Oolite Bulletins

i see i should have added "from the pilot's perspective", as i knew about the time increases when you launch or jump, but Commander McLane's answer about covers it.

For game play, having a simple and quick graphics sequence to denote hyperspace/witchspace travel is fine by me, and it adheres to the K.I.S.S. principle to keep things simple.

For the sake of player imaginations, well that's up to each players' preferences.

It would affect storytelling logistics if crews were awake and concious throughout a witchspace journey and if the journey wasn't instantaneous.
Crews could engage in various activities while the ship was in transit from one system to another.

If a ship could make multiple jumps along a trajectory towards a system, it could shorten the total travel time to reach a destination.

On the other hand, if there were limitations on the ability of ships and crews to perform jumps in rapid succession, that would introduce other logistical concerns.
Example: If any witchspace jump causes stress to a ship, then making multiple jumps without adequate recovery time between them could result in a ship suffering equipment break-downs and possibly becoming stranded.

Such an example might explain why Captains prefer not to risk jumping into the void of space between systems in order to sub-divide their trips into smaller segments in an attempt to deliver their cargoes to markets sooner than their competition.

As for visual eye-candy for players to enjoy while docking or witchspacing? I suggest "to each their own".

CptnEcho wrote:

For game play, having a simple and quick graphics sequence to denote hyperspace/witchspace travel is fine by me, and it adheres to the K.I.S.S. principle to keep things simple.

Query, what of station travel?

I'd love to see a new sequence for Hyperspacing & is it possible to make docking a separate visual sequence to Hyperspacing?

I suppose that ultimately we could even have 5 totally separate sequences: normal hyperspace, hyperspace misjump, galactic hyperspace, docking, and undocking.

Adding those possibilites, and making sure the sequences keep going until after OXPs repopulate a system might well mean a complete overhaul of that part of the code, and might have to wait until after the next stable release.

However, it should be possible to have two separate sequences, one for hyperspace, and one for docking/undocking without breaking too many things. I'll have a proper look this weekend, and let you know!

Blimey! A casual question on my part seems to have led to a potential 'complete overhaul' of that part of the coding

I don't think I've ever had a post anywhere on the internets ellicit that much response.

I promise my next post will much more mundane

Oh, just as an aside I quite liked these effects:

virgopunk wrote:

I have this screen saver. I'd not hazard a guess at how many hours I've wasted staring at it....

Captain Hesperus

Captain Hesperus wrote:

I have this screen saver. I'd not hazard a guess at how many hours I've wasted staring at it....

Business is slow lately? Who would think that recession reached trumble sales already...

goran wrote:

Captain Hesperus wrote:

I have this screen saver. I'd not hazard a guess at how many hours I've wasted staring at it....

Business is slow lately? Who would think that recession reached trumble sales already...

This is because I am partaking in the sales part of the business. He just has to sit back on his pile of trumbles now and rake in the cash.

Meanwhile, an invitational trumble is being delivered to you now as we speak.A new invoiced trumble will be delivered to you every week, and as always, if you do not wish to receive any more of them, please don't hesitate to visit our offices in the Riedquat system so that we can lighten your load from your wallet. Ahem.

We look forward to doing further business with you.

pmw57 wrote:

CptnEcho wrote:

For game play, having a simple and quick graphics sequence to denote hyperspace/witchspace travel is fine by me, and it adheres to the K.I.S.S. principle to keep things simple.

Query, what of station travel?

I see no reason to change current gameplay sequences. Others are welcome to do so at their discretion.

pmw57 wrote:

Meanwhile, an invitational trumble is being delivered to you now as we speak.A new invoiced trumble will be delivered to you every week, and as always, if you do not wish to receive any more of them, please don't hesitate to visit our offices in the Riedquat system so that we can lighten your load from your wallet. Ahem.

We look forward to doing further business with you.

Bummer... I knew i shouldn't poke that cat.

Kaks wrote:

However, it should be possible to have two separate sequences, one for hyperspace, and one for docking/undocking without breaking too many things. I'll have a proper look this weekend, and let you know!

Indeed, it was possible to separate the docking/undocking tunnel from the hyperspace one - just! Nothing too spectacular, but now hyperspace jumps can show different colours rings than the hitherto standard pink/blue, and the colours are scriptable. (planet by planet, even!)
I've updated the progress thread accordingly.

Another suggestion for witchspace tunnel. Is it possible to use rainbow colours and put a simple shader over it?

Like this:

I'm sure that is possible... but entirely achievable without shaders, thereby including many more Oolite players...

I proudly present: IC 2118: The Witch Head Nebula