Oolite Bulletins

A "Trading Simulator Game" is offered on F4, so the new player, "Can practise and learn to be a more effective trader, before facing the dangers of space flight."

Once engaged, the trading simulator uses the magic of ... to remove all post-witchspace game play.

The player uses the trading simulator to build their fortune, and kit out their ship. Eventually they grow bored of it, and opt out, thinking they're ready to face the ooniverse in their newly iron-arsed ship.

But, we've stored all their details at the start, and do a Bobby Ewing on the little wannabe cheaters.

Alas, being blissfully ignorant of modern culture, I understand none of this…

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Sat Aug 03, 2024 10:07 pm

Alas, being blissfully ignorant of modern culture, I understand none of this…

Pardon, you mean "Bobby Ewing"? Only the most notorious Magic Reset Button in the history of television. Sure, it was 43 years ago, but surely its notoriety hasn't faded already?

I'm not sure that that helps me understand what this thread is supposed to be about!

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Thu Aug 08, 2024 6:31 pm

I'm not sure that that helps me understand what this thread is supposed to be about!

1. You can turn Oolite into a pure trade simulator, with no combat, by the player teleporting straight from witchpoint to station. That's what Reval was getting at with his Teleportation Drive OXP.
2. You can do it even more thoroughly by automatically teleporting the player from witchpoint to station, without any player input.
3. It's one of the easiest cheats in Oolite, literally a single line of code.
So, do that. But:-
4. To keep the player honest, and ensure they use it as a simulator to practise trade routes, not as a cheat to effortlessly advance in the game, you have to store all the player's details at the start and restore him/her to their previous state when they desist from continuation with the trade simulator.

Dallas aficionados may recall that after Bobby Ewing's unfortunate demise, his sister-in-law was eventually gaoled for his manslaughter, but after his near-miraculous return to the land of the living, poor whatshername remained in prison. Apparently Pamela's awakening only restored part of the time-line.

Thank you!


But I suppose that for some of those people who might rather play your trading simulator (ie. not Oolite itself), that they would be less interested in such a restoration.

After all, if one is not a classic Elite afficionado, then there is less of a focus on the vanilla game and its time-honoured constraints. And perhaps more willingness to tweak the basic game and change it into something quite different.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Fri Aug 09, 2024 6:06 am

After all, if one is not a classic Elite afficionado, then there is less of a focus on the vanilla game and its time-honoured constraints. And perhaps more willingness to tweak the basic game and change it into something quite different.

So, you're suggesting to not even bother about a way out of the trade simulator mode back to normal game-play? Just, "If you start this, you will be playing Oolite TraderSim, not regular Oolite."
So don't bother storing the starting state? That would almost put this idea into the "My First OXP" category.

Wildeblood wrote: ↑Fri Aug 09, 2024 8:07 am

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Fri Aug 09, 2024 6:06 am

After all, if one is not a classic Elite afficionado, then there is less of a focus on the vanilla game and its time-honoured constraints. And perhaps more willingness to tweak the basic game and change it into something quite different.

So, you're suggesting to not even bother about a way out of the trade simulator mode back to normal game-play? Just, "If you start this, you will be playing Oolite TraderSim, not regular Oolite."
So don't bother storing the starting state? That would almost put this idea into the "My First OXP" category.

No, no suggestions.

Just pondering what feedback you might get on publishing it.

And if some just wanted to play TraderSim by itself, then they need never bother launching.

One difficulty you would need to overcome in a trader-sim operating as described is, once the player says "stop", how to return the player to the point where they started. If you've actually moved the player via script and docked them at a new station, it would be a lot of work to return the player to the originating station.

I think it would be easier to use SystemInfo.samplePrice to run calculations with some estimates on quantities.