[BONUS Plugin] Commodity Logistics Software MK1 04-8-05

[thrakar]

@fchopin

Exactly what I meant. I wrote (Fabs => TL) and that is from regular stations to TL. thrakar on the other hand appears to yearn a possibility to deliver from an EQ Dock to a TL. My assumption was that his EQ Dock receives ware from his Fabs and he wants to transfer the surplus to a TL rather than halt the chain. I wanted to point out that the current script allows delivery of ware from his Fabs to his TL directly. Naturally, that schema omits the EQ Dock where his M6 could refit, and does not work if some of the EQ Dock wares are bought (BPH) from NPC Fabs.

So thinking again, there seems to be three different cases:
- Fab(s) (1 ware) to Fab/TL/EQ Dock(s)
- EQ Dock (n wares) to EQ Dock(s)
- TL/EQ Dock (n wares) to TL/EQ Dock(s)
Two first out of the three are there already, and the third is what some would love to have.

[Edit]The Trading Station! Totally ignored it. That must be a separate case or associated with the last two listed cases.

Am I still off the mark?

This is what I am particularly interested in. I have serveral equipment docks scattered around that collect excess wares, shields, weapons from NPC fabs. The problem is that EQ Docks and Trade Stations only hold half what a most Fabs produce. As it stands now, I have to keep a constant eye on my docks, collect their wares onto storage freighters (big waste), then send the freighters occasionally out to my TL's for distribution.

For Example, GPPC take ages to produce. I don't want my BPH freighters to miss the opportunity to snatch one up because I haven't had a chance to check the dock and transfer the 2 GPPCs off to storage.

I have several GPPC fabs running currently and they do shuffle their wares off to a local TL for storage. But this is expensive and wasteful. I like running a lean and mean empire. So if the EQ Dock BPH could collect them, then a freighter could transfer to one TL, I can but these other TL's to better use.

It would also be incredibly useful if say I could have the M6 Dock-Dock transfer (as we have now) then have a CLS freighter then distribute goods to local factories. I think fchopin mentioned this already. That way we can pull resource from far reaches of the universe without having build huge loops everywhere. For instance, some sectors have a decent balance of ore and silcone, but not enough of either to build large scale production loops. Other sectors have huge numbers of ore, but little to no silicon. With an EQ Dock distributing wares, this wouldn't be a problem. You could setup energy loops in areas with high silcone concentrations, then build your weapons and shields in areas with lots of ore.

So to summarize it all, I would like to see CLS do:

EQ Dock=>TL
EQ Dock=>EQ Dock=>FAB

The rest of the script so far is brilliant! I have been able to reduce my freight loads from 20 freighters serving 20 fabs down to 1 or 2 freighters doing the same work.

[Burianek]

I happen to have some of the Xai Corp. scripts installed and noticed that this package uses the same command slot that the Xai Corp. manual trade commands software does. After installing the updated bonus package, the Xai manual trade command is still listed as the command to initiate SDS (or CLS).

The commands were changed, but should not conflict if the old one has been removed by the install (1.04).

The Setup script file for the old Manual Trade Commands is being left behind. I saw this on my system, in the script folder:

lib.Xai.Setup.xml 25Kb 02/19/05 1:08PM <=
...
lib.xi.setup.xml 28Kb 07/25/05 1:04AM


setup.plugin.mtc.xml 12Kb 07/25/05 1:04AM
...
setup.Xai.MTC.xml 11Kb 02/25/05 9:42PM <=

I believe you should remove the older one of each.

HTH,

Note that these setup scripts you are referring to are both associated with the unsigned version of MTC, and are not 'old' versions of the signed script.

I'm just mentioning this for users of the signed bonus pack, that never installed the unsigned version, so they don't feel they have to go digging into their script directories to remove something.

The signed setup scripts were purposefully renamed something other than the unsigned version.

Cheers.

[Storm666]

Any chance of someone telling me how to 'un-assign' a homebased M6... or at least change its homebase, ive tried the homebase command but its seems to work different from assigning homebases.

thanxs

[jlehtone]

Any chance of someone telling me how to 'un-assign' a homebased M6... or at least change its homebase.

If I do understand the script at all, then this is a partial no. The "Assign homebase" will set a new homebase, but only it is an EQ Dock. I would suggest an addition into the else-branch that sets the homebase to null.
I did not get so far that I could say whether the change is respected by the main function. After all the list of traded goods is created in respect to the homebase and should in my opinion become invalid when you no longer have the same homebase. Thus, a complete restart or reconfiguration may be necessary.

