Planet description tables

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Dr Beeb
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Joined: Sun Mar 23, 2008 10:28 pm
Location: Mt. Vista, Oosa, Biarge System, Galaxy 1

Planet description tables

Post by Dr Beeb »

Hello,
I created a set of tables at [EliteWiki] Planet description tables that summarize the default planet descriptions with a maximum 3-letter code. For example Tibedied in Galaxy 1 has a default Oolite description of, This planet is most notable for Tibediedian Arma brandy but scourged by deadly edible grubs, which is encoded in the table as 4GX where the keys refers to
  • 4 brandy (fields of agriculture)
    G plaGue of killer/deadly animals
    X eXotic food, also edible poets/moths
These tables also gave an opportunity to allow some interpretation to be encoded. For example the key G for plague does not occur for descriptions that included 'plagued by solar activity', that is instead covered by the keys S or >.

The total list of keys are:
  • A Animal to see (zoo or hunting)
    B Boring/Tedious
    C frequent/deadly/dreadful Civil war
    D killer/evil/lethal Disease
    E occasional/unprEdictable civil war
    F great/vast Forests
    G plaGue of killer/deadly animals
    H Hoopy casinos (see 1)
    I Unusual/Weird Forests (Indigo coloured leaves)
    J Juice (from animal/tree)
    K sports (Karate) that need gravity (Championships, see Z)
    L Loathing for casinos
    M Mountains
    N Nightlife
    O Oceans (see ; and < too)
    P Plantations (see = and 4 too)
    Q freQuent/unpredictable/deadly earthQuakes (see 5)
    R Rock formations
    S ravaged by (also unpredictable) Solar activity (see >)
    T Trees
    U revolting/Unremarkable dump
    V great Volcanoes (see ?)
    W evil Water/gargle blasters (both drink and spa)
    X eXotic food, also edible poets/moths
    Y shYness
    Z Zero-G sports (big canyons)
    [ loathing of discos
    \ produce exciting sit coms (see 2)
    ] loathing of sit coms
    ^ silliness
    _ mating traditions
    1 unusual Casinos
    2 produce unusual sit coms
    3 brew
    4 brandy (fields of agriculture)
    5 occasional Quakes
    6 love for tourists (Recreation)
    7 love for poetry
    8 love for food blenders
    9 loathing of food blenders
    : parking meters (for space craft too)
    ; pink Oceans
    < unusual Oceans
    = pink Plantations
    > occasional Solar activity
    ? weird Volcanoes
    @ Anything is ok (insert into tables for other purposes)
This choice of keys will hopefully encourage consideration of two aspects:
1) Mission or immersion OXPs based on these keys.
2) Guiding the visual appearance of planets if alternative textures used.

If the planet description contained clues that trees were present then the key T is available and distinct from that for extensive forests, F. Key I captures unusual options for the visual appearance of forests which have been described as weird etc. Similarly, the appearance of oceans can be influenced by key < for unusual oceans and key ; for the legendary pink oceans. If clues indicate that mountains are present then key M is available, distinct from R for rock formations, and Z for Zero-G sports.

Some interesting key combinations are apparent,
;Q and ;5 are pink tsunamis
AH casino with nearby game reserves
3X a fabulous meal
^C silliness in midst of civil war

and so on.

Either these tables could be used literally in OXPs and scanned, or else just use the tables manually to identify desired key combinations of interest during code writing and just retain the list of valid system id's for each galaxy.
White dots were so much easier to hit
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