[IDEA] Player owned ship buisnesses.

SpaceMonkey1119 · Post by **SpaceMonkey1119** » Tue, 8. May 07, 07:36

I don't know about any of you, but I see the Argon Casino ship and the pleasure cruise ship sail by and I want to own them. I'm not a coder or anything like that so I don't know how possible this all is, so if someone can set me straight that would be cool.

The way I see it, you make a new model for a Casino ship and a Pleasure Cruise ship. These ships have a small docking bay, you assign a number of TP ships to it (perhaps a new model as well) which will go out and collect the passengers. These passengers will be in stations around the galaxy, the TP ships pick them up and bring them back to the Casino ship or the Cruise liner, on the Casino ship, it sits in space and lets people gamble. I imagine it would have to dispatch it's TPs to get supplies maybe a little space fuel here and there, some food and the like. Meanwhile the patrons are gambling away, staying in the hotel portion of the ship, spending hard earned money that goes directly into your wallet.

The Cruise liner will work a bit differently. You'll set the route for it, then it's assigned TPs will go out, collect the people and supplies needed and then redock. The liner will then depart on the route you suggested, spending time in each system you select to allow the patrons time to explore and have a good time. Then you watch the money roll in from that too.

It would be fun to have a system of "upgrades" for the ships that allow it to hold more people, or make more money by offering more games/aminities. It might be impossible, but I think it would be fun.

killuminati-ita · Post by **killuminati-ita** » Tue, 8. May 07, 12:07

Indeed!

KanineLupus · Post by **KanineLupus** » Tue, 8. May 07, 14:48

Have fun with all the math/ecconomy equations to make either (especially a realisticly workable casino) work properly

You can easilly own the ships themselves (just regular ES models on specified 'Jobs' tasks) - it would be a way to make them works as their name suggests which is the bind

Lancefighter · Post by **Lancefighter** » Tue, 8. May 07, 19:32

Well... You could always set up a ship, TP class or bigger (TP to dock at stations, TL for SY/EQ docks) that every time it docks, it gets retinue. Call it a Casino ship or a Pleasure ship, your choice

There is a taxi software that will do this as a taxi type deal, with m5 or TP.

Elffin · Post by **Elffin** » Tue, 8. May 07, 21:47

Cool idea! - I'd like to black jack all the time!

Seriously - this a very good idea SpaceMonkey1119

KanineLupus · Post by **KanineLupus** » Wed, 9. May 07, 07:58

Actually, the memory seems to be stretching back to a BBS blackjack thing someone wrote for X2 (part of a larger BBS package I think).

Could that somehow be adapted for the job??

SpaceMonkey1119 · Post by **SpaceMonkey1119** » Wed, 9. May 07, 14:30

Well, in theory it wouldn't be too hard to "fake" a casino simulation, you make the base casino ship gain money over time as long as it has people in it. You of course have to have it buy the supplies it needs, so it will cost money there. So a single person generates so many credits an hour, but consumes x amount of food and liquor.

From there you just have to figure how much of a commidity one person would use and then remove that from the stocks every once in a while, then have the assigned supply ships go out when they get below a certian percentage.

Then for upgrades you could increase capacity of people, increase the quality of the games (increase the money you make per person per cycle), perhaps even set a rig level to the games. Make you a little more money cheating the people out of their hard earned credits. Careful though, if it's too high people will stop comming.

The hard part will be distrubitng people who wann gamble. I guess you could just magic up some people (random it in a TP according to the station type) then also have a chance for a random taxi to dock there and drop off the gamblers.

Also... it shouldn't look like any other ship out there, should be unique. The liner can wait, I really just want to see my Casino ship drifting around Argon Prime, making me money.

Edit : Oh if only I could type.

PhantomDG1 · Post by **PhantomDG1** » Wed, 9. May 07, 15:12

Though I'd put my ideas forward on this one.

The idea in general is good. Adds a whole new aspect to credit earning. Its almost a new custom start, hmm... Argon Entertainment Mogul ! !

The 'cruise ships' could use a rep (like the race rep) the higher your rep the more passengers you're likely to get on each trip.

The 'tour to nowhere' BBS missions did something similar where you got extra credits for a nicer tour. Admittedly the calculations will be extensive but using all the tours variables will then dictate your finishing rep !

There is a script already in circulation regarding cabin space / luxury cabin space. This might be useful to incorporate into your idea. (permission granted of course) That way you could have a class tier of travellers.

