Oolite Bulletins

spara wrote:

ffutures wrote:

I really like the "separate fortune in each galaxy" idea - of course the way to game it is to take on a lot of gold, platinum, and gem contracts immediately before leaving, then take the hyperjump and default on the contracts. But even then that probably cuts it down to a million or two as starting funds.

Should your reputation also vanish after galactic jump? They probably don't know you anyway?

I still like this idea, sort of semi-fresh start, but does it lead to avoiding galactic jumps? Should there be some incentive to move on?

Easy one is that offender etc. status isn't so easy to lose. You leave the galaxy when it's getting too hot for you.

Fatleaf wrote:

Diziet Sma wrote:

Unfortunately, the game (wisely) does not permit OXPs to mess with Trumbles..

Well, THIS kind of 'messes' with them

I guess that I should have specified that by "mess with", I was actually only referring to "killing them off".. that'll teach me to be clearer in what I write..

ffutures wrote:

I really like the "separate fortune in each galaxy" idea - of course the way to game it is to take on a lot of gold, platinum, and gem contracts immediately before leaving, then take the hyperjump and default on the contracts. But even then that probably cuts it down to a million or two as starting funds.

Simple. I like.
Perhaps the hyperdrive requires an empty cargo hold and so precious mineral capacity is much more limited...

spara wrote:

I still like this idea, sort of semi-fresh start, but does it lead to avoiding galactic jumps? Should there be some incentive to move on?

Missions are the current incentive... What if the markets became increaingly stale/saturated, so that trading in your cargo paid less and less the longer you spent in a galaxy? After a while, you'd need to jump just to be able to afford your repair bills...

ffutures wrote:

I really like the "separate fortune in each galaxy" idea - of course the way to game it is to take on a lot of gold, platinum, and gem contracts immediately before leaving, then take the hyperjump and default on the contracts. But even then that probably cuts it down to a million or two as starting funds.

I think this could add an interesting aspect to the game, as 1Tc of Platinum is not an asset you can liquidise instantly. Having to fly around selling max 129kg at a time is required. Plus do you look for the best price, or take whatever? You would also have to have been in the position to be offered those contracts, not all people are.

spara wrote:

I still like this idea, sort of semi-fresh start, but does it lead to avoiding galactic jumps? Should there be some incentive to move on?

I don't like the idea of incentives to make someone do a specific thing. It would be interesting to however think about what could be done to differentiate each galaxy, so that when someone is getting a bit bored with their current galaxy they know that the next will be different.
I don't know if it is possible but how about different goods/profits in each galaxy? Edit: Which would of cause mean that jumping with 1Tc Platinum etc is pointless

Venator Dha wrote:

It would be interesting to however think about what could be done to differentiate each galaxy, so that when someone is getting a bit bored with their current galaxy they know that the next will be different.
I don't know if it is possible but how about different goods/profits in each galaxy? Edit: Which would of cause mean that jumping with 1Tc Platinum etc is pointless

I was near obsessed at one point by the idea of making each gallery different. They were assigned different shipsets, different planet textures (even before povray planets), a special item of equipment that you couldn't get anywhere else and some galactic oddity that was found nowhete else - different oxps based upon a theme I'd assigned each galaxy. Even before I understood condition scripts, I'd just place them in different folders with ".oxp" suffixed whenever I was in that galaxy. There were overlap folders too, so that adjacent galaxies would have something in common.

This meant that lots of quirky oxps that I might not have been sure about installing soon found a place somewhere in one of the galaxies. Stellar Serpents? Why not? They can plague galaxy x. Star Jellies? I'd use them even if there was only one galaxy but why not make them feel more special by putting them in just one or two? If I remember, one galaxy had none of the standard ships in it (i.e. no cobras, asps etc.), a few used different stations (no coriolis, ico etc.) and I thought about one having no police

It was a fun and simple thing to do, I just had to remember to alter those folder suffixes just prior to a jump.

Maybe there's enough incentive in the challenge: "Be a millionaire in all eight". Would definitely work for me. And then you could decide where to retire .

As a side note, upping the price tag of the Galactic Hyperdrive from 5000 to 1000000 would also be an interesting change. Then you would have to be a millionaire in one galaxy, before being able to move on to the next.

Redspear's idea of radically differentiating each chart is a cool one, but would naturally require substantial work. There are some missions that only appear in certain charts. That's quite nice too. Maybe I'll take a look at the old (and deprecated) missions and see if by upgrading them something of value could achieved.

spara wrote:

upping the price tag of the Galactic Hyperdrive from 5000 to 1000000 would also be an interesting change.

Ha, yeah, it would seriously impact two of the core missions!

FWIW I wouldn't want any messing with GalJumps, either in terms of cost or when they could or should be done. This really should (mostly) be down to the player's discretion.

Smivs wrote:

spara wrote:

upping the price tag of the Galactic Hyperdrive from 5000 to 1000000 would also be an interesting change.

Ha, yeah, it would seriously impact two of the core missions!

It would indeed and would probably make GalDrivePod very popular .

About the extra missions and things to do. What's the status of Xeptatl's Sword, btw?

ffutures wrote:

I really like the "separate fortune in each galaxy" idea - of course the way to game it is to take on a lot of gold, platinum, and gem contracts immediately before leaving, then take the hyperjump and default on the contracts. But even then that probably cuts it down to a million or two as starting funds.

Maybe an approach to limiting a player's stupendous earning power is to cut back on the gold, platinum and gems contracts. By all means have them as high-priority, high value contracts, but don't make them so big.

spara wrote:

Smivs wrote:

spara wrote:

upping the price tag of the Galactic Hyperdrive from 5000 to 1000000 would also be an interesting change.

Ha, yeah, it would seriously impact two of the core missions!

It would indeed and would probably make GalDrivePod very popular .

About the extra missions and things to do. What's the status of Xeptatl's Sword, btw?

Ha, well the GDP would have to be seriously more expensive as well
As for Xeptatl's Sword, I honestly don't know. The bottom line is the whole thing needs re-scripting from the ground up to bring it up to date. This is a massive job, and frankly one that might tax my scripting skills beyond breaking point. Okti did most of the original, and sadly he is MIA.

Smivs wrote:

The bottom line is the whole thing needs re-scripting from the ground up to bring it up to date. This is a massive job, and frankly one that might tax my scripting skills beyond breaking point. Okti did most of the original, and sadly he is MIA.

Why does it need a re-write? It was working perfectly with zero errors with 1.7x. How is it not compatible with 1.8x

Fatleaf wrote:

Why does it need a re-write?

One reason would be the new roles, I suspect!

Where do I start?! The main problem is the way everything is populated. It uses the old shipWillLaunchFromStation and shipWillExitWitchspace etc and really needs to be converted to use the new system populator method. A lot of the code is also deprecated.
It would be far easier to start fresh than try to fix what's there at the moment.

Ah, then that explains. I haven't really looked into the code yet. Will have to get round to it.

I have not looked at my oxp yet with 1.8x. I will have to get round to that this week to see if it still works. No one has posted anything otherwise yet but I should check.

Smivs wrote:

Where do I start?! The main problem is the way everything is populated. It uses the old shipWillLaunchFromStation and shipWillExitWitchspace etc and really needs to be converted to use the new system populator method. A lot of the code is also deprecated.
It would be far easier to start fresh than try to fix what's there at the moment.

Would it be ok, if I took a look at it? I've done quite a bit of that sort of updating lately.