Fractal Softworks Forum

Starsector => Mods => Topic started by: Jaghaimo on August 05, 2020, 12:46:44 AM

Title: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics 1.3.1 - courier services
Post by: Jaghaimo on August 05, 2020, 12:46:44 AM
Stellar Logistics
Courier services for Starsector

(https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/jaghaimo/stellics?label=download%20mod&style=for-the-badge) (https://github.com/jaghaimo/stellics/releases/latest) (https://img.shields.io/github/license/jaghaimo/stellics?label=contribute&style=for-the-badge) (https://github.com/jaghaimo/stellics) (https://img.shields.io/codeclimate/maintainability-percentage/jaghaimo/stellics?style=for-the-badge) (https://codeclimate.com/github/jaghaimo/stellics)

Stellar Logistics allows for a convenient browsing of the player's storage content, and lets the player to quickly locate cargo and ships.

(https://i.imgur.com/w732zVe.gif)

Additionally, the player can define a master storage, where, at regular intervals, all cargo and ships from other storages will be transferred to. Or can just request courier services while travelling (disabled by default, see settings.json (https://github.com/jaghaimo/stellics/blob/master/data/config/settings.json)).

Spoiler
(https://i.imgur.com/K7G30ph.gif)
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Any transfer of cargo or ships will incur a fee (depends on the distance between the player fleet and selected storage) that will be collected at the end of the month.

Spoiler
(https://i.imgur.com/LRbZj30.png)
[close]

Known bugs
Spoiler
Hitting ESC when selecting ships to transfer will not close underlying interaction dialog. Fixed in Starsector 0.95+.
[close]
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics - courier and warehousing services
Post by: Nick XR on August 05, 2020, 09:18:28 AM
Very cool!  You should add some screenshots that show it in action.
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics - courier and warehousing services
Post by: Jaghaimo on August 05, 2020, 12:57:09 PM
I'd love to but how do you showcase such thing? What type of "script" would be best played to present mod's functionality? Something I had bouncing in my head was:
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics - courier and warehousing services
Post by: Nick XR on August 05, 2020, 01:02:18 PM
Yeah, screen cap that in a low quality gif or something.  In game just have two colonies, one at a planet one at it's moon and just record and convert to a gif of the basic workflow. 

Does the monthly expense show up in the expense summary?
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics - courier and warehousing services
Post by: Jaghaimo on August 05, 2020, 02:10:23 PM
Quote
Does the monthly expense show up in the expense summary?
Yes, it does.  Next version will also hint on storage description how much you will pay for full month.

Added a short screencast... GIF so 20mb :D
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics - courier and warehousing services
Post by: Nick XR on August 05, 2020, 03:47:52 PM
Quote from: Jaghaimo on August 05, 2020, 02:10:23 PM
Quote
Does the monthly expense show up in the expense summary?
Yes, it does.  Next version will also hint on storage description how much you will pay for full month.

Added a short screencast... GIF so 20mb :D

Looks great!

If we had more than 12 structure spots on a planet I'd say this should have a structure prerequisite too.  But given the constraints current implementation is great. 

How does the cost compare to standard storage?
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics - courier and warehousing services
Post by: MesoTroniK on August 05, 2020, 07:55:32 PM
Evening Jaghaimo, this is an interesting mod you have here and I got some feedback for you.

- Subjectively? I think it is odd they go in *every* non Pirate market, by default.

More objectively?
- Any market that has a military and a custom sub-market already added? Will "overflow" the UI and it looks quite bad.
   - I would recommend checking for sub-market count before adding your thing.
Spoiler
(https://i.imgur.com/jRDt8TD.png)
[close]
- I like that by default you are not adding them to Pirate markets, this is good! But what is not good? Is that you do not allow blocking it for mod Pirates or other factions that might not want them added for lore or mechanic reasons.
   - I would recommend adding a merging .csv or json file that allows a modder to make their faction opt-out of your thing being added.

- These being added to some markets, can be an issue for edge case stuff in some mods. Think hidden places, quest stuff etc etc.
   - I would recommend adding a merging .csv or json file that allows a modder to make X market of theirs opt-out of your thing being added.