But to forget home-base via the commands does not happen. Does not the ship forget its homebase when the player jumps into the helm?

[D_Zorro]

Any chance of someone telling me how to 'un-assign' a homebased M6... or at least change its homebase, ive tried the homebase command but its seems to work different from assigning homebases.

thanxs

If it doesn't work maybe you could try the traditional way and fly the corvette and see if that resets it's home base. Don't know if that works though since i haven't tried that yet. But usually that helps resets ships homebase.


DZorro,

[Burianek]

That might not work the same way since M6s cannot have their hombases set via normal methods. I'm pretty sure the homebase of the M6 is set as a local variable and that wouldn't really be affected if the player jumped in and started flying.

The script probably needs an option, like you said, to clear out all variables (ware list and homebase) for an M6. Maybe by running the set homebase command and then selecting the M6 itself or something.

We'll have to wait and see what Lucike says.

Cheers.

[Storm666]

Any chance of someone telling me how to 'un-assign' a homebased M6... or at least change its homebase, ive tried the homebase command but its seems to work different from assigning homebases.

thanxs

If it doesn't work maybe you could try the traditional way and fly the corvette and see if that resets it's home base. Don't know if that works though since i haven't tried that yet. But usually that helps resets ships homebase.


DZorro,

This works... and you even get to keep your freight pilot aboard

i really wanted a method that didnt involve me actually getting in a M5 and docking with the M6...
if im trying this right i goto the...
special commands
assign/delete homebase then press enter

it asks for 'Input number'
then will ask for 'Input String'

I've tried the usuall 1, 0, -1 combinations and nothing
i dont get given any sector maps to select ship or base?

Not much of a problem really, since you can dock manually, I'd just like to know
Thnxs

[Lucike]

A homebase can be set for each ship, e.g. a M1 to shipyard.

Code: Select all

001   
002   skip if $Homebase -> exists
003    return null
004   
005   if $Homebase -> is of class Equipment Dock
006    play sample 985
007    [THIS] -> set homebase to $Homebase
008   else
009    play sample 924
010   end
011   
012   return null

When you want reset the homebase, then you must sit down in the ship. Easy or ... ?

I'll change this in the next release. -> Commodity Logistics: Set/Reset homebase

Planned with a TS:
EQDock or Trade Station -> Factory
EQDock or Trade Station -> TL
Trade Station -> Trade Station

Greets
Lucike

[Storm666]

Cheers Lucike
yeah its easy just jumping in so no problem... it was just that i noticed it said 'assign/delete homebase' in the menus, so was trying to get it to work that way.

the updates you have planned look good

Thnxs again

[John Blom Gehrcke]

I like to know how to move i pilot from 1 ship to another , because i try to an my pilot who was level Fright pilot in at Pirat Ship went to Aprentice in my Boron Dolphin is that sophose to happend ?

[esd]

Something I would love to see in this script would be a "Query settings" option. You query the pilot, and you receive a log entry detailing what stations it's set to deliver to, and at what price.

Very useful when you're expanding a loop, because at the moment I have to put this information in the ship's name.

I have the same problem with TM3, you can't tell a Universe Trader from a Sector Trader without looking closely.

[fchopin]

@esd

You can already do this.

Code: Select all

To show the ships current station list, select the command to add a new station to the list, and then select the ships home base or the ship itself. The station list will be displayed sorted alphabetically. To delete the whole list simply select any ship. 

Edit: It will also show if it is set to Factory Price or no price.

[fchopin]

@Lucike

Code: Select all

Planned with a TS: 
EQDock or Trade Station -> Factory 
EQDock or Trade Station -> TL 
Trade Station -> Trade Station 

Excellent

[jlehtone]

@esd
Doesn't it already show some summary when you add the home base? I think that the homebase is automatically included as a 'producer' and an attempt to add it created a message that listed stations, flightime, wages, or something.

@Lucike
May I inquire what kind of (technical) approach you have in mind for the ED (EQ Dock)/TD (Trade Dock)/TL case(s)?

The current implementation clearly has two cases - based on the ship type - TS and M6 and this is related how commands are inserted into the menus. Once the script is started for a particular ship, then the homebase information is availabe and can be used for further subtyping.

