Oolite Bulletins

Well.
Came across Oolite today from a link on wikipedia, and am absolutely blown away.
Commander Alfore is back, plying trade between Leesti and Diso after a temporary retirement.
I feel like I should be getting on with homework instead of playing.

I'm absolutely in awe of Giles and all you guys that patch and play with the code - is something I have no comprehension of at all.

I've had a look through the posts, and haven't seen this discussed anywhere, but please forgive me if I'm wrong, but what about insystem missions?

These could be picked up in much the same way as the passengers, but could involve rescuing an escape capsule, helping people out in a battle, delivering a dodgy deal of narcotics, the possibilities are endless and would give a very welcome added dimension to the game.

As I say, forgive me if this is old news, but the idea appeals alot.

Thanks again Giles and everyone who's contributed.
tfl

welcome, Timmy. great nick.

it's by no means a worn, annoying suggestion you're making, just maybe a little ahead of its time. on Giles' todolist there are elements that should further open for scripting such tasks, with the advent of pilot characters (and other) specifications.

meanwhile, feel free to elaborate more on such missions. maybe some are possible to script with present technology too, even for people who don't seriously 'play with code'.

timmyfatlips wrote:

Well.
Came across Oolite today from a link on wikipedia

Oolite has its own Wiki too now:

http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Category:Oolite

Still work in progress but it's coming on very well.

Should be possible...

several hurdles though:
*One problem: how to localise the pod,
need a tracking-ping or something.

*second problem: NPC's scooping the pod.

*third: Is a passenger a piece of equipment?
(eg. EQ_SPECIAL_PASSENGER)

*fourth : If using UseSpecialCargo: "Malfunctioned Lifeboat",
how to check for presence?
Not? Use mission_progression_states instead?

there are places in space you could find based on positions of the planet, the
sun, the witch point. doesnt even need to be very exact.
'between the witch point and the sun' is probably good enough to find a
convoy in need of rescue.
another special point in space: the tip of the planets shadow cone; the point
from where you see a perfect solar eclipse.

of course your mission target could also show up on the compas.

hoqllnq wrote:

of course your mission target could also show up on the compas.

That would be really handy if you could program mission elements into the space compass, the way it is now makes it impractical to put things anywhere other than the spacelane (unless it's really big).

I agree. **WANNA**

Disagree. The Deposed mission, for example is partly dependant on you having to search certain enemies. It would spoil all the fun and frustration.

Rxke: er, the statement was: “That would be really handy if you could program mission elements into the space compass.” This isn’t the same as highlighting all mission targets.

It would be handy for directing a player to:
-waypoints
-an out of the way deepspace location. (you don't want your pirate-hideout in a spacelane, where a behemoth can come by and destroy it)
-An easilly missed mission item, such as an escapepod.

(what also would be handy is a way to highlight mission specific targets on the scanner.)
For example: an insystem mission where the player needs to down a number of pirates from a certain gang.
It would not be neccesary though, one has to create custom entries for the pirate gang anyhow, so their name or adv.scanner description should be enough to distinguish them from normal pirates..
For now let's just set the scanclass type to thargoid for veryimportant targets. or police for VIP-friendlies.

You could always plant a beacon (even a very tiny one) at the mission location.

How's that work then?
scanclass = beacon?

in the shipdata.plist entry. The string can be anything - the first letter is what's displayed in the advanced space compass.

cool, thanks for explaining.

I was wondering what exactly the adv.compass did for me besides saying where the station is at when close to a planet.
Somehow it does not work well in the windows varsion.

really? you can't toggle it to display planet->sun->stationBuoy->witchpointBuoy->(if selected) Target?
bummer.
station is shown only when within the Aegis..