- These being added to some star systems, both hand made and procgen can be an issue for edge case stuff in some mods. Think hidden places, quest stuff etc etc.
   - I would recommend adding a .csv or json file that looks at both star system ID (for hand made), and star system tags (for procgen) that allows a modder to opt-out of your thing being added.

Also these lists if done? Should ideally ignore your settings file. Because the cases where a modder would opt-out will always be for very good reasons where it could soft and/or hard break their stuff. Anyways if you could please do all that it would be deeply appreciated by the Modiverse overall :)
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics - courier and warehousing services
Post by: Jaghaimo on August 06, 2020, 12:26:45 AM
Thanks MesoTronik, here's my structured response:
Quote
I think it is odd they go in *every* non Pirate market, by default.
I've had this in mind. The settings file allows to set a probability of a branch being built (thus market spawned). As this is my first mod, and my Starsector experience is rather short (2 months) I've left defaults from my closed beta to make generation deterministic (Oh, you guys are size 6 non-pirate? Perfect, I'll drop my stuff there). For future versions I do plan some way of checking where Branches are so player can make an informed decision where to go to drop their stuff.
Having said that, with the current limitations (no way to check what's on planet) and setting options (minimal size to consider, probability it will end up on said market, no pirates (on already)) what would the good defaults be? Leave 6 and say 0.7 (70% of markets 6 and above)? Or, more realistically, go with a progressive probability - 0.5 for markets of size 5, 0.6 for size 6 and so on (guaranteed on 10, not sure any planet spawns as 10)? Obviously the bigger market means higher demand for those services.

Quote
I would recommend checking for sub-market count before adding your thing.
I'll make it an integer, as smaller screen sizes will overflow sooner 4 (4 will be default at least).

Quote
Configurability via merging csv/json
I'll have this done by 1.0.0. In the meantime, I'll change default to be Indies only which will solve both the issue of other custom markets and blacklisting.
This is now done as of 0.9.0 (basic faction whitelist and blacklist, still pondering per marketId / starSystem exclusions).
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics - courier and warehousing services
Post by: Jaghaimo on August 06, 2020, 02:39:28 PM
Legacy Version of Stellar Logistics


Fri Aug 07 2020 - 0.6.0
(https://i.imgur.com/BfRIpAb.png)
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics - courier and warehousing services
Post by: cjuicy on August 07, 2020, 12:23:45 AM
This... is absolutely stellar! I've wanted a unified storage option for my most-used weapons/fighters for a long while, and this is exactly what I'm into. I'll give it a whirl next time I've got a moment to run Starsector.
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics - courier and warehousing services
Post by: Zoro89 on August 08, 2020, 09:23:10 AM
Sounds like a very cool mod!

It is possible to store the items in a file to "transfer" it to a new game. Something like a new game plus / shared warehouse.
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics - courier and warehousing services
Post by: Jaghaimo on August 08, 2020, 03:04:41 PM
Legacy Version of Stellar Logistics


Sat Aug 08 2020 - 0.7.0
Quote from: Zoro89 on August 08, 2020, 09:23:10 AM
It is possible to store the items in a file to "transfer" it to a new game. Something like a new game plus / shared warehouse.
Pretty sure it's doable, let me tinker a bit with CargoAPI and see what I can do.
The idea I have right now is:Edit: Implemented, check 0.7.1.
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics - courier and warehousing services
Post by: Jaghaimo on August 10, 2020, 04:41:31 AM
Legacy Version of Stellar Logistics


Tue Sep 01 2020 - 0.10.0
Spoiler
Requesting various intel:
(https://i.imgur.com/3n4h0Ew.png)

Viewing provided intel:
(https://i.imgur.com/IopAn5U.png)

See Imgur album for more examples: https://imgur.com/a/Eu5YgHp (https://imgur.com/a/Eu5YgHp)
[close]
Thu Aug 20 2020 - 0.9.1
Mon Aug 17 2020 - 0.9.0Thu Aug 13 2020 - 0.8.0
Mon Aug 10 2020 - 0.7.2Sun Aug 09 2020 - 0.7.1
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics - courier, warehousing, and information services
Post by: Worachot on September 09, 2020, 04:04:39 AM
if added to a save then the StellNET skill does not showup

save game: https://gfycat.com/WellmadeWebbedArmedcrab

new game: https://gfycat.com/GranularVainIrishterrier

Changed the load priority to 1 to make sure the problem was not that there was no space left in the ability menu.

