Introducing Status_Quo_Q-bomb.oxp (version 1.2)

[Commander McLane]

Introduction

This OXP lets Q-bombs behave as described in Status Quo: Close to a planet or sun they won't explode.

Overview

Q-bombs which at the and of their countdown are closer to the surface of any celestial body than one third of its radius will not explode anymore. They will just sit there, and can by scooped and loaded on a free berth again.

Minimum Requirements

Status_Quo_Q-bomb.oxp requires at least Oolite 1.72.

Download Location

This OXP (new version 1.2) is available for download via its wiki page.

Installation

Move or copy the file Status_Quo_Q-bomb.oxp from the download folder to the AddOns folder inside the Oolite main folder. Restart Oolite.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Tivva who reminded me of the discrepancy between the game and the novel—so I could eliminate it. And thanks to Eric Walch for some valuable (as usual) hints.

EDIT2: changed download link to wiki page

EDIT3: new version 1.2

[Rxke]

Hey, that's great!

Would it be trivial to hardcode this behaviour as standard?

[Commander McLane]

Hey, that's great!

Would it be trivial to hardcode this behaviour as standard?

Thanks!

Absolutely trivial. I've done nothing than to add a ship-script to the Q-bomb, which is called from its AI just before the explosion, in order to determine the distance to the next celestial body.

So it's one extra key for the Q-bomb's shipdata-entry, one extra line for timebombAI.plist, and one extra script. All of these can easily go into Oolite's resources (they are just replacing them anyway).

[Rxke]

Okay then, now all we have to do is beg in a really insistent way to get this implemented in the main code

[Tivva]

Acknowledgements
Thanks to Tivva for who gave me the idea to just sit down and do this.

Hey, acknowledgements not required Commander, you're the one who spent time writing the OXP.
If it wasn't for people like you, we wouldn't have a great game like this to play :clappysmiley:
I'm off to d/l the oxp now

[wackyman465]

But now I can't drop some Q in front of a station... Oh well - I've still got cascade missiles

[Commander McLane]

But now I can't drop some Q in front of a station...

Yes, you can. The 'dead zone' for q-mines only begins closer to the planet surface, two thirds of the way down, to be precise.

Oh well - I've still got cascade missiles

Hm. In an ideal world they should be affected, too. I'll look into this.

*****



By the way: Due to a stupid logical error on my side I accidentally disabled the use of q-bombs in interstellar space in version 1.0 of the OXP. Until I bring out version 1.1 you can repair it yourself, by replacing

Code: Select all

	if(closestPlanet == null) this.ship.switchAI("nullAI.plist")

with

Code: Select all

	if(closestPlanet == null) this.ship.reactToAIMessage("EXPLODE")

Just c&p the 'this.ship.'-part from two lines below.

[Commander McLane]

Oh well - I've still got cascade missiles

Hm. In an ideal world they should be affected, too. I'll look into this.

Hm. Not so easy, because the cascade missiles don't use timebomb.AI, but a custom AI.

However, this custom AI is broken anyway, so I'm not sure whether they would work at all with Oolite 1.72 or later...

Have to contact Ramirez.

[pagroove]

Good work,

I think it's realistic

[wackyman465]

Noooo! Q-bomb with impunity! Cascade missiles for all! Yes nukes!

But the blue sphere is so pretty . . . you mean those people in those ships don't just get a pretty light show? (cute kitten face here)

What? You say there's people in those ships?

You have a voice in your head? That tells you what to do? You call it a conscience? You sure you're sane?

But laser dots is pretty too, and I like those pretty missile trails. You're sure there's people in those ships?

You mean those police guys actually mean I should stop shooting at them?

You're crazy. I know that fugitive really just means the guy next to me is running away from the crazy people police.

You mean I'm going to the loony bin for a case of quirimania? Can I take my cascade missiles with me? No? Can I at least take my Imperial Courier?

You mean it was taken? As evidence?

[Commander McLane]

New version 1.1 squashes a bug which accidentally defused Q-bombs in interstellar space.

It also makes the defused Q-bomb re-scoopable and re-mountable.

Updated download link in the first post above.

[drew]

New version 1.1 squashes a bug which accidentally defused Q-bombs in interstellar space.

It also makes the defused Q-bomb re-scoopable and re-mountable.

Updated download link in the first post above.

Thanks Commander! Superb work, nice to see the book influencing the game!

Cheers,

Drew.

[Commander McLane]

Fixed another bug that would produce an error message if a Q-bomb would be used in interstellar space (without affecting its functioning, though).

Status_Quo_Q-bombs 1.2 available at a wiki near to you.

[Cmdr James]

I think that if this were to be "fixed" in the game code itself then it should be a change in ShipEntity.becomeEnergyBlast or maybe initEnergyMineFromShip that does the check. This is the logical place for it, and will resolve issues of things like chain reactions that should also not occur near large objects, and *any* cause of q-mine explosions should be handled. If we try to do it in AI, there is always a possibility of a problem such as the chainedmissile thing noted earlier in the thread.

However, I suspect that the change in the OXP is good enough for most people