The TS mode, as it is now, is rather general : "Transport one ware type by gathering from several producers and distributing to several consumers." The M6 mode is rather strict: "Move several wares from one ED to one ED." The latter is an intuitive solution to long-range, dangerous product relocation needs. The TS mode does already cover the two most interesting special cases: (1) gather to one station, and (2) distribute from one station. However, not all subtypes of the second case are allowed, namely those with ED, TD, or TL as the producer. The current TS mode can thus safely assume that the product of the homebase is the good that is hauled around. All of ED, TD, and TL may be both producers and consumers of more than one ware. Thus, it is not trivial to deduce, whether they are producers or consumers for the ship's loop. Cannot be both. Similarly, the ware of a producer ED/TD/TL cannot be deduced without player's help. Now, if the TS is based on a ED/TD/TL and has several wares to deliver, then each consumer station may be a valid consumer for zero, one, ore more wares. That is rather lot of bookkeeping for even the smart Paranid CLS-pilots you may find around the universe.

The script(s) does already change its behaviour based on the ship type. The homebase type is also available on startup of the script. The destination list (for TS-mode) may change arbitrarily. From these considerations I would make the following list:
- the M6 mode as now is fine
- the TS mode could, during startup, inquire for the ware type (just one) if the homebase is of type ED/TD/TL, (by default the ware is the product of the fab)
- any ED/TD/TL in the list would always be a consumer, except when it is the homebase in which case it is a producer
- add any level requirements as needed

There is one minor drawback in that simplistic setup which should be rather obvious for the educated mind: the TS will haul only one type of cargo. In other words the EQ Dock will need one TS ship for each ware type that it desires to redistribute (for example, to a storage TL). Furthermore, one still could not gather from many EDs to a single TL.

[esd]

Thanks for the information, though a log-entry may prove useful (maybe stick it in the additional ship commands?)

[Lucike]

There is one minor drawback in that simplistic setup which should be rather obvious for the educated mind: the TS will haul only one type of cargo. In other words the EQ Dock will need one TS ship for each ware type that it desires to redistribute (for example, to a storage TL). Furthermore, one still could not gather from many EDs to a single TL.

The freighters will be able to transport several classes of goods. Only from one EQ Dock, because the configuration would be too difficult. Not for the scripter, but for the player.

Greets
Lucike

[thrakar]

Planned with a TS:
EQDock or Trade Station -> Factory
EQDock or Trade Station -> TL
Trade Station -> Trade Station

Greets
Lucike

YOU DA MAN Lucike!

[jlehtone]

The freighters will be able to transport several classes of goods. Only from one EQ Dock, because the configuration would be too difficult. Not for the scripter, but for the player.

Silly me My ideas were limited to the case where the number of Trade menu commads remains the same, i.e. one 'Start CLS' for TS ship. IDs of commands, upgrades, and text messages compete (or conflict) with other scripts, or am I wrong?

The 'distribute from only one EQ Dock' is probably easy for all parties. Does the selection of transportable wares impose any requirements on the valid consumers? If not, then I really have to improve my programming skills.

Would it then be possible to add a 'Start Collector mode' command? Otherwise the same as 'distribute from EQ Dock', but the homebase (ED/TD/TL) would be the sole consumer instead of producer. ATC does that already, but that is a buyer (from NPC). That may be too powerful though, since one collector, one M6, and one distributor (i.e. three ships) could transfer everything from one loop system to another (via secured EQ Dock==EQ Dock connection). The initial of a collector is of course to get surplus items from several EQ Docks and Trade Docks into one Mammoth. But then again, the cautious Magnate will likely prefer the M6-based transportation and direct the surplus to one EQ Dock, which will have a TL very near and well protected.

My apologies, if I am reiterating both obvious and impossible things. I have found thinking(?) aloud to be the most efficient way to discover all the bugs of my own. And things unwritten have never happened.

[Lucike]

The freighters gets three commands, when the home base is a Trade Station or EqDock. Then you can select the destination and the ware to transport. The freighters examine the ware on the destination and load the correct ware.

The commands are already exits and we can use it.

-> Start Commodity Logistics...
-> Commodity Logistics: Add/Remove stations
-> Commodity Logistics: Add/Remove commodity

Greets
Lucike

[Storm666]

me again

just wondering if its possible to get a list of the times when the pilots get promoted to the next levels?


thanxs