^_^
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics - courier, warehousing, and information services
Post by: Chairman Suryasari on September 09, 2020, 11:31:42 AM
This and More Officer Skill really make the game more enjoyable.

Thanks for the mod, 10/10 fully recommended.
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics - courier, warehousing, and information services
Post by: Jaghaimo on September 09, 2020, 01:22:13 PM
@Worachot Thanks for reporting - it's something I haven't thought of (assumed the game loads fine thus everything works) and missed in my tests. Fixed in 0.10.1 (only affects people adding mod mid-game).
@SukmaZaki This mod started as QoL fixes for my own gameplay (like initially to solve the problem of all my weapons being on planet X and having to go there every time I wanted to change my fleet setup) and I never expected it to be gaining traction. Glad others find it useful - cheers.

Legacy Version of Stellar Logistics


Wed Sep 09 2020 - 0.10.1
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics - courier, warehousing, and information services
Post by: Worachot on September 10, 2020, 10:40:38 AM
Quote from: SukmaZaki on September 09, 2020, 11:31:42 AM
This and More Officer Skill really make the game more enjoyable.

Thanks for the mod, 10/10 fully recommended.

where can i find the more officer skills mod?

when searching for it i only found people talking about it causing lag. if its true, has it been fixed?
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics - courier, warehousing, and information services
Post by: Jaghaimo on September 11, 2020, 07:14:01 AM
@Worachot It is this mod most likely: http://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=16544.15
Do note that it does not play well with Better Colonies (according to the thread), and if you are after just raising officer level limit - you can do it in settings.json.
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics - courier, warehousing, and information services
Post by: Chairman Suryasari on September 12, 2020, 01:19:41 PM
Quote from: Jaghaimo on September 11, 2020, 07:14:01 AM
@Worachot It is this mod most likely: http://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=16544.15
Do note that it does not play well with Better Colonies (according to the thread), and if you are after just raising officer level limit - you can do it in settings.json.

Not Officer Level Limit, darling. But more options skill when leveling your Officer, i don't want to reload save just to re-roll the skill i get, the vanilla only give you 2 options, with that mod you can have 4 selection skill to level up, say good bye to RNG bs, it's nice to have a little more control in your life, it's not really incompatible with Better Colony, the mod work by calling the UI everytime you open certain part of the UI, the effect of it just a little stutter when opening map mostly, worth it tbh, it's really reduce the pain of leveling Officer.
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics - courier, warehousing, and information services
Post by: Chairman Suryasari on September 12, 2020, 01:25:00 PM
^Sorry mis-read, lol. There is a improved version of the script on the mod page, try that out.
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics - courier, warehousing, and information services
Post by: Jaghaimo on September 15, 2020, 02:43:49 PM
Legacy Version of Stellar Logistics


Version 0.11.1 is out (sorry for the warehouse crash)!

This release adds a basic courier services completing the three key aspects of the mod: courier, warehousing, and information (services). I say basic, as originally I wanted to spawn the courier fleet to travel to the player (and either bring the cargo or pick it up). In the end this felt too tedious - having to wait for the courier to arrive in system (as it would be spawned at the nearest Stellar Logistics Branch) was not fun. As such the time-space aspect of couriers is omitted (for now) - I may revisit the ideal at later time (perhaps spawn the courier just outside player viewpoint?).

Thu Sep 17 2020 - 0.11.1
Tue Sep 15 2020 - 0.11.0
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics - courier, warehousing, and information services
Post by: Spacer on September 28, 2020, 02:13:41 AM
I really love the search function of this mod and just wanted to make some suggestions. Could you make it where players can search for specific d-mods? Also, would it be possible to have a persistent search? As in you get pinged with a mission and location whenever a specific thing shows up. This would be especially helpful for finding rarer stuff, such as unique ships after completing IBB bounties.
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics - courier, warehousing, and information services
Post by: Jaghaimo on October 01, 2020, 05:48:35 AM
Quote from: Spacer on September 28, 2020, 02:13:41 AM
I really love the search function of this mod and just wanted to make some suggestions. Could you make it where players can search for specific d-mods? Also, would it be possible to have a persistent search? As in you get pinged with a mission and location whenever a specific thing shows up. This would be especially helpful for finding rarer stuff, such as unique ships after completing IBB bounties.
Please disregard my previous reply. After thinking about it for few days I came up with a method to get both done and have a much more user-friendly intel. Unfortunately I also came up with a full rewrite of the mod so this change will happen - just not soon. I'll post update when I have something working.
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics - courier, warehousing, and information services
Post by: Raine on October 02, 2020, 08:20:14 PM
Hey there, I made an account just to show some appreciation for this fantastic mod. Seriously, I can't tell you how amazing it is to pay some hard cash to avoid traveling all the way back to the core just to drop off my exploration finds.

