BBS Callback: Idea

Aro · Post by **Aro** » Mon, 20. Oct 08, 06:20

So I read the BBS has been removed.

New station, sort of like a pub. No products for purchase or sale (or could be varied depending on location like outer-earth only has basics like water and foodstuff etc). Contains mainly the normal fluff with some other missions mixed in. Maybe some info brokerage if possible to script. Maybe more chance of lotto or other gambling games (if they still exist).

The Tasty Argnu
Queen's Ambrosia
Asteroid Playground
Akeela's Memory
Bouncing Bastu (ok lame...)

Predator02 · Post by **Predator02** » Mon, 20. Oct 08, 07:49

The station message board, with entries ranging from the typical fluff to x-verse meme's.

mpcribeiro · Post by **mpcribeiro** » Mon, 20. Oct 08, 08:30

New station no!! but BSS like always existed on every station is a minimum.

UNFORTUNATLY BBS seem to have been removed but they forgot to remove the station message "read your bulletin board bla bla bla" that plays on the station from times to times.

BBS made a good sense to exist don't know why it was removed (or at least , if it still exists I could not find where it is on the game)...

ThisIsHarsh · Post by **ThisIsHarsh** » Mon, 20. Oct 08, 08:59

Thing is, if the BBS was not removed reams and reams of new content would have to be added *and translated*... That's a lot of work for 'fluff'. If they just used the old BBS messages people would cry out that they're reusing old stuff (already seen some whining about that with voice acting, etc). It's a no win situation for a minor feature, so sod it.

Having said that, some kind of BBS where fans could add news stories, or even better dynamic news stories based on actual in-game events, would be very cool.

None of it likely to happen though.

One option would be to have ships in sectors as 'news vendors' offering a 'mission' which just sends a message to your log with some news stories. Can't imagine such an idea being very popular unless some useful (e.g. rumoured abandoned ship, upcoming invasion, etc) came with it.

mpcribeiro · Post by **mpcribeiro** » Mon, 20. Oct 08, 09:24

Just a thought

Don't know how difficult/easy it is to open a new window on X3TC.

But like Cycrow's cheat script does for the menu popup, it could well be a possibe (with good looks) to display simply text or mix with options like BBS did.

is it might be possible to bring back a very usefull piece of (mis)information

moot · Post by **moot** » Mon, 20. Oct 08, 10:02

ThisIsHarsh wrote:Thing is, if the BBS was not removed reams and reams of new content would have to be added *and translated*...

No we don't have to do translations. Users should just write original stories in their own languages, and leave it at that. Translation = more effort than just writing--we used translate in Reunion and it was crazy!

As for the suggestion, it's too much effort (and inconsistent with TC's new mechanics) to dock in order to read news. Haven't bought a copy myself, can the animated billboards offer missions? If so we can rig that to broadcast news to ships within range.

Alternatively, we can add an information-only category to the mission offers at regular stations.

Predator02 · Post by **Predator02** » Mon, 20. Oct 08, 10:15

I prefer docking to comm up missions first, autosave helps when something goes catastrophically wrong such as the Xenon grand fleet arriving. BBS's would be implemented the same, or if we want to keep with the new system, how about a script that adds a "news drone" to all non xenon/unknown sectors that lets you browse the news. The pirates could even have their own pirate news. Dynamic would be nice but I don't see it happening.

Incubi · Post by **Incubi** » Mon, 20. Oct 08, 10:35

I have a feeling ego will give us the BBS back, so I suggest that any attempt to make a bbs, make it as simple as possible so that all custom bbs reads can more easily be merged with an official one in the furture.

The old BBS non mission yet important gameplay deals was ( as I recall )

Pandoras
Location of Kha'ak invasions ( I get a lot of nay sayers on this, but yes there was in fact 2 bbs post that relates to kha'ak invasions. )
Lottery
and the sector auction ( gah, name escapes me atm )
sector maps.........

sheesh come to think of it there was a lot of BBS content that was not mission related, the newer and better mission system is by no means a replacement

edit:
heh forgot to mention my main suggestion.

Sector wide BBS that does not require entering a station. Maybe some station specific goodies ( rare ) that would require being on it.

moot · Post by **moot** » Mon, 20. Oct 08, 10:53

Incubi wrote: Location of Kha'ak invasions ( I get a lot of nay sayers on this, but yes there was in fact 2 bbs post that relates to kha'ak invasions. )

We were naysayers because there were only *two* types of Khaak news, one of which doesn't even function correctly. And it was wholly lacking in details--number of Khaak ships, number of civvie/military ships and stations destroyed. Now that Khaak Invasion news are out of the vanilla game, maybe I'll get a shot at fixing this...

Sector wide BBS that does not require entering a station. Maybe some station specific goodies ( rare ) that would require being on it.

AFAIK BBS news are not sector-wide, but race-wide. Weird I know, but those were the BBS function parameters.

Dragoongfa · Post by **Dragoongfa** » Mon, 20. Oct 08, 11:10

My personal idea is to implement the BBS in a "e-newspaper" personal message, you subscribe to news station (that would either be a new station or at a trade station) and then you can either request them to sent news at regular intervals or to send you the last e-newspaper.

The e-newspaper should have junk news and some useful and plot related news.

Does it sound good?

Post by **Cycrow** » Mon, 20. Oct 08, 12:45

just so you know, the idea to bring in a newspaper system is alreayd being developed over at the XTM forums.

Dragoongfa · Post by **Dragoongfa** » Mon, 20. Oct 08, 14:10

Nice, so that means that maybe ego will buy the idea?

Ecthelion · Post by **Ecthelion** » Mon, 20. Oct 08, 15:18

moot wrote:Haven't bought a copy myself, can the animated billboards offer missions? If so we can rig that to broadcast news to ships within range.

Unfortunately, I don't think that would work since they can't be targeted. If I remember correctly, they're still solid objects, but they can't be targeted.

SSwamp_Trooper · Post by **SSwamp_Trooper** » Mon, 20. Oct 08, 17:44

Are they part of the station model/scene now?

I would like to see the bbs back or something similar

Saber15 · Post by **Saber15** » Mon, 20. Oct 08, 21:42

SSwamp_Trooper wrote:Are they part of the station model/scene now?

I would like to see the bbs back or something similar

I don't think so, you can see them floating in space without nearby stations, and some stations of the same type don't have them.

Khaak_Slayer · Post by **Khaak_Slayer** » Mon, 20. Oct 08, 22:00

I am also all for bringing back the BBS. It gave me a very nice opportunity to relax for a moment have a bit of a browse. It adds immersion and connects you to the rest of the world. Current TC feels like it is a game and you're playing it, like you're bigger than it is. There were numerous things in X3R that seemed to make the universe feel huge, like there were actually other things going on far away, even if they weren't actually.

egosoft.com

egosoft.com

BBS Callback: Idea

BBS Callback: Idea

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