Unique Stations, shipyards.....

[Cobramac]

Hi, one of the thing that bothers me in alot of space games, including the X series is that once you seen one, you seen them all type of thing.

Would be good to be surprised when one docks at a main station and see something different, ie if the station is in an anarchy system where galcop have a problem in maintaining order, then perhaps there is a chance that station is in fact a haven for criminals and such, these stations could only sell second hand - stolen, refurbished ships and some piracy equipment etc, which could be randomised to different from one another or something, they could even massively trade in illegal items etc etc and even possibly have a black market ( mission screen) offering some nefarios missions ( ie take this passenger( criminal) to another station or deliver these thargoid hatchlings to another station etc etc ) taking these missions could make you a fugitive but yield high rewards etc etc.

It would also be unique to have shipyards that sell second hand ships, ie battered old ships, their stats lower etc etc.

Another idea is to add specific shipyards belong to the corporation that developed those ships and they sell all their latest ships, some perhaps even slightly modified ? - maybe not since its the manufacturers themselves.

Lastly, how about a very rare station that for a price, you can slightly modify your ship ? add some extra cargo space or even overtune the engines slightly, or add more armor ? dont know if its possible to scrip changes to the player ship besides adding equipment mid game ?

Would be nice to have some variety in terms of what is inside these stations, we already have some stunning artwork that could be used, at the author's discretion ofcourse.

[Smivs]

Hi, one of the thing that bothers me in alot of space games, including the X series is that once you seen one, you seen them all type of thing.
Would be good to be surprised when one docks at a main station and see something different, ie if the station is in an anarchy system where galcop have a problem in maintaining order, then perhaps there is a chance that station is in fact a haven for criminals and such, these stations could only sell second hand - stolen, refurbished ships and some piracy equipment etc, which could be randomised to different from one another or something, they could even massively trade in illegal items etc etc and even possibly have a black market ( mission screen) offering some nefarios missions ( ie take this passenger( criminal) to another station or deliver these thargoid hatchlings to another station etc etc ) taking these missions could make you a fugitive but yield high rewards etc etc.

Nice idea, but I don't know if/how easily it could be done. As far as I know the stations are pretty un-variable.

It would also be unique to have shipyards that sell second hand ships, ie battered old ships, their stats lower etc etc.

Most of the ships are second hand...all the Pythons for example are well over 300 years old. Of course they have to be spaceworthy as well. "This Python's a bargain, mate...only one careful lady owner from new."

Another idea is to add specific shipyards belong to the corporation that developed those ships and they sell all their latest ships, some perhaps even slightly modified ? - maybe not since its the manufacturers themselves.

The only problem here is that you'd have to be at the planet where they're based.

Lastly, how about a very rare station that for a price, you can slightly modify your ship ? add some extra cargo space or even overtune the engines slightly, or add more armor ? dont know if its possible to scrip changes to the player ship besides adding equipment mid game ?

This is largely taken care of with the extra equipment you can purchase. The gear is available at planets with different tech levels...a large cargo bay (providing your ship can accommodate one) is available anywhere, but if you want Military Shield Enhancement (more armour) you have to go to a tech level 14 or 15.

Would be nice to have some variety in terms of what is inside these stations, we already have some stunning artwork that could be used, at the author's discretion ofcourse.

I believe there are a few things like this in the pipeline...watch this space.

[Killer Wolf]

Cmdr McLane's Anarchies OXP adds some of this stuff
http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Anarchies_OXP

of course, the best idea for "finding" new stuff, is to make it! jump into the OXPing community, we're all here to help each other out and you might not find creating something as daunting as it sounds.

[Cobramac]

Thank you for the replies, i think most of what i mentioned can be done by scripting, a couple questions though, can one script specific ships to only specific shipyards and stip them being populated by the general game engine ? and the second question partially answered by Smivs, can one change player ship properties mid game within a scrip ? ie increase speed, increase missile hardpoints, increase cargo space (independent of the large cargo bay ) etc ?

If its all possible, then i think it would be pretty straight forward to bring some of these changes about.

Ah, can one also via scripting, eliminate all commodities in a specific main station and only have for example the illegal ones available, or more importantly can one populate it specifically for that station ?

The mission option, i suspect one can create a black market through the current system and have it tied into the f8 market screen for example ?

I suspect changing the player to fugitive is possible via this mission handling in a main station aswell ?

My apologies for the questions

[maik]

Lastly, how about a very rare station that for a price, you can slightly modify your ship ? add some extra cargo space or even overtune the engines slightly, or add more armor ? dont know if its possible to scrip changes to the player ship besides adding equipment mid game ?