It's also incredibly convenient to refit my ships from any station with a logistics warehouse, and to access my rare ships on the fly.

All this and the ability to search for ships/weapons/modspecs/officers is balanced well by the costs involved; early on I would avoid unnecessary storage or searches to save money, but late game my colonies can begin to cover the hundreds of thousands of credits per month necessary to store my entire planet-leveling collection of weaponry and ships.

I'm interested to see where you take the mod from here, I saw that you want to make the courier aspect more literal, and I have a couple of suggestions (depending on how easy they would be to implement).

First is adding blueprints to the search, for factions like XLU (Blue) that have a station blueprint hiding in their markets.

Second, and probably most important, is to somehow integrate the logistics warehouse with the player's personal weapon counter. I used to buy weapons by mousing over and seeing how many of that weapon I have in my storage, but with this mod currently, every weapon I mouse over says I have 0. I can still refit my ships just fine with weapons in the warehouse, but when I loot an enemy fleet out in space, or peruse a black market, etc, I'll never know how many of a particular weapon I have in the warehouse.

Again, thanks for your hard work on this. Can't recommend this mod enough.
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics - courier, warehousing, and information services
Post by: Jaghaimo on October 09, 2020, 08:34:14 AM
Quote from: Raine on October 02, 2020, 08:20:14 PM
Hey there, I made an account just to show some appreciation for this fantastic mod. Seriously, I can't tell you how amazing it is to pay some hard cash to avoid traveling all the way back to the core just to drop off my exploration finds.

Thanks for kind words and the hassle of creating the account just to post them!

Quote from: Raine on October 02, 2020, 08:20:14 PM
First is adding blueprints to the search, for factions like XLU (Blue) that have a station blueprint hiding in their markets.

The funny story is I already had an option to search for blueprints several versions ago.
Then there was a problem with Military Markets (and custom markets): I was showing items and ships in those markets but the player could not access it.
So the next version limited search to Open and Black Markets, at which point next to no blueprints were ever found.
And the following step was to remove blueprints from StellNET.
Fast-forward few months and I know how to make this check, so this feature will be coming back in future versions (not immediate next version though).

Quote from: Raine on October 02, 2020, 08:20:14 PM
Second, and probably most important, is to somehow integrate the logistics warehouse with the player's personal weapon counter. I used to buy weapons by mousing over and seeing how many of that weapon I have in my storage, but with this mod currently, every weapon I mouse over says I have 0. I can still refit my ships just fine with weapons in the warehouse, but when I loot an enemy fleet out in space, or peruse a black market, etc, I'll never know how many of a particular weapon I have in the warehouse.

Unfortunately that is not possible, as per Alex reply:
Quote from: Alex on October 08, 2020, 09:47:56 AM
Only stuff in a submarket with id == Submarkets.SUBMARKET_STORAGE gets counted for this, so you might be out of luck there, unfortunately.

I will have this working by changing the way Stellar Logistics works - instead of shared storage like now the mod will focus on courier functionality.
With a reliable way to access all your (vanilla) storages via Courier Services the player will be incentivized to spread the cargo among multiple storages on various planets.
This will also ease endgame spiralling costs (as the player will keep his cargo mostly on own planets, thus avoiding storage fee and only paying for transport).


