Oolite Bulletins

Presenting probably the most simplest oxp ever . This oxp shows the condition of your ship in the status screen next to the ship name in a scale from 0 to 10.



Download (v1.0.1): https://app.box.com/s/9t8liv9vp0knwr0eam9e

Not in the manager yet, let's see what folks feel about it first.

Not a bad idea imho. I invented a scale for this what you can consider, bundled into ShipVersion OXP: ShipVersion#Service_Level

My other effort is in [wiki]HUDSelector[/wiki], the included Original HUD present a Hull bar below the scanner.

If you could only aks for maintenance while you are in a high tech system...
I hate to see maintenance becom necessary while I hang around in a TL2 Anarchy system.
So, what Do I do with such information?

i assume the choice is yours. risk staying around and have a bigger repair bill or quickly witch to a higher tech system to get repairs done..

Norby wrote:

Not a bad idea imho. I invented a scale for this what you can consider, bundled into ShipVersion OXP: ShipVersion#Service_Level

I just knew I had seen something like this before, just could not remember where . Scalewise, in this case, I prefer numbers over textual expression, but that's just me, of course.

Norby wrote:

My other effort is in [wiki]HUDSelector[/wiki], the included Original HUD present a Hull bar below the scanner.

I thought about something like this too, but did not actually do anything as it would be tied to a certain HUD. Nice bar anyway. Not sure about the word Hull though as the maintenance level covers other factors too .

ralph_hh wrote:

If you could only aks for maintenance while you are in a high tech system...
I hate to see maintenance becom necessary while I hang around in a TL2 Anarchy system.
So, what Do I do with such information?

Well, your ship's condition degrades no matter where you are, so I think it's nice to know the condition level and plan for a visit to a higher TL when needed.

Nice one, Spara!

I like Norby's HUD solution, too.. it would be nice if the devs could add the capability in core, so that all HUDs could make use of it, if desired.

spara wrote:

I thought about something like this too, but did not actually do anything as it would be tied to a certain HUD

I put it in an MFD



It would be cool to see it in the station too though. Thanks

And now it actually works . Sorry about the flawed 1.0 version, I was a bit too hasty putting it up. Download in the first post updated to version 1.0.1.

There seems to be a quite a selection of different solutions . Looks like there is a need for showing this information. And quite frankly I feel that the core should somehow show it to the player. I really like Norby's HUD solution, but I'm not sure the information is really needed in-flight, thus it might not be a good core solution. One more line in the Status Screen saying Ship Status: and statuses like "Excellent, Good, Average, Poor, Critical" would float my boat.

I've always estimated it using my ship's value in the shipyard - but it would be handy to see it on F5, I suppose.

An inexact verbal rating would be preferable to an exact numerical score, for me - especially if it could be made applicable to ships for sale, too, and reflected in the sale price: something like

pristine
scuffed
scraped
scored
damaged
badly damaged

IMHO, some things should be left unseen in core, such as ship service level and commander reputation. Can anyone tell me the exact service level of their cars, expressed in percentage, or the exact reputation they enjoy in their social circles in a scale from one to ten?

On the other hand, giving this to the player as an OXP is perfectly fine.

another_commander wrote:

IMHO, some things should be left unseen in core, such as ship service level and commander reputation. Can anyone tell me the exact service level of their cars, expressed in percentage, or the exact reputation they enjoy in their social circles in a scale from one to ten?

On the other hand, giving this to the player as an OXP is perfectly fine.

I agree that this information, if shown in the core game, should be vague. The reason I would like it to show is that currently I feel that it's a bit too hidden factor that really affects the game in ways that are not obvious to all. I can tell about my car if it has scratches, runs erratically and sounds funny. The ship always looks the same and sounds the same no matter what has happened, so some info about the real condition would be nice.

spara wrote:

I agree that this information, if shown in the core game, should be vague. The reason I would like it to show is that currently I feel that it's a bit too hidden factor that really affects the game in ways that are not obvious to all. I can tell about my car if it has scratches, runs erratically and sounds funny. The ship always looks the same and sounds the same no matter what has happened, so some info about the real condition would be nice.

Definitely. There's some really nice visual feedback with the engine wake stuttering when you're low on energy: a little feedback (visual, audio, and/or text description) to allow players to gauge their ship's service level would be useful, too.

It might also be worth permanently including the Ship Maintenance option on the F3 screen, so players can choose when to pay for repairs (which they might not need) when they want to. A (vague) verbal description of the ship's maintenance status could be shown there, and the option could light up orange when it's urgently required.

The most cost-effective method would be to wait until a service was actually required, but if there was a reasonably substantial flat fee for a service, based on the base model ship price, whether or not any actual repairs get done, then making the option permanently available might provide a useful money sink for nervous and/or obsessive players. There could be some other pricing variable, depending on whether the servicing was carried out by some grubby scutter in a TL2 hicksburg or by a trained engineer on a TL13 world with all the latest facilities and tech: this could help make certain locations stand out (say, rated economically Poor, but with a high TL) as the best place to visit (or rated Rich with a low TL, as the worst). Plus, it would let players primp up their ship prior to starting a mission, rather than finding themselves halfway to trouble in a rattly-but-not-quite-due-for-repair-yet vehicle.

Disembodied wrote:

... rather than finding themselves halfway to trouble in a rattly-but-not-quite-due-for-repair-yet vehicle.

This though is something one takes into account when accepting time-critical contracts - if I could 'primp' my ship whenever I wished, some of the risk would be averted.

Disembodied wrote:

...a little feedback (visual, audio, and/or text description) to allow players to gauge their ship's service level would be useful, too.

Hmmm. Maybe some neat ideas in the Breakable Standard Equipment oxps could be used here. A flickering hud, weird scanner behaviour, the occasional coming out of Torus speed for drive malfunction and a sudden discharge of ships energy banks at the most appropriate time would mean that you really should maintain your ship. This would make a cool oxp for game hardeners.