Oolite Bulletins

I upgraded to a Porcupine (no sniggering at the back) and I bough a large cargo bay extension. My suggestions are:

1. Make the large cargo bay extension proportional in added tonnage to the original cargo bay size.
2. Increase the cost according to tonnage added
3. For modded versions of existing ships like the Supercobra, disallow (or greatly reduce) cargo bay extension on the grounds that the pimping involved with these better ships has used any available space for a larger cargo bay.

1 and 2 could be achieved simply by allowing the purchase of more than one large cargo bay, with the absolute limit that extension cannot increase cargo space by more than 75% and a reduced limit allowed for 3 above. So a Porcupine might take 2 extensions (30 tonnes).

Python might take 4 extensions (60 tonnes) (5 would be possible by the 75% rule but I think it seems a bit too much) while the Python ET Special might only be allowed 1 or 2. Basically the number allowed needs to be fixed by OXP authors.

The player-version Adder in my mod can have a 3 ton cargo bay extension, but it has the usual 400 Credits cost.

You can already change the size of cargo bay extensions on a ship-by-ship basis. Since the porcupine is an oxp ship, there's nothing to stop the oxp maker from changing how much space the extension adds to the cargo bay.

See:

http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Shipda ... xtra_cargo

As it says there, it's all been perfectly feasible since 1.62.rc3, which, according to this,

http://developer.berlios.de/forum/forum ... m_id=17816

was released a 'little' while ago!

Strangely enough, this possibility has been more-or-less ignored ever since...

That's cool. Can the amount it costs be customised too according to tonnage?

Not directly.

You can however change the cost of the basic equipment for all ships, and you can use js to monitor that particular purchase.

If the right conditions are met, you can always add to the price charged & display a message for the player 'The cargo bay extension for this particular model needed major modifications, but we managed to squeeze another 10 tons out of it! You've been charged another 30000 credits for this extra service. Don't mention it!'

Switeck wrote:

The player-version Adder in my mod can have a 3 ton cargo bay extension, but it has the usual 400 Credits cost.

Hopefully, more OXP authors will follow your lead.

Large Cargo Bay for all my OXP ships is tailored for the ship in question. When I created it, I thought that + 15 TC would be right size for Porcupine's LCB, hence no need for setting a value for it in shipdata.