I have noticed that the large size of this mod is slowing my development and as such decided to split existing functionality into two mods, with the third mod adding another functionality I have started working on, but have not yet released:


All mods are independent of another. I am mostly done with Hyperspace Network and Galactic Bounties, now rewriting Stellar Logistics.
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics - courier, warehousing, and information services
Post by: Raine on October 09, 2020, 10:27:27 AM
Quote from: Jaghaimo on October 09, 2020, 08:34:14 AM
I have noticed that the large size of this mod is slowing my development and as such decided to split existing functionality into two mods, with the third mod adding another functionality I have started working on, but have not yet released:

  • Stellar Logistics - courier services (back to original scope, mod that links vanilla storages via Courier Services)
  • Hyperspace Network - information services (overhaul of StellNET, market queries and providing intel)
  • Galactic Bounties - bounty manager replacement (former unreleased DarkNET content, new bounty types)

All mods are independent of another. I am mostly done with Hyperspace Network and Galactic Bounties, now rewriting Stellar Logistics.

Fantastic news, I'll be using all of them lmao. I also like the planned changes, it's a good workaround to the limitations of submarkets and still makes sense from an immersion perspective. With regards to blueprints, yeah it's definitely a small QOL thing I can wait for (can probably count on my hands how many blueprints get sold in markets anyways, modspecs are much more prevalent and are already included in the search function of your mod).

Seriously great work, you should see about getting your mods put up on the Mod Index once you split this mod.

edit: also maybe check out the unofficial discord, not sure if you use discord but most mods post update notifications there and there are thousands of members https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=11488.0
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics - courier, warehousing, and information services
Post by: Jaghaimo on October 16, 2020, 01:31:05 PM
New version of StellNET - as a standalone mod - has just been released: https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=19252

At the same time I have trimmed down Stellar Logistics mod to just courier services (basically full rewrite, not save game compatible).
Removed shared storage and focused on transferring cargo and ships between vanilla storages.

Anyone looking for old (legacy) version of this mod - see archived project: https://github.com/jaghaimo/stellics-legacy
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics - courier services
Post by: Jaghaimo on October 28, 2020, 02:40:45 PM
Huge update (code wise) - Storage Board (think HyperNET Board but for collecting your cargo / ships). No longer worry where your cargo is - pick what you want, and Couriers will deliver it from the nearest storage (and farther ones if there's not enough in the nearest one). Board comes with extensive filtering mechanisms to deal with endgame assortments.


(https://i.imgur.com/evd8jSe.gif)
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics - courier services
Post by: Yubbin on October 28, 2020, 03:17:22 PM
Nice job, I have no idea how you keep making these good looking UI things.
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics - courier services
Post by: Wispborne on October 29, 2020, 08:50:12 AM
I just discovered this and love the look of it.

Would you consider adding a config option to make this a "readonly" mod, essentially disabling the courier part of the mod but leaving the storage display and filtering?

Having a version (or config) that serves only as a way to view what stuff you have and where would be a pure QoL mod without affecting the balance of exploration, serving a different niche with, I think, fairly minor coding effort (basically just need to hide some buttons?).

Great mod, between this and Hyperspace Network, I'm really looking forward to diving back into my game.
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics - courier services
Post by: Jaghaimo on October 29, 2020, 10:16:11 AM
Quote from: Yubbin on October 28, 2020, 03:17:22 PM
Nice job, I have no idea how you keep making these good looking UI things.

Thank you!

Here's how I approached this problem:
1. Visualise it once or twice in my head
2. Draw a prototype on paper (original had 3 columns, left cargo, right ships, middle control buttons)
3. Implement the prototype in Starsector (minor adjustments made on the go)
4. Use the implementation in game, noting down rough edges (main sticking point was if storage had either only cargo or only ships, half of screen was useless)
5. Address shortcomings (come up with a pane idea, button that swaps between cargo and ship view)
6. Draw another sketch on paper and rework prototype in game
7. Apply some more usability fixes (e.g. add colors to buttons depending on state)
8. Clean up code and release

It helps out knowing what is possible (from Starsector API point of view) possible and not when it comes to UI.
At the same time it is not necessary knowledge, as you will learn and will need to adapt your grand design (point 2) to reality (point 3).

Quote from: Wispborne on October 29, 2020, 08:50:12 AM
Would you consider adding a config option to make this a "readonly" mod, essentially disabling the courier part of the mod but leaving the storage display and filtering?

Having a version (or config) that serves only as a way to view what stuff you have and where would be a pure QoL mod without affecting the balance of exploration, serving a different niche with, I think, fairly minor coding effort (basically just need to hide some buttons?).

