External dashboards

[RockDoctor]

Rockdoctor is occupied searching for hacking interfaces to the street lighting.

Is your local council not doing its job?

The lamps are HPS (High Pressure Sodium, vaguely whiteish) - nary a Neon yellow nor Rubidium Red light amongst them.

The Council have transmutation modules in the light fittings, don't they?

[Cholmondely]

Found another thread of interest on this point:

Are there things the player can do, during the longeurs? (Non-compulsory things, so if they want to stare out the window, they can.) Things like:
...
5. Run system checks and perform onboard repairs and tune-ups
...

This is the first post (not directly related, but still relevant, I would argue)

In the game (not sure whether in the core game or added by OXP) you can buy various licences, such as the Escort licence, which allow you to access a greater variety of missions. My thought is to add an engineering licence.

Initially, the player would have the possibility of 'enrolling' on an engineering course for a fee. To add a bit of colour, the player might need to have Ship's library installed and have a 'course book' or two added, although, of course, the real training is done by hypnotic suggestion to save time. After a set amount of game time, the player would receive a graduation message upon landing at a space station (possibly above a certain tech level).

After this, the player is a qualified engineer and can stock up on alloys to carry out hull repairs (either on their own ship or a ship belonging to an NPC who will pay for the privilege) and on machinery to repair ship's systems. Some systems might also require gold or platinum for certain electronics, while lasers might require gemstones. Radioactives and Computers would also be useful for some repair jobs. You might also need to carry the appropriate engineering tools (with, maybe, different sets available for different job types) that can be purchased from the F3 Ship Outfitting screen.

You could have an engineer/roadside assistance career path similar to those for other roles, so that with more repair jobs you gradually become an elite engineer. At lower levels you may not be able to carry out certain repairs but learn to carry them out as you gain experience.

You could have missions similar to the "tow the hospital ship" one that is activated when you buy the towbar, except that, instead of towing ships to a space station for repair, you repair them on the spot.

Of course, repairs take time, so while carrying out a repair job you are vulnerable to attack unless defended by escort ships or any automated defence systems that can be set up. For certain missions, you might be assigned a Viper escort, while for others you might request an escort for an appropriate reduction in earnings for that job, You might have to fly around or fight your way through pirates, Thargoids or other enemies to get to a ship in need of assistance.

[Cholmondely]

http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/r ... oldeck.php has quite a lot on SpaceShip bridges.

About 10% of the way down the long page, the StarShip Enterprise is analysed.

In the middle are helm & navigation control panels. The Captain sits behind them.
Around the walls are two Engineering control panels, another navigation panel, Weapons, Defence, Life Support, Communication and Library Computer control panels.

From an Oolite perspective, Trade would need another control panel section.



Most of these control panels are automatic, so to speak, in Oolite. There are no indicators showing what is going on, there are no decisions to be made governing operation.


The exceptions are:

Vanilla Oolite

Helm: Steering Controls. Speed, Docking Computer, Torus Drive, Witchfuel Injectors, Altitude

Navigation: Compass, IFF Scanner, F6, F6F6, ANA, Witchdrive Jump

Engineering: Energy Cells/Capacitors, docked F3

Weapons: Lasers. Laser temperature. Missiles. Pylon weapon indicators.

Defence: Shields, ECM

Life Support: Escape Capsule, Cabin temperature

Communication: Comms Log/Request Docking/Docked F4

Library/Computer. F7. Galactic standard time

Trade: F8, F5F5 Manifest.

Unsure: fuel Scoop, scanner zoom,


OXPs

Helm: Barrel Roll

Navigation: Telescope

Engineering: Fuel Generator & Auxiliary Energy Generators, Smuggler's equipment?

Weapons: some of the zabillion+1 equipment items from the Guide to Accuracy OXPs wiki page

Defence: Shield Cycler, Shield Equalizer And Capacitors, Energy Rebalance

Life Support:

Communication: Interstellar Help's electronic thumb, Comms MFD, Boradcast Comms MFD, Email System OXP

Library/Computer: GalCop Galactic Registry, Ship's Library OXP, Library OXP's P.A.D.

Trade: Market Inquirer MFD


I feel very strongly that ILS, repairbots and turrets should be controlled/controllable

[RockDoctor]

Surely the "Trade" decisions are activities you make while docked, not while in flight.
Once you're in flight, the only decisions you have to make are whether or not to dump the 27 barrels of narcotics you've just scooped from an attacking (now deceased) Python. But you've got the {cycle} and {dump} controls, so that's OK.
You might want to dump the containers of Slaves (pre-packed, dehydrated, Sardinian slaves, one tonne thereof) in order to pick up the narcotics, but that's your choice.
In practice, I see the point of being able to think about your next 20 ly of travel in terms of sequencing purchases and sales while you're on the long drag down to star-surf while considering which weapons to assign to {attacking} and {defensive} keys while you're docked. So I wouldn't seriously consider changing screen assignments so that the "Trade" screen appears when docked and the "Weapons" screen on the same keystroke when you're in flight. That might be an arrangement for a bulk carrier like an Anaconda, or an assault ship like a Ferdy. But mixed-usage vessels - what Masefield would have described as a
Dirty Lave-ish coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack,
Butting through the Devils Trangle in the mad March days,
With a cargo of Tyne coal,
Road-rails, pig-lead,
Edible art graduates, ironware, and cheap Tionislan tin trays.
... probably need a bit of both.

[Cholmondely]

Surely the "Trade" decisions are activities you make while docked, not while in flight.
Once you're in flight, the only decisions you have to make are whether or not to dump the 27 barrels of narcotics you've just scooped from an attacking (now deceased) Python. But you've got the {cycle} and {dump} controls, so that's OK.
You might want to dump the containers of Slaves (pre-packed, dehydrated, Sardinian slaves, one tonne thereof) in order to pick up the narcotics, but that's your choice.
In practice, I see the point of being able to think about your next 20 ly of travel in terms of sequencing purchases and sales while you're on the long drag down to star-surf while considering which weapons to assign to {attacking} and {defensive} keys while you're docked. So I wouldn't seriously consider changing screen assignments so that the "Trade" screen appears when docked and the "Weapons" screen on the same keystroke when you're in flight. That might be an arrangement for a bulk carrier like an Anaconda, or an assault ship like a Ferdy. But mixed-usage vessels - what Masefield would have described as a
Dirty Lave-ish coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack,
Butting through the Devils Trangle in the mad March days,
With a cargo of Tyne coal,
Road-rails, pig-lead,
Edible art graduates, ironware, and cheap Tionislan tin trays.
... probably need a bit of both.

Excellent!