[SUGGESTION] Factory/Ship Blueprints

[NKVD]

Now, as we all know, X3 effectively forces you to have a certain standing before you can purchase high-end products. As we also know, to continue purchasing these products, you need to maintain sufficient standing with the race.

This is not a problem with most commodities, as you can simply setup your own manufacturing alternatives.

It is, however, a problem with stations and ships. Effectively, should you choose to carve out your own economic empire somewhere in a populated sector, the consequent destruction of all NPC stations and fleets will cause your ratings to plummet, thus making it impossible for you to buy new ships or stations.

So, here's my script suggestion, although I am not even sure if something in that range is possible to achieve through scripting. Basically, once you achieve sufficiently high standings with a race, you should be able to purchase ship and station blueprints. This way, you will be able to build your own ships and stations from your own shipyards, and therefore you will not have to rely on NPC production in the long run. You will therefore be free to terrorise the universe as you see fit, becoming effectively an empire in your own right.

After some thought, I realised that factory and ship blueprints will also making wiping out entire races feasible, as otherwise race-specific shield, station and ship technologies would be lost forever.

Can this be done? And if yes, anyone here fancies a shot at it? Since I am a complete and utter scripting n00b, I have resigned myself to the role of posting insane suggestions reflecting my opinion on how the game can be improved.

Questions? Feedback? Rant?

[nuclear_eclipse]

This is actually quite possible. Back in X2, I had this same script very near to completion, except it was only for ships, and it only allowed the player to purchase one ship's blueprint at a time, which was then 'officially' delivered, as were the different modules for the shipyard. It was actually quite complex and cool, but then I got involved in the Terradine Galaxy mod, and I started working on the campaign scripts for it instead, and nothing ever got finished.

If someone would like my X2 scripts so that they can adapt them to X3 and complete them, I would be more than happy to supply them as long as I am given credit in the subsequent releases.

[NKVD]

Here's hoping someone likes this idea enough to use your old scripts and actually turn the concepts of blueprints into a reality. Also, it could be an excellent use for your HQ, which could act as a repository for blueprints.