Done & done, "allowTransfer" boolean in "data/config/settings.json" will hide all transfer buttons. Will be released in a day or two with one more bugfix. Will be released when I finish the new functionality - Find Location. "Find Location" will work similarly to "Request cargo/ships", but instead of transferring will show (probably new intel tile) which storage (and what quantities) contains the desired items/ships.
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics - courier services
Post by: Szasz on October 30, 2020, 01:14:58 PM
First of all, you're clever. I was thinking about the ergonomics of this mod and that storage should be easier to access. Bam, you did it, 1.3.0 unifies our storage requests. Also all your mods so far blend in very well with the game. I look up to you.

Some notes on this logistics mod though:
How it works right now feels cheating.
Passing by a solar system with the need 500 transplutonics by this stupid overreaching hegemony government? No problem. Lemme do my thing on this tablet. Poof. Got your 500 transplutonics right here. Need 10000 food as well? No biggie, here you go. Oh, I've ran out of fuel at the other end of the sector. Whoosh, black magic, my tanks are full again.  :)
So irony aside I would have expected some delay that requires at least minimal planning on my side so the whole situation doesn't feel like I'm in a fairy tale. Deducting the stuff immediately I've sent away is fine, however getting it is unreal.
SPAZ2 approaches courier services in a simplistic way, some UI drawing appear that launch from the origin market and follows an intercepting vector until it reaches your fleet. The drawing resembles a ship and is untargetable, unmuggable and inviolable in every way but it still helps the immersion (and most importantly your movement also affects how long does it take to reach you).
Do you think something like that can be accomplished with your mod?
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics - courier services
Post by: Wispborne on October 30, 2020, 02:28:26 PM
Quote from: Jaghaimo on October 29, 2020, 10:16:11 AM
Done & done, "allowTransfer" boolean in "data/config/settings.json" will hide all transfer buttons.

Super cool, thanks!
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics 1.1.0 - courier services
Post by: Jaghaimo on November 03, 2020, 04:03:14 AM
Quote from: Szasz on October 30, 2020, 01:14:58 PM
First of all, you're clever. I was thinking about the ergonomics of this mod and that storage should be easier to access. Bam, you did it, 1.3.0 unifies our storage requests. Also all your mods so far blend in very well with the game. I look up to you.
Thank you!

Quote from: Szasz on October 30, 2020, 01:14:58 PM
How it works right now feels cheating.
Passing by a solar system with the need 500 transplutonics by this stupid overreaching hegemony government? No problem. Lemme do my thing on this tablet. Poof. Got your 500 transplutonics right here. Need 10000 food as well? No biggie, here you go. Oh, I've ran out of fuel at the other end of the sector. Whoosh, black magic, my tanks are full again.
So irony aside I would have expected some delay that requires at least minimal planning on my side so the whole situation doesn't feel like I'm in a fairy tale. Deducting the stuff immediately I've sent away is fine, however getting it is unreal.

I totally agree. It is still planned, I am exploring my options on how to implement this. As per legacy version of this mod (version that added initial couriers):

Quote from: Jaghaimo on September 15, 2020, 02:43:49 PM
This release adds a basic courier services completing the three key aspects of the mod: courier, warehousing, and information (services). I say basic, as originally I wanted to spawn the courier fleet to travel to the player (and either bring the cargo or pick it up). In the end this felt too tedious - having to wait for the courier to arrive in system (as it would be spawned at the nearest Stellar Logistics Branch) was not fun. As such the time-space aspect of couriers is omitted (for now) - I may revisit the ideal at later time (perhaps spawn the courier just outside player viewpoint?).

Next immediate version will add "allowTransfer" flag, which you can turn off thus making this purely informative.
It will also make locating cargo easier (button to toggle between unified view right now, or per storage).
After this version, I will work on realism (distance and time aspect to courier transport).

Quote from: Szasz on October 30, 2020, 01:14:58 PM
SPAZ2 approaches courier services in a simplistic way, some UI drawing appear that launch from the origin market and follows an intercepting vector until it reaches your fleet. The drawing resembles a ship and is untargetable, unmuggable and inviolable in every way but it still helps the immersion (and most importantly your movement also affects how long does it take to reach you).
Do you think something like that can be accomplished with your mod?

