Oolite Bulletins

Just added this one, purchased fore and aft capacitors and like it very much despite being rather expensive. Guess I'm a credit pincher. One question: Why do the capacitors need recharging after exiting stations? I'll bet there is a good reason for this but I'm curious.

CaptSolo wrote:

Why do the capacitors need recharging after exiting stations? I'll bet there is a good reason for this but I'm curious.

My guess is that they are like computer RAM, when you turn them off, or when you power down your ship, they lose their charge. All that energy is lost...

RyanHoots wrote:

CaptSolo wrote:

Why do the capacitors need recharging after exiting stations? I'll bet there is a good reason for this but I'm curious.

My guess is that they are like computer RAM, when you turn them off, or when you power down your ship, they lose their charge. All that energy is lost...

Yep. Ship's maintenance safety issue as well.

When CSOTB started this at the same time as i started work on shield cycler,
the difference between our approaches were felt to be big enough to have 2 separate oxps.
In later versions my Shield Cycler became much more flexible then i originally planned.

While looking at the equalizer code to make sure our oxps stayed compatible, i noticed i should be able to adapt my shield cycler code to offer the same functionality.
(the capacitors already work flawlessly with my shield cycler).

I didn't mention/pursue this as CSOTB was very active, also i think this was the first oxp he published.
However, it seems CSOTB is no longer active (last login to forum on Last visited: 01 Feb 2013, 19:08 ) .

The oxp readme gives this for license :

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0
Unported License.

I'm currently working on shield cycler again, and could integrate equalizer & capacitor devices.

Do you people think that would be allowed / a good idea ?

Lone_Wolf wrote:

I'm currently working on shield cycler again, and could integrate equalizer & capacitor devices.

Do you people think that would be allowed / a good idea ?

Just as his sig suggests, CSOTB was always happy when others could make use of his code in their own work.. so I can't see him being upset about it..

Diziet Sma wrote:

Just as his sig suggests, CSOTB was always happy when others could make use of his code in their own work.

No, he was always happy when he could make use of other people's work. That's not the same thing.

Regardless, I'm pretty sure a CC BY-NC-SA license cuts both ways.. which is kind of the point of why most of us use 'em.

<chortles>

Lone_Wolf wrote:

I'm currently working on shield cycler again, and could integrate equalizer & capacitor devices.

No problem with the license, but more with other OXPs: many check the capacitor values directly in the "shieldequalizercapacitors" worldScript (NumericHUD, CombatMFD, Detectors, HardShips) so I think you can make another equalizer but should not the capacitors.
If you want to cycle the energy between the capacitors then you can change the values in the original place, which mean CSOTB's OXP is still required.

Norby wrote:

Lone_Wolf wrote:

I'm currently working on shield cycler again, and could integrate equalizer & capacitor devices.

No problem with the license, but more with other OXPs: many check the capacitor values directly in the "shieldequalizercapacitors" worldScript (NumericHUD, CombatMFD, Detectors, HardShips) so I think you can make another equalizer but should not the capacitors.
If you want to cycle the energy between the capacitors then you can change the values in the original place, which mean CSOTB's OXP is still required.

Norby, i've looked at the combatMFD code and see what you mean.

A possible solution seems to be that i use different names for the capacitors in shieldcycler,
like EQ_SC_FORWARD_CAPACITOR .
That would make them a new equipment type.


Somce clarifaction about what i intend to do :
Apart from renaming, the capacitor code would be copied almost verbatim.
The shieldequalizer code would be adjusted to work with shieldcycler / oxpconfig, but function the same way as now.
To users, the automatic equalizer functionality would become an extra mode for shieldcycler.

In time, shieldcycler would replace both the current ShieldCycler & shieldequalizer OXPs.

Lone_Wolf wrote:

the automatic equalizer functionality would become an extra mode for shieldcycler.

Nice!

Lone_Wolf wrote:

the capacitor code would be copied almost verbatim

You can choose one from two ways:

1. You make a new variable into your worldScript to store the energy in your new capacitors. The previously menitoned existing OXPs will not use this until an update (currently I am a bit overwhelmed with other things so I do not know when I can fix these). I see you plan to replace the old capacitor OXP but you must decide what happen if both is installed: I think some plalyers will want both, especially against the new AI in 1.80.

2. You make a real replacemet, which mean to copy the old EQ key, worldScript name and energy storage variables also. Other OXPs can use this without problems, and you are free to change anything. I can remove the old package from the OXZs, the wiki and short manifest description should mention that do not install the old OXP.
Based on the existence of the old EQ_SHIELD_EQUALIZER key in another worldScript you can detect if the old one is installed and warn the player to remove, due to if two instances are exists from one worldScript then will be random which will be used, maybe the lastly installed which is later in the directory in player's machine.

I think the second way is better, especially if you listen to the request for larger capacitors. There is a big one in HardShips, but I think an independent solution would be useful.

If i understand you correctly, option 2 would basically mean i keep the capacitor "API" to ensure compatibility with other Oxps.

Adding bigger capacitors and options to buy both forward/aft types in 1 go is fine with me.
ShieldCycler became what it is now because of user input.

Checking for an already existing worldScripts.shieldequalizercapacitors should be easy.
I could then issue a warning, maybe even disable the new capacitors in shieldcycler.

Lone_Wolf wrote:

keep the capacitor "API" to ensure compatibility with other Oxps.

Yes.

Lone_Wolf wrote:

Checking for an already existing worldScripts.shieldequalizercapacitors should be easy.

To keep the compatibility you must use this worldScript name so if you check it then it will be always true. I mean if(EquipmentInfo.infoForKey("EQ_SHIELD_EQUALIZER")) is true which is defined in the old package only then you can warn the player.

While using Naval Grid 1.11 (which changes shield recharge rates directly) i noticed that sounds for capicator charging continued after capacitor was full.

A quick peek at this.forwardshieldcapacitor & this.aftshieldcapacitor functions, made clear CSOTB didn't account for shieldrecharge values higher then 3 (which was maximum possible value pre-1.82) .

ADDED :

there's an easy fix , replace the 62.5 in this.forwardshieldcapacitor with : Make the similar change for aft capacitor.

After those changes capacitor charging works fine with non-standard shield recharge values.

I looked at this OXP code and saw each capacitor being charged at half the shield recharge rate, but I couldn't find anything about taking energy from the energy banks to do it... unless my eyes are deceiving (which is known to happen from time to time...), the energy that goes into the capacitors come from nowhere...

Is this OXP still mantained?