Oolite Bulletins

I have the Generation Ship oxp (genship.oxp) but am yet to see one.

Where are they normally seen?
Where is the variable that dictates the 'chance' of you seeing one? I would like to up it a bit so I can see one.

Is there a pic of one, I would like to see what they look like.

Thanks.

Ah yes, the infamous Generation Ships are probably the rarest ship in the Ooniverse. Since they only run on sub-light drives they have never been encountered in systems, they are only rarely encountered in the depthless gulfs of space between the inhabited systems. Try mis-jumping a few (dozen) times and see if you spot one.

Captain Hesperus

Where is the variable that dictates the 'chance' of you seeing one? I would like to up it a bit so I can see one.

You probably must buy a new computer first. It is soooo big. It didn't fit on my computer screen. You probably need a 2 meter wide plasma screen first.

Eric Walch wrote:

Where is the variable that dictates the 'chance' of you seeing one? I would like to up it a bit so I can see one.

You probably must buy a new computer first. It is soooo big. It didn't fit on my computer screen. You probably need a 2 meter wide plasma screen first.

It's so big that, with the new scanners, it actually shows up as a visible line as opposed to a single 'lollipop' like the large asteroid in asteroids.oxp.

Captain Hesperus

Actually, if it's correctly centered, it shows up as a veritable octaeder on the scanner. (Have to upload the re-centered version.) Have a look at this screenshot of mine:


@ elite: I hope you've understood the message hidden in the space-babble by Hesperus: You will never ever see a Generation Ship in normal space. They are only to be found in interstellar space (also known as "witchspace"). But this should be pretty clear from their description, shouldn't it?

Thanks guys.
I sorted it out now.

I took <string>planet_number equal -1</string> (the bit that checks for being in witchspace) out of the script file and after a few jumps I almost bumped into a Gen ship.

It is HUGE !!!!

elite wrote:

Thanks guys.
I sorted it out now.

I took <string>planet_number equal -1</string> (the bit that checks for being in witchspace) out of the script file and after a few jumps I almost bumped into a Gen ship.

Why did you do that? This isn't sorted out! Draco_Caeles (the author of this OXP) put this check in on purpose. It makes no sense at all to have Generation Ships in normal space (except in ghosts-from-the-past.oxp, which I am working on).

If you want to see one, make a misjump to interstellar space. This is their realm.

I'm certain he just wanted to see one, and now that he did, he restored the code as it was supposed to be...

...RIGHT?!

@elite: Beware of the katana!

I have a couple of great wee shots I took on a misguided mission to nowhere....

The second shot has a 'Behemoth' in the foreground and it is a tiddler in comparison.

I have NO IDEA how to attach the files however !!!!!!

Jason Whitelock wrote:

I have a couple of great wee shots I took on a misguided mission to nowhere....

The second shot has a 'Behemoth' in the foreground and it is a tiddler in comparison.

I have NO IDEA how to attach the files however !!!!!!

Upload your file to an online image storage site, such as photobucket, then insert the image using the [img]...[/img] tags.

Captain Hesperus

Cmdr. Maegil wrote:

I'm certain he just wanted to see one, and now that he did, he restored the code as it was supposed to be...

...RIGHT?!

You are correct.
I just wanted to see one without having to go into witch space first.

*chuckles quietly, a delighted sparkle in the corners of his eyes*

My word... my humble little offering is still popular? Well I never. It makes me feel very honoured... and I am glad that you enjoy the experience of the encounter.

The Generation Ship was designed to have that hugeness. There'd be no point to encountering something the size of your own ship, after all. And this ties in with the scanner display: the only way to accomplish this was to break it down into a number of smaller components, hence the scattershot of blips on the scanner.

Still... I'm very glad you enjoy finding them.

Just as an aside... there are 20 different ships names... Of course, you could just look at the texture file but - where's the fun in that?

Draco_Caeles wrote:

The Generation Ship was designed to have that hugeness. There'd be no point to encountering something the size of your own ship, after all. And this ties in with the scanner display: the only way to accomplish this was to break it down into a number of smaller components, hence the scattershot of blips on the scanner.

No, your honour. The scattershot of blips is a bunch of Eagles closely watching the Generation Ship (the screenshot is actually taken from my ghosts_from_the_past.oxp, where a Generation Ship arrives in a system of Fierce Black Birds, who naturally are not too excited about the prospect of getting colonized; the player - if he chooses to take their sides - will eventually get the opportunity to dock with the Generation Ship and explore it, and finally to take it on and create a lot of space debris ). The Generation Ship itself is represented on the scanner by the big octahedron with one blip at the center. This is a feature introduced at some point after 1.65, that shows bigger objects as octahedrons instead of just blips. The main difference to your original model from genship.oxp is that their octahedrons will have one very flat and one very long side, the blip being located at the front end of the ship (you will remember that from 1.65, where the blip also was located at its front end). For ghosts_from_the_past.oxp I moved the model along its z-axis, therefore its origin - and also the blip - is now in its center, making the octahedron more regular.

And there are of course 30 different ship names, not 20.