Yes, this is the plan. It will either spawn from your fleet (if you are sending stuff away, despawns when reached the target), or from markets it is being delivered (follows you until it meets you, then despawns).
There will be an intel tile which you can use to track the courier (distance from market / you, estimated arrival).


Edit: Version 1.2.0 released, as always see Changelog (https://github.com/jaghaimo/stellics/blob/master/Changelog) for details.
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics 1.1.0 - courier services
Post by: Szasz on November 05, 2020, 07:04:09 PM
Quote from: Jaghaimo on November 03, 2020, 04:03:14 AM
Yes, this is the plan. It will either spawn from your fleet (if you are sending stuff away, despawns when reached the target), or from markets it is being delivered (follows you until it meets you, then despawns).
There will be an intel tile which you can use to track the courier (distance from market / you, estimated arrival).
Oof. Does that mean that the cuorier fleet can be destroyed by angry pirates and patrols rendering your cargo to either space dust or hijacked spoils?
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics 1.2.0 - courier services
Post by: Jaghaimo on November 06, 2020, 02:03:59 AM
Quote from: Szasz on November 05, 2020, 07:04:09 PM
Oof. Does that mean that the cuorier fleet can be destroyed by angry pirates and patrols rendering your cargo to either space dust or hijacked spoils?

It will depend on the technical possibilities. My initial plan is to spawn courier fleet as either belonging to independents (should make it "neutral" and pirates should ignore it, if not introduce a temp faction for couriers that has neutral standings with all in-game factions) or to player (so whoever hates the player will target your couriers). If both approaches work, I will add a flag in settings.json (canCouriersBeDestroyed: true/false).

Both approaches fit the lore behind couriers. Couriers could be their own factions (or indies service) and thus can afford to be neutral, as nobody will harm them anyway, and everybody wants their service. At the same time (non-neutral couriers) each courier could belong to the faction that ordered the service. Either way the plan is to make this configurable and let the player decide the desired behaviour.

Actually there is a third approach: destructible but insured. So if the courier fails to deliver your cargo you will be remunerated (credits equal to some percentage of value, or full value, or just lost cargo being reinstated in the storage it was taken from), so all you lose is time. Oh, decisions...

Who am I kidding about (decisions) anyway? Given time, everything will be implemented :D
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics 1.2.0 - courier services
Post by: Szasz on November 06, 2020, 12:23:25 PM
Quote from: Jaghaimo on November 06, 2020, 02:03:59 AM
Quote from: Szasz on November 05, 2020, 07:04:09 PM
Oof. Does that mean that the cuorier fleet can be destroyed by angry pirates and patrols rendering your cargo to either space dust or hijacked spoils?

It will depend on the technical possibilities. My initial plan is to spawn courier fleet as either belonging to independents (should make it "neutral" and pirates should ignore it, if not introduce a temp faction for couriers that has neutral standings with all in-game factions) or to player (so whoever hates the player will target your couriers). If both approaches work, I will add a flag in settings.json (canCouriersBeDestroyed: true/false).

Both approaches fit the lore behind couriers. Couriers could be their own factions (or indies service) and thus can afford to be neutral, as nobody will harm them anyway, and everybody wants their service. At the same time (non-neutral couriers) each courier could belong to the faction that ordered the service. Either way the plan is to make this configurable and let the player decide the desired behaviour.

Actually there is a third approach: destructible but insured. So if the courier fails to deliver your cargo you will be remunerated (credits equal to some percentage of value, or full value, or just lost cargo being reinstated in the storage it was taken from), so all you lose is time. Oh, decisions...

Who am I kidding about (decisions) anyway? Given time, everything will be implemented :D

Can't wait  to figure out what are you gonna end up making.
I can easily see this mod being integrated into vanilla sometime.
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics 1.2.0 - courier services
Post by: Jaghaimo on November 23, 2020, 01:18:30 PM
New version is up. Balancing and usability.