Nice idea! And if you have your engines over-tuned they should have a likelihood to fail if you constantly power them in the red range of the speedometer, one after the other. Failing could be total (very low likelihood) or just degradation (low to medium likelihood). Oh, and for the entrepreneurial that would open up opportunities to work as roadside, er, space lane-side assistance companies. Quite similar to what we have with the salvage missile.

[Smivs]

I suspect changing the player to fugitive is possible via this mission handling in a main station aswell ?

It's easier than that...just fire your lasers as you launch! At worst you'll hit the beacon and that won't make you popular, at best you'll hit a Viper and then you will be a Fugitive for sure

[Cmdr James]

Thats not a good solution, what is the player does not have a forward laser?

It should be possible to modify the legal status by JavaScript, Im pretty sure Anarchies does, doesnt it?

[Thargoid]

Status is easy (player.bounty), but the ships stats (number of missile pylons, max speed etc) can't be script-changed. The best a script can do is add or remove (or break) equipment to make some changes, but it's not quite the same thing.

Similarly availability of ships in shipyard can't really be affected from script-side. Nor I think can commodities be affected by script, as the marketplace isn't linked to the station's manifest (although the idea has been suggested for a future improvement).

[Kaks]

Similarly availability of ships in shipyard can't really be affected from script-side. Nor I think can commodities be affected by script, as the marketplace isn't linked to the station's manifest (although the idea has been suggested for a future improvement).

Well, you can definitely make just one ship available at a specific system, by cleverly adding conditions inside shipyard-overrides.plist

And yes, you can also determine which types of cargo are available for sale at a specific station, and - say - just make it sell platinum. You can also specify the price range of a commodity. However, the actual price & and quantity will be random, subject to market fluctuations.

[Thargoid]

And yes, you can also determine which types of cargo are available for sale at a specific station, and - say - just make it sell platinum. You can also specify the price range of a commodity. However, the actual price & and quantity will be random, subject to market fluctuations.

By script rather than by commodities.plist? Do tell...

[Eric Walch]

And yes, you can also determine which types of cargo are available for sale at a specific station, and - say - just make it sell platinum. You can also specify the price range of a commodity. However, the actual price & and quantity will be random, subject to market fluctuations.

By script rather than by commodities.plist? Do tell...

Its a very old feature that already was part of 1.65 and its legacy scripting. I think it was only used in the nova mission to define a null market (the one in Oolites internal commodities plist).

And because the nova mission now is written in JS, this feature is also available. (But never really documented). However, it has two issues:
- The new market only becomes effective on entering the system.
- The new market is systemwide and overrides all custom plists for stations.

Seen its original use in the nova mission, this was okay, but for other scripts maybe not the best way. I think Cmdr James had been looking into this lately for 1.75 to see if it could become mainStation only. (If not, try to convince him he should do) Setting a systemwide null market in a nova system can be done at other ways.

[Cobramac]

thanks for all the usefull info, so one can't change ships stats via scrip, could one perhaps "cheat" by changing the player ship with another and simulate the updated stats perhaps ? the only concern would be to make sure one knows the player ship type and switch it for another i think, keep all the equipment should be straight forward by awarding the equipment to the player through the scrip, could this be done ?

On the C64 version of elite, i remember certain stations closing their entrance, is this possible in oolite ( havent seen any main station close doors, only one of the oxp ships i've seen close its docking port).

[ADCK]

As mentioned, anarchies alters anarchy systems similar to how you mentioned, there are others (Fuedal States, Commies, Dictators, Galactic Navy, Random Hits, Saleza Aeronautics are all good system altering OXPS)

Can find out more here: http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/All_OX ... y#Features

[Kaks]

No standard station can close their entrance, but you can get them to spit you out the moment you manually dock.

If hostile, they shouldn't allow automatic docking to begin with.

In any case, I believe there's a way to create an oxp station with closed docking ports, and make them open only if the player receives docking clearance... there should be a ready made example in one of the OXPs Eric updated a while ago if I'm not mistaken!


@Thargoid, maybe not via js, but there is a way of assigning different markets to different stations via .plists...

http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Shipdata.plist#market

It might be buggy at the moment though... if that's the case we probably have to collectively wait until 1.74.1...

[ADCK]

slightly off-topic, but i'd love to see more 'animation' options for subentities, like the abilty to make things move up/down instead of the only current option of rotating. Would be good for things like doors on hangars, or if anyone remembers the moving part of the Skeet from FFE.