Oolite Bulletins

Posh luxury resort hotel stations in the very wealthy systems could add some interesting possibilities. One would need a cr balance of 2-3 million or Elite status (since Elite status is about the only sort of celebrity we actually have in the game at this time) to even dock. Anyone not up to those standards might get directed to the "tradesman docking" where they *may* get some drudge mission offer.

Ah, there you are. You can load up these garbage cannisters and jettison them near the sun. Your account will be credited .5 CR per ton.

or

Be a good sort and run to the main station and bring us back a load of wine/liquor for us, would you? You will be suitably recompensed, of course.

Most of the time, however, unless the player is "rich" or "famous", they'd simply be told they may not dock and that their services are not required at this time.

However, for those who are rich enough (or Elite), it would be a different story. It would cost a good bit each dy /interval that the player stays at the resort, but there would also be the chance for missions that would be interesting and likely profitable. Well, how profitable might depend on how long the player had stayed as a paying guest waiting for the opportunity to come up. Such opportunities might include things like:

a.) cargo contracts that are unusually profitable but also might be a bit dubious on ethical levels

b.) messenger runs, taking a data crystal or other item to some far away place for a fee

c.) ransom delivery "We don't dare involve the authorities. Please help us, Xinkle is our only larvae.."

d.) field trips, where you have to lead some bored playboy/playgirl/playbeing through a dangerous system and back and keep the daft little frakker from getting killed

e.) espionage, where a business or gov wants you to visit some other biz/gov/system and get photographs or retrieve some data one of their agents has left for pickup.

f.) high stakes gambling, games where a player could lose far more than 100 creds or so

g.) private wagers challenges. For example, traveling all eight Galaxies and visiting ten specific systems or places/features in each and making it back to the original resort in a certain number of days. Sort of a Phileas Fogg sort of thing where the player might be making the journey themselves or betting against an NPC who plans on doing it.

And of course, sometimes even a considerable bit of expensive time spent hob-nobbing at the resort would get the player nothing but small talk, some nice meals and fancy drinks, and their ship valet parked and professionally detailed. LOL

Anyway, sort of an "atmosphere" thing with some opportunities. A place that's a bit expensive to spend time at and where one has to be either "rich" or "famous" to be allowed inside.

Seems like a nice idea. One question, though: has anybody actually stayed on a station/dockable for more than five minutes? I mean, gameplay takes place outside the stations, not inside, apart from the usual trading and outfitting. And buying some expensive equipment and watching the clock adjust is about the only way to spend any amount of game time on a station.

So what would the player do while their character is spending enough time in the Hotel to qualify for some special missions? Stare on a screen on which absolutely nothing is happening? Watch his own fingernails grow? Go on a short vacation while the game keeps running unattended?

Presumably you do stay on the station the whole time your ship's being worked on...and that can be many hours or even days.

As for the model to do something with, Nuit Station is both unfinished and in dire need of a purpose:
http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Nuit_Space_Station_OXP

(I've thought about making it the Dictator's Villa at richer Dictatorship systems...and you pay 10 credits to dock with it.)
The problem with the Nuit Station besides "breeding" copies of itself every time you launch is its docking points for large ships simply doesn't work.

It would be better off if the current docking bay was removed and replaced with a single docking point at the far end of the station...and either remove the "funny arms" or park big freighters as close as possible to them without causing collisions.

The Nuit breeds copies simply cos it's an unfinished project and has the test spawn script included. it's easily amended to only produce the one station.

i've got two new stations due imminently; one, the Nephthys, is supposed to be a high class/exclusive station bought by corporations, playbeings etc, so that could be adopted/written for if anyone wanted to just do scripty stuff w/out having to do a model too.

Switeck wrote:

Presumably you do stay on the station the whole time your ship's being worked on...and that can be many hours or even days.

