Oolite Bulletins

I know about the Hired Guns oxp, but I was wondering about something a little different. Something more along the lines of a Wingman.oxp. Instead of hiring someone for just a single trip at a set price, you could find a "partner" to fly around with you on a more permanent basis. He/she could receive a percentage of your profits each time docked and traded. Or, if not possible, perhaps just receive a "salary" on a regular basis..? This could also be expanded upon with random and not so random audio messages as you fly from WP to Station. They could let you know when they are being targeted, or when they have just blown up a pirate etc, or perhaps just telling you about the little green dancing girl/boy they hooked up with at the last dock etc...

Anyways, just an idea for any bored code monkeys out there! };]

Nice idea!

<wanders off, hoping a bored code-wizard comes along>

Who gets the kill? What about missions, what if you wingman kills the mark you are supposed to? How do you let the wingman know that they are to leave cargo floating and move on. What about torus lock?

I have a lot of code that I could bolt together for this, but many things like the above questions need to be addressed first.

Tricky wrote:

Who gets the kill? What about missions, what if you wingman kills the mark you are supposed to? How do you let the wingman know that they are to leave cargo floating and move on. What about torus lock?

I have a lot of code that I could bolt together for this, but many things like the above questions need to be addressed first.

Well, I think the wingman is your backup so to speak. He's just along for the ride, so it's still your "mission/kill", and he's just along to help. Therefore you get the kill credit etc.There may however be other times when we don't want them along, there should probably be an option to leave them behind ( a "stay here" command?) or dismiss them somehow. Hopefully with a way to "pick them back up" again later?

Cargo and torus lock... What about a range limiter (I know NOTHING about scripting, so have no idea of what is possible here!)? Something that says if you get beyond x number of meters, he will stop whatever he is doing and do his best to get back within that range of your ship. After all, he's supposed to have your back! };] And if he gets locked, it would be up to you to slow down or wait for him to catch up, otherwise, he would just have to follow along until he catches up...?

Thargoid wrote:

Torus lock is easy - you make the wingman scanClass ROCK and then tweak his scanner lollipop to make him look like something else (that's how I did it in Hired Guns).

Kills, at least in terms of things like missions, is a whole can o'trumbles as scripts will be sent the wingman as the killer, not the player ship. Hence it's very easy for such scenarios to screw up missions. And there's no easy way around that one, except on a fancy-script case by case basis.

Well, in that case, it would be best to have some kind of "Stay Here" command when you want to go do something "mission critical". }:]

Heh, a few weeks ago I imagined an OXP that would be called "Noobs" for that multiplayer experience everyone is clamoring for! You'd find a newbie pilot who decides to tag along with you, so excited about starting his career... saying he's logged lots of simulator time.

When condition is green, he'd chat up a storm. Maybe the OXP would identify his species, so he might say different things, like, if he's a frog, "Sometime if you're ever on (planet name), you should come visit. My mom/sister/brother/lover/wife/concubine makes the best fly soup you'll ever taste!" Or, if he's an insect, "So... I understand that, with you humans, the females don't actually devour their mate. So, uh... I wanna ask you... have you ever done it? What's it like?" (of course this assumes that your commander is a human male)

And then when things go red, he chats like crazy in a panic. "Wait, wait, where's the pause button?" "I don't have an escape pod!" "They're really shooting at me!" etc. etc. And after a fight, if you got some kills, "Wow, that was AWESOME!!! You were all like ZAP! ZAP! ZOOM!" etc. etc.

It would be totally pointless and annoying, but there you go -- the real multiplayer experience!

Keeper wrote:

Heh, a few weeks ago I imagined an OXP that would be called "Noobs" for that multiplayer experience everyone is clamoring for! You'd find a newbie pilot who decides to tag along with you, so excited about starting his career... saying he's logged lots of simulator time...

Too funny! As long as you had the option to ditch him eventually and get a decent wing-man/woman/frog/cat/insect etc.. };]