Code
- Transfer contracts: periodically transfer all cargo and ships to a designated storage
- Add Stellar Logistics agents to markets with player owned storage
- Add ability to sign a transfer contract through an agent
- Show intel when the agent arrives at a market
- Show intel when ship or cargo transfer happens
- Disable courier transfer while travelling by default
- Enable courier transfer to a designated storage by default

Balancing

Add transfer contracts - automatic transport of all storage content to one designated location. Enabled by default.
Stellar Logistics agents will arrive at markets with player owned storages. Talk to them to sign a transfer contract.
Enable transfer contracts (by default) and disable transfers while travelling (by default).

Usability
After every transfer (manual or automatic) show short-lived intel with transfer details (location, quantity, cost).
Show short-lived intel with new agent arrival / storage inclusion into courier network.

(https://i.imgur.com/PqrbFfM.png)
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics 1.2.0 - courier services
Post by: Szasz on January 06, 2021, 10:09:15 AM
Representatives are a good idea even if their current function is somewhat lacking as all they offer is consolidating every cargo you own with no regard to their nature. I like to keep military stuff (like ships and weapons) and commodities in two different storage locations mainly because there are so many different weapons that they tend to make a logistic sheet super long (and you gotta scroll to the end of the list to access the transfer button). Being able to talk to them after docking feels nice regardless.
Doing away couriers completely is rather harsh, could you make that available on markets? Not being able to tap into that during travel is fine, I can't help sending home any excess cargo I find otherwise, even if the cost makes me go bankrupt. The fee is balanced by the way, it gets very costly away from the core worlds(*), only the lack of visuals takes away the immersion so if that's not happening, being able to transfer goods at a market seems like a good compromise.
Also this is a hella costly for something as easy as picking up stuff and dropping them on the neighbouring planet that could be done by the player for free, it would just be annoying micro.
(https://i.ibb.co/MBHDwQQ/stellics-costly-in-system-transfer.png) (https://ibb.co/kmTgbvv)

(*) However I noticed some irregularities with transfer costs when owning lots of storages. The fee bumps up with the number of storage locations owned and it gets out of control if you buy storage access at most core world markets. In the monthly report it is shown that the cargo is bouncing off every market close to the previous, adding a nice sum to the total transfer cost.
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics 1.2.0 - courier services
Post by: IonDragonX on January 06, 2021, 12:02:53 PM
Quote from: Szasz on January 06, 2021, 10:09:15 AM
The fee bumps up with the number of storage locations owned and it gets out of control if you buy storage access at most core world markets. In the monthly report it is shown that the cargo is bouncing off every market close to the previous, adding a nice sum to the total transfer cost.
Sounds like a normal, unscrupulous business practice. Like a taxi driver that will take you in circles to run up the fare.
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics 1.3.1 - courier services
Post by: BlackWater821 on January 11, 2021, 12:14:56 AM
Hi, can you implement some options to disable "transfer while traveling" but still manage to request something in colony only?
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics 1.3.1 - courier services
Post by: Jaghaimo on March 26, 2021, 12:15:20 PM
Sorry for the late reply, I was taking some time off while waiting for new release.
I will revisit colony transfers in the next release. It will be a separate mod though, as there's no continuation between 0.9.1a and 0.95a saves.
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics 1.3.1 - courier services
Post by: sillynimbus on April 05, 2021, 01:34:55 AM
Is this ever going to get an update. It's so useful and it should honestly be in the base game already
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics 1.3.1 - courier services
Post by: Lprsti99 on April 06, 2021, 02:58:26 PM
Quote from: Jaghaimo on April 05, 2021, 10:53:46 AM
Alpha release for 0.95a: https://github.com/jaghaimo/hypernet/releases/tag/1.7.0-a1 (https://github.com/jaghaimo/hypernet/releases/tag/1.7.0-a1)

Do note that admin and officer search is broken. This mod is being reworked into one information-centric mod (combination of economy - former galmart, logistic - former stellics, and information - former hypernet intels) and will not get more updates.
Title: Re: [0.9.1a] Stellar Logistics 1.3.1 - courier services
Post by: Jaghaimo on April 10, 2021, 01:52:22 PM
Quote from: sillynimbus on April 05, 2021, 01:34:55 AM
Is this ever going to get an update. It's so useful and it should honestly be in the base game already
You can change the game version in mod_info.json or just use the successor mod - Stellar Networks (https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=20836).
I am locking this thread as no further work on Stellics is planned. Please direct all feedback in Stellar Networks thread.