The game clock is very clear on how much time something takes. As I said, it only shows passing time when you buy some equipment, and the time is proportional to the price tag. So, if you dock at the station and only have to buy fuel, you ship is worked on for some minutes. That's it. If you want to spend many additional hours on the station, there is currently only one way of doing so: spend the equal amount of RealLife™ hours staring on your F5 screen while absolutely nothing happens. If the OXP requires you to stay for three days until you're offered something, you have to sit in front of your computer for three days without actually playing the game, just staying on the station.

Time acceleration can make this a little better, but at the current maximum factor of 16 the player still has to wait 1.5 hours doing absolutely nothing until a day has passed. That'd make for an extremely boring gameplay. I am only bringing the issue up to make whoever-will-pick-this-up aware that it has to be tackled by a possible hotel.oxp.

I suppose it wouldn't *have* to be actual game time passing. Time passing on the station at least seems to occur in other OXPs. In Random Hits, the player pays for their sandwich and drink and is told what sort of entertainment there was, so they can assume at least a bit of time passed while they were doing that. Sometimes the Seedy Bar is attacked while one is there. That can also happen in main station, I think due to one of the Naval OXPs. But I've never actually checked the clock to see if events took "actual game time" or not. Even on the few occasions where I was informed I'd been questioned for several hours, beaten, spent the night in a cell and been tossed out in the morning (courtesy of the Planetfall.OXP), I never thought to check if that had been actual game time.

But a bit of storytelling and interaction would probably be the easiest way to get the player to spend time.

As you are enjoying a leisurely walk along the main concourse, basking in the bright but safely filtered light from the distant sun of _______, a distinguished looking green frog dressed in hotel uniform comes up to you.

"Pardon the intrusion, Commander _______. We hope you are enjoying your stay with us and I was wondering if I might confirm your reservation for dinner tonight? The entertainment promises to be something very special, as the fabulous and reclusive composer, PaGroove, is with us this week and will be performing one of his new pieces.

...and the player might be offered two or more choices:

Oh, definitely. I never miss a PaGroove show.

Sadly, I have pressing business elsewhere and must return to my ship and get underway.

If they choose to stay, then obviously time passes and a random event occurs which might be anything from the player just being told that the dinner (with some descriptions) was excellent and the show very enjoyable, to meeting some other patron with an interesting business offer or being asked to help with some tricky situation. As time passes from day to day, the player's credit balance is charged accordingly. Or it might be more interesting to wait until the player decides to leave and then present them with an itemised bill that might be rather lengthy and could contain some items they wouldn't actually recall having specifically asked for. "If you have to ask how much it costs, then you really can't afford to stay here." Sure, they might have opted in for dinner, but they may not have considered reasonable expenses such as the luxury shuttle (what, did they think they'd walk?) to the restaurant or the dry cleaning bill for the bit of beverage they spilled while applauding.

There also could be some options or a sort of menu of events currently offered at a given resort. The Magnetic Zero-G Polo Match, a Ship Show (which might either be new designs or venerable antiques), a Ball or Cotillion (where the player might be asked if they'd join in a lobsteroid quadrille... I had best state that is strictly a dance reference before some of the creative and twisted minds here come up with something less-than-family-friendly), Fashion Show, Night at the Opera, and so on. The point would be to have enough events that they could change daily and perhaps be varied enough between different resorts to give an impression of a bit of a social whirl.

Threaded through the events would be occasional opportunities, some of which might be shady or "red herrings" while others would be potentially profitable or hint at intrigue and mystery that the player might follow up on. There could possibly be some large mystery (or a few of them) at each resort that the player could have to piece together and figure out in order to meet a certain person to be offered an opportunity or get some particular reward.

Obviously, my understanding of what "the rich and famous" actually do is somewhat limited, since I am neither. LOL

But with a bit of storytelling and some random elements and interactive choices for the player to make, I don't think it would be too hard to come up with something interesting enough to take some time to check into at any given resort. It could also bring in some interesting luxury ships occasionally traveling from the witchspace beacon to the resort, which might be either eye candy or prey, depending on the player's personal style and inclinations.

