Have to say Avan: You sir, are a genius!
Or maybe it's me that's the genius?
An Insane genius?
*ahem!*
In replying to a question posted by Avan earlier in relation to converting one type of hull into another I came up with the following non-nonsensical and over-complicated method:
I'm still learning and there's probably an easier way but lack of sleep = brain is goo so how about this:
Create a mod package that does the following:
Define a new faction called "CSEW" (or whatever, just thought 'Corvus Stellar Engineering Works' sounded cool) that has
friendly standing to the player.faction
Define a hull and variant called "CSEW-0" using only a single pixel sprite
Define an inventory itemtype called "Invoice - Hull Refit - Hulk -> Hulk MK2 - Pending" with a value of what you want to py
Define an inventory itemtype called "Invoice - Hull Refit - Hulk -> Hulk MK2 - In Progress" with a value of 0
Then using sectorgen:
Spawn an orbital station orbiting the star (or wherever) called "CSEW Admin Office" owned by the CSEW faction
Spawn another station called "CSEW Mooring Depot" that orbits nearby that is like the abandoned storage facility
Configure a resupply fleet using just CSEW-0 whose resupply call checks the Admin office has the 'Pending' invoice
available and if not will restock 1 unit.
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Disclaimer: This may not make any sense at all when I
next wake up even to me but here goes!
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Verrius' Fleet control mod has the relevant code and I'm sure he would be able to explain what I'm going to describe here:
FCM Polls the contents of the storage hanger and sorts out appropriate addition/removal of items based on those results IF there is a call that checks the Mooring depot for a 'Pending' invoice and obviously the ship to be upgraded (in this case the hulk) and if both are present will remove them both and add the upgraded hull type to stock ready to be picked up.
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The hack/process above may not be the solution to his issue with the GUI convert button function but it's given me a brilliant idea all the same!
It's going to take some time to see if it is actually feasible to implement so I will look into it properly over the next few days
but it should be fundamentally possible to create a custom faction that will be totally different to anything so far within the
game:
Race/Faction: "CSEW" or "Corvus Stellar Engineering Works"Founded by a core group of Businessmen, Scientists and Engineers from across system the CSEW was established to discover what opportunities lay beyond the bounds of the small islands almost secular powers that were the planetary societies of Corvus.
They knew that the major powers were only focused on maintaining their established identities and agendas were incapable of change or innovation. The CSEW understood that they required flexibility in opposition to the set paradigms they had left behind would allow them the chance to seize new opportunities in whatever form they appeared. In the 19 solar years that had passed since leaving confinement of their respective worlds to make their home in the black of space they had changed together. Floating ignored in the orbital installations around a lone and equally ignored moon what originally began as an unofficial motto of the expedition came to define them in every level of their workings: They were more than the sum of their parts!
Okay that's the fluff and drama out of the way, here's what I'm actually going to attempt:
It struck me that the idea of 'Upgrading' a ship/hull for a cost would be a great feature to implement for a pseudo-research type dynamic. Fun for a time but if all you are essentially doing is upgrading their capabilities then it would be easier not to mess with hulls and variants and have them instead have boosts installed which would be static in the bay and act a little like the std/vet/elt crew bonuses but be more varied. From my first thoughts while imagining the group as an entity operating outside of the established infrastructure present in the inner system that they would be forced to work with what they could mine and process themselves and that would by necessity drive innovation as the inspiration came to my mind that the three defining points should be innovative and inspired too:
1: From acorns mighty oaks grow:
The scope this dynamic allows if successful comes at a cost; As innovation begins with genesis and CSEW's beginning is
nothing but a seed on the wind. It will be your actions and determination that will allow this band of mad scientists and crazy
engineers to flourish or equally without your intervention they will remain nothing more than an ignored station orbiting an
ignored moon! Upon sector creation, the station will be stocked with a small number of pre-equipped Survey frigates and
enough crew and supplies to get back to the core if you change your mind
2: Innovation like all growth requires a balance of need vs capability:
I'm going to attempt to incorporate a new kind of economy for the CSEW based on exploration and exploitation that (if it
works!) should add a fair bit of variety to the game as well as a sense of progression and adventure. To that end, I'll explain
asteroid mining first!
Asteroid mining is going to be necessary evil that like anything requires the right tools for the job: lucky the Survey
frigate was developed specifically for the task! On your system map you will see many blips of different sizes representing
the mass of the signal with different colours representing ID/IFF whatever... A new neutral colour will be selected for
spacial anomalies such as survey beacons in the fields that are worth mining for ore.
The actual mining will occur in the battle screen when you travel to one of these sites as if it were an enemy fleet to attack...
Well, actually, that's precisely what it is: The asteroid 'fleet' will be made up of a small number of rich asteroid 'ships' that contain large stocks of minerals; They will be moving at random speeds and have very high weight/mass so avoid bumping them: Blow them up with your mining system and once all the 'enemies' have been destroyed, the 'battle' ends and you are presented with the loot screen: They need to be taken back to the facility to be processed along with the... 'Scientific Data' aswell? Back to base with that too!
3: More than the sum of our parts:
The final piece of the whole puzzle is what makes everything gel together and become a cohesive system: Research and Development!
Actually two separate systems but both required to eventually unlock the sweet ships with the cool kit that you've worked so hard to develop!
R+D is actually going to be a fairly simple affair but I might look at making it more complex in the future if this idea actually gets off the ground but for the time being, research is going to be tied directly into mining. Each 'mining-run' you go to on the map will be considered a great opportunity to gather sensor data and perform other tests as well as retrieving samples and running experiments and the like but that's just background fluff to explain that you aren't actually 'mining' the 'Scientific Data' point' which you then store at your station with the ore; basically it is the currency you will use to develop technologies.
Development:where it all comes together with your choosing of what to unlock and when!
In fairness the whole mod idea was born from that over-complicated code/script solution way back at the top of the thread...
Amazing how things can take on a life of their own eh? The premise is simple; Once you have deposited a certain amount of Scientific Data and Ore into the home station it will be removed and a fleet will be called to bring a station to your moon called 'Development Labs' (or somesuch). Once if is spawned, you will notice a number of items have spawned inside it. These are research tasks for your tech-level. They will have a number in their name followed by a basic indicator of what it does for example: "1250: Adv Missile Nav" would cost 1250 SP to unlock Adv Missile Nav; obviously something to do with guided missiles! Remove the item from the lab and drop it into the main base and voila, that system will be added to the supply convoy delivery...
Well, That's the easy part done!!!
Please, I need honest feedback with your thoughts be they Good, Bad, or even "its a S%$T plan!"
It's just a project outline at the minute and I'm going to need to hear what you think before I start!
#Edit: Fixed formatting as it borked when pasted in from notepad!
It seems you have favored an approach to army(fleet) creation of combined arms units but do you really feel that ordnance points give an accurate representation of a given ship or did you consider a more unpredictable and dynamic distribution?