to it. I was actually considering adding this as "ambience" rather than as "ships", but I continued with the original specification.

So, a bit of a lucky win on my part. Not sure what to do about the actual docking port in the model, though. I have no modelling chops at all - handy with a text editor, can do a bit of JavaScript, can draw lines and gradients in Paint.Net, but ship modelling - not so much. I think it looks sufficiently unlike most docks that it's probably OK to leave it as it is. I'll add some additional text to the manager to ensure everyone who downloads it know they shouldn't mess with them in any way.

[Diziet Sma]

Norby, the whole in-universe canon for Generation Ships has to do with them being totally off-limits for contact due to a GalCop interdiction. You're not even supposed to be allowed to hail one of these things if you see one, let alone dock and trade with them.

From the original Elite manual, as quoted in the OXP readme:
"The penalty for interference with such a vessel is marooning."

This gives me a fun idea for when this OXP is next updated.. it could be fun, in an evil kind of way, that if a player chose to "interfere" with a Generation Ship (after, say, a suitable warning of course), they got marooned at Oresrati (G8) or Beanxeat and Qutius (G6).

What do you think?

[phkb]

What do you think?

I like this idea! Maybe the player can dock, but there will be no markets and no F3 screen available (similar to how the Constores block that page). Then, when you next dock at a GalCop station you are summarily shifted to Oresrati, so when the player presses "Space" to clear the mission screen, the station they're docked at is Oresrati. With no galactic drive. I'll have to investigate how to shift the player's position via code.

[Wildeblood]

Maybe the player can dock...

There is no functioning dock on a gen-ship. Another idea might be to rename the "dock" sub-entity in the model to something else, to avoid it being a source of confusion for anyone messing with this OXP in the future.

[Disembodied]

Maybe the player can dock ...

I think a dockable generation ship would be better as part of a mission OXP (in fact, the generation ship itself might be better as part of - even possibly the setting of the grand finale to - a mission OXP).

Possible scenarios:

• The player is asked to investigate someone trading antiques (possibly by a collector) which leads them, via a clue-hunt, to the outer reaches of a distant system where a generation ship - with its waking crew under siege and its sleepers in peril - is slowly being strip-mined. Do you join in and make a quick buck, or help the (possibly unstable) gen-ship crew - who, let's face it, want to settle an already inhabited planet and have not had a good first contact with the locals).
• Big news! A generation ship is expected imminently, and a welcoming party is being arranged. The player has to help set up the beacons and the fireworks - but someone's got there first and the generation ship is full of pirates/thargoids/hideous human-thargoid hybrid drone-soldiers/etc.
• Big news! A generation ship is expected in a few years - unfortunately it's believed to be full of the Platinum Horde of Karbong, and the player has to intercept it in deep space and ... resolve the issue.

[UK_Eliter]

My Interstellar Tweaks OXP makes use of the - old - generation ships OXP; I'll see if I need to make any changes to the former to account for the new version of the latter. Good stuff, phkb and Commander McLane.

[UK_Eliter]

My Interstellar Tweaks OXP makes use of the - old - generation ships OXP; I'll see if I need to make any changes to the former to account for the new version of the latter. Good stuff, phkb and Commander McLane.

Perhaps a coder can help me out here. For I've run into some trouble. Two problems, actually. (Warning: spoiler alert!)

(1) My OXP used to allow docking (of a sort . .) with 'hijacked' generation ships. However, when you try to dock with one now, the game undergoes a bad hang, despite adding

Code: Select all

allowsDocking = false; [[i]sic[/i]]
disallowedDockingCollides = false;

to the relevant subentity key.

(2) The hikacked generation ship can no longer launch thargoid warships. The log complains that the ships are too large. But it worked when I was making use of the original version of the Generation Ships OXP, and the ships' dimensions don't seem to have changed. Tharglets launch alright, but I want, and was using, something larger. (And, actually, they don't launch alright. Rather, they start firing out and flying out of the innards of the generation ship.

Code: Select all

doesn't seem to make any difference, either.

Can anyone help? Thanks.

EDIT (= some more information): I don't really understand how docks work in Oolite, and, previously - i.e. when it all worked - I managed to get the warships to fly out of the generation ship (rather than get stuck inside it) only through some dubious ad hoc measures. Perhaps I should add, too, that I am using Oolite development version 1.83.0.6559 - and that, actually, I probably didn't test the-old-version-of-Generation Ships + Interstellar Tweaks on that version of Oolite.

[phkb]

I suspect (and I haven't tested this) that you need to have "is_dock" set to true on the dock subentities on the generation ship. If you get a chance to test this before I do, I'm happy to implement the changes in the new version.

[UK_Eliter]

I suspect (and I haven't tested this) that you need to have "is_dock" set to true on the dock subentities on the generation ship. If you get a chance to test this before I do, I'm happy to implement the changes in the new version.

That seems to have done it. Great. Thank you. I don't think you need implement anything your end.