Basically, though, it would be a wealth-triggered set of stations offering some opportunities and lifestyle roleplay with some atmosphere/ambiance and maybe eye candy.

must admit, as mentioned elsewhere, i take very little notice of the clock at all, complete waste of time for the way i play, so having stuff set up like this thread wouldn't bother me at all, my imagination would fill in the details/period of the stay even if there was a clock saying only 5mins had passed in real game time.

Lots of linked mission screens with various choices - shall I go to the spa or shall I play zeroG golf. Kind of hotel text adventure. Depending on choices the clock can be adjusted by script and the choices affect a) your bank balance and b) the chance of finding something interesting to do.

This is definitely an intriguing idea. Certainly lots of time is required to do the necessary networking and schmoozing of potential clients.

Regarding the schmoozing and boozing - it could add an element of gambling. As you leave, you're presented with your bill. Of course you don't remember shouting the executives of Isis to box seats at the zero-G cricket...but you did do it in the hope of being granted access to be test pilot for their latest creation...

There's one thing that I would like to do that would add to the immersion and be lots of fun but can't. Wander around the station killing time and getting into mischief. This kind of thing could be the glue that ties up all loose ends of the game. I know the player is the ship. I still would like this. Then the ideas put forth here could really bloom as whole groups of people work on this whole other part of oolite...the personal part.

CommonSenseOTB wrote:

There's one thing that I would like to do that would add to the immersion and be lots of fun but can't. Wander around the station killing time and getting into mischief. This kind of thing could be the glue that ties up all loose ends of the game. I know the player is the ship. I still would like this. Then the ideas put forth here could really bloom as whole groups of people work on this whole other part of oolite...the personal part. :)

He, then take a look at the videos -> https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?f= ... 5&start=11.
The walk scene is sitting on my HDD for more than a year and now I've implemented it for the next Vector version. The mechanism is simple and since Cabal_Common_Briefing it's even easier.

Svengali wrote:

CommonSenseOTB wrote:

There's one thing that I would like to do that would add to the immersion and be lots of fun but can't. Wander around the station killing time and getting into mischief. This kind of thing could be the glue that ties up all loose ends of the game. I know the player is the ship. I still would like this. Then the ideas put forth here could really bloom as whole groups of people work on this whole other part of oolite...the personal part.

He, then take a look at the videos -> https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?f= ... 5&start=11.
The walk scene is sitting on my HDD for more than a year and now I've implemented it for the next Vector version. The mechanism is simple and since Cabal_Common_Briefing it's even easier.

I know, I have plans to "tinker" with this in the future.

Switeck: Well, the large docking bays could also be places the player isn't allowed to dock anyway. They'd justify the occasional presence of something like a luxury space liner that appeared to be arriving or leaving. Somebody might have a nice yacht, but they can't necessarily expect to dock at the berth built for the RMS Queen Elizabeth II.

The Nuit stations are a very elegant piece of work. Even aside from the level of detail and the design, the thoughts that went into it.. To quote from the Wiki:

The counter-rotating rings are the main business and recreation areas. Luxury penthouse apartments, malls, casinos, restaurants, sporting complexes and entertainment areas offer everything from cinema and theatre to zero-grav hockey and shooting ranges. The lower ring houses the "Pharaoh" class apartments, themselves an extremely luxurious standard of housing, but the upper ring caters to the elite of society, with the "Goddess" class apartments. More villa than apartment, these resplendent residences are a status symbol for every owner.

Killer Wolf: The Nephthys definitely sounds interesting.

I'm thinking the resorts/hotels would be rare, only found in the richest systems, and probably not all political systems. For example, Anarchies and Feudal Systems are both rather risky and not likely places for wealthy investors to have built luxury stations. They wouldn't necessarily all have to be the same exact station.

Capt. Murphy: Exactly. Like a text based adventure with choices to give the player some interesting ways of spending a bit of time and credits in hopes of running across an interesting opportunity to take them back out into the regular Ooniverse and the more familiar style of gameplay. The real gameplay is still going to be flying and shooting and etc out in the big Ooniverse.

