GRS buoyRepair.oxp

[Svengali]

Hello Eric,

our facilities have reached 96 percent of it's capacities (see Picture of current production) and your distribution system works superb.

Have we got the contract now, or needs GalCop more time? *** Bureaucrats!!! ***

BTW: Just took a look into the star-chart for some systems to buy :-)

[Cmdr. Maegil]

Why do I keep seeing a YT-1300 on the corner when I look at this picture?

[Ark]

Please tell me that your factory can also construct the big buoys (those from Dr Nil AD oxp)

[LittleBear]

Re: Pic. "We are the Buoys. We have analysed your defensive capabilities as unable to withstand us. From this time forwards you will service us. Resistance is futile."

[Svengali]

"Great designers seldom make great advertising men, because they get overcome by the beauty of the picture - and forget that merchandise must be sold."

The time of speaking is over, a little bit entertainment (we hope you have enjoyed it) isn't bad, but now...

Grab it and make us rich!!!
BuoyRepair

@LittleBear: Hehe, nobody, yes nobody...

[Commander McLane]

When the main station buoy needs to be replaced, a new one can be retrieved directly from the station. When a witchpoint beacon is destroyed a new one will be brought in by hyperspace jumping with a buoy from an adjacent system.

That's --- brilliant!

I actually was worried about the long towing times, but this is just ingenious!

[Eric Walch]

I actually was worried about the long towing times, b...

The long towing times are there but the player has not to wait for it. Even with both buoys in place there are still tuggers busy towing stock buoys from the factories to the stations that are low on stock. You will see them sometimes flying at a low speed with their load from witchpoint to the main station. Now, when needed, there are always spare buoys nearby. (Actually unlimited but don't tell any further).

Replacing the buoy still can take sometime. We deliberately made the check for missing buoys not to often. Just every 120 seconds there is a check. But hell, before it was never so it is still a big improvement. A problem stays with lazy station traffic controllers:

A launch request for a tugger is always given within 120 seconds. But when traffic around the station is busy they don't give this launch priority. They just think: "When I install the beacon now, even more traders will find their way to the station and I will miss my coffee break."

With heavy traffic we have witnessed that the actual launch for a new N-beacon could take up to 10 minutes.

[Selezen]

Holy crap! It even fits in with my timeline stuff!!

Aside from that, this OXP is some damn fine work in a damn short amount of time. Damn!

I can't wait to get home and give this a try. One question: is it now easier to destroy buoys now that they can be replaced easier too?

[Lestradae]

Really cool looking station, rather unique docking ... I like it.

[Eric Walch]

One question: is it now easier to destroy buoys now that they can be replaced easier too?

I must say: I was tempted to replace a part of the default buoys by some weakened ones of our own. I also thought of adding pirates that sometimes attacked buoys. But at the end I decided that an oxp that is dedicated in repairing the stuff shouldn't break it. (But someone else could launch an oxp with this options in it).

However, it is not so difficult to destroy the buoys. It takes exactly 10 military laser hits in a row. And I know as I hit quite a few lately. There are even rumours that the recent shortage of buoys in not caused by reckless flying young pilots but by two oxp writers that destroyed extreme amounts of buoys in play-testing their oxp. (God alone knows how many Svengali and I destroyed the past two weeks).

[Svengali]

Hey Eric,

don't tell them too much about our dubious business policy. :-)

@Selezen: Your page is very nice and useful. Thanks for your big efforts in time and love for the details.

@Lestradae: Totally right. Docking becomes a challenge. You'll never know what you have to expect behind the 'sealing', hehe.

[Eric Walch]

rather unique docking ... I like it.

And once inside do a full stop and make a 180 degree turn before hitting the docking bay. Looks nice too.

[pagroove]

Excellent,

When playtesting our next version of the Standard Stations OXP I saw a tug ship undock out of a FrontierTech Worldranger ICO station (see standard stations for a picture) Awesome stuff!

This sort of add ons makes Oolite unbeatable in gameplay! I have to search and find a GRS facillit now .

[Svengali]

Excellent,

When playtesting our next version of the Standard Stations OXP I saw a tug ship undock out of a FrontierTech Worldranger ICO station (see standard stations for a picture) Awesome stuff!

This sort of add ons makes Oolite unbeatable in gameplay! I have to search and find a GRS facillit now .

Hehe, yeah go for it.

We have tried to minimize the processing time to avoid bigger problems on slower machines. Small filesizes (hey man 318KB), less details, but enough to give the player a nice feeling. This big station runs nearly smooth on my machine. Only with heavy (and I mean heavy) traffic the cache transaction is feelable. And there are some 'hidden' things, but I won't tell it...

BTW: Your Worldranger is awesome too. When will it be finished?

[JensAyton]

See the artefacts on the blue bits? That’s called Z-fighting. It happens when two polygons overlap without sufficient space between them. The workaround is to cut out the corresponding piece of the underlying model.

I think I’ve mentioned the importance of ensuring uniqueness in custom roles a time or two thousand. “GRS_factory_defender” qualifies. “switchedBuoyTugger” does not.