Bugbear: Lots of potential for rather high and sometimes rather outrageous bills. There is always some concern with players getting too rich or getting rich too quickly. My thought is that by making a certain degree of wealth an entrance requirement to the resorts and having them be a bit expensive to stay at, we can give the player something to actually do with a larger CR balance in their account that might be a bit interesting or fun. If highly lucrative opportunities come up only once in a while, some players will spend a good bit of their credits to try and get them. The element of gambling is the essence of getting players to take risks, which is what makes for adventure. The opportunity to be the test pilot for a hot new ship that's just out is a sort of opportunity I hadn't thought of, but I think it's just the sort of thing where it would really get some players' attention.

CommonSenseOTB: Yeah, that kind of fantasy is always in most player's "game in the head", I think. The idea of docking at the station, doing the biz, and then heading over to the station cantina for dinner and a few drinks and to see who's around and what's up. It is often said that in Oolite, "the player is the ship". In certain senses, this is undeniably true. But to the player themselves, they are imagination and what they see on their screen is the reality. The game engine, of necessity, may view it otherwise. But to the player, if they get a bit of eye candy and told enough about where they are to believe it enough to play, they can be anywhere, including wandering a station.

Svengali: I had seen you mention the possibility for movie cut scenes in the game before somewhere, but hadn't looked at the example. I have to say that is nothing short of amazing. I'd been thinking of maybe some BGS type screens could show some locations in a resort station, but those clips are mind-blowing.

Ganelon wrote:

Svengali: I had seen you mention the possibility for movie cut scenes in the game before somewhere, but hadn't looked at the example. I have to say that is nothing short of amazing. I'd been thinking of maybe some BGS type screens could show some locations in a resort station, but those clips are mind-blowing.

Oolite is already pretty powerful and the possibilities are cool! It could even be used to make a trailer clip for Oolite in the game or A_Hs idea for the racing teams with real racing scenes .-)

Captain McLane of Fast Spaceship Orion wrote:

there is currently only one way of doing so: spend the equal amount of RealLife™ hours staring on your F5 screen while absolutely nothing happens.

Not necessarily nothing...
I always thinked of Elite as a "Spaceship Simulator". When I played it on the C64, my room was the Cockpit of my trusty Cobra, my very computer was the ship's computer, and the color monitor which I was so proud of was the front camera display of the ship. Sometimes my little sister (she's in her thirties now and a dentist - 0MG ) came to play along with me, on this occasions we really "played out" the off-screen part.
Of course I don't suggest you to leave your ship/house to have a laser upgrade and take a walk in the streets, pretending them to be the station, and visit some friend who hopefully tolerates your mental condition and plays Xochtly the tradesman of informations. But you still could go afk for a while and do something else, as your commander would. Whatever happens at the station while you are not aboard your ship, is not an Oolite issue.

To the game, the player is the ship. To the player, the game is the ship.
(Not the station).

So, for me - of course, that's entirely personal - running around at the station in an ego-shooter manner would ruin the game. Which would be a pity, as I generally like the idea of a greater variety of events at stations.
So (for me) it boils down to the following concept: If the player wants to walk around in the station, this is left to his own fantasy. But if he decides to stay at his ship, at least for some moments, he can interact with all sorts of people, events, conditions or entertainment the station has to offer. It all occures via the ship's communicators. He could place bids in gamblings or book a place in some luxory restaurant (it would be left purely to the player's fantasy if he really goes for the dinner or not, and solely his responibility to take some time off-screen, but the costs would be taken from his credits account in any case, as the table has been reserved for him) etc.
More interesting would be the "roleplaying" possibilities, the intrigues, the missions. But still, all of these can take place via "ship communication".
So everything you "do" at the station would, as far as the game is concerned, take place at your computer. Game time = real time. Issue solved. Plus, this would still fit in my "Spaceship Simulator" concept.