A good script to look at would also be Cycrows 'Capital ship crews'
(In fact getting Cycrow to help wouldn't hurt either...lol)

The better the crew, the better the tour and ultimately the more credits earned ! I actually like using this script. However I never felt as if it truly fitted into the whole X3 world.
BUT, in use with your idea it would be perfect !

My only other suggestion would be for type of ship used ! Who wants to tour on a dirty old battleship ?
Might be worth begging one of the guys (Observe/Deadly Da/ etc) if they would take an existing ship model and change it a little.
By that I mean just in colour. A nice big white Boron Ray would look cool indeed.

Phantom

Squelch · Post by **Squelch** » Wed, 9. May 07, 15:25

On the sugject of custom ships for this. What about the cruiser from the film 5th Element as a Casino? A white Ray sounds nice as well.

I know stations cannot move, but I wonder if it's possible to have the BBS system attached to ships. This would be like docking at a station with many of the existing BBS entries, and extra gambling type ones included too. The pirate blackjack competion, as well as the winnable lottery from Cycrows BBS Extras are suitable candidates

SpaceMonkey1119 · Post by **SpaceMonkey1119** » Wed, 9. May 07, 15:42

Using the Fhloston Paradise is actually a good idea.
[ external image ]

I think it looks pretty cool.

I guess I'll get to begging Cycrow and maybe someone to make a ship or two for me.

It's nice to see that people actually want something like this.

killuminati-ita · Post by **killuminati-ita** » Thu, 10. May 07, 12:26

I've suggested something like this months ago.. i'd like to have a big casinò flying ship in a sector.. and maybe you could put in some weed and alcohol.. (maybe some slaves as "entertainers" if you know what i meen

) as resources in order to have it working properly.. making lots of money (costing a lots of credits to buy tough..)

I hope someone can figure it out..

Cheers guys

PhantomDG1 · Post by **PhantomDG1** » Thu, 10. May 07, 18:06

Take a look at this thread by Flybye..

http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=178922

Guess these two are going hand-in-hand now

Phantom

matches · Post by **matches** » Thu, 10. May 07, 18:12

Great Idea! You'd have to add some variables to make it a true "gamble" though- the possibility of a "card shark" making it on board and cleaning out your ships account, cheaters doing the same, Pirates acctually sending out specialized raiding partys on your behalf, maybe even the Yaki making a go at capturing your casino.......Be a heck of a job taking it back, having to hire military personel, maybe some merc's for protection. If you have a flying-money-making-machine ya gotta have some risk

Flybye · Post by **Flybye** » Thu, 10. May 07, 18:18

Alright gents, I'm going to build the Fhloston ship!!

http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php? ... 15#2117215
I'm still greatly learning, and it will take me months to get it just right, but I'm confident I can do it

I own the DVD and have taken plenty of snapshots as references. Besides, I have a feeling the coding for all this will take months as well.

Are you guys going to seriously begin writing a script for this?

Some ideas from me:
1) Keep a constant supply of food from the different races. After all, not everyone like so eat the same thing.
2) I agree. Also keep a constant supply of booze & weed.
3) If setup as a TL, It is always possible to put an external loading dock on it. You can pick up passengers in a TP, transport them to the Cruise Ship, and drop them off. Once the Passenger wares are on the ship, the fun begins

4) As a cruise ship, the more sectors you fly through, the more money you make from your passengers.
5) You can get an incoming message of passengers requesting to leave. Then you need to dock your TP, pick up the wares, and take them to a trading dock.
6) Make the ship so you don't have to fly it around yourself and earn money (but you can still fly it around yourself and continue to earn money). You can command it to go to different sectors while you take care of enemies, loading of supplies, etc.

If you guys want to get REALLY creative, then how about someone making a new Space Station resembling a Cruise Ship Dock and not so militaryish like the Ship Yards we have now. Then you can pick up passengers at this station, take em around the universe, return back to this station, drop them off and get new passengers!!!

Or.....have multiple stations scattered throughout the universe!! And you fly the ship between the stations dropping and picking up passengers!! Of course, there are many dangers along the way, and it would be your job to ensure the cruise ship survives the trip.

Hmm...so..
1) Buy Cruise Ship at a regular ship yard
2) Dock it at the at the cruise ship passenger station
3) Fly to another cruise ship station
4) Pick up/drop off passengers

Nice

This COULD very well turn into its own mod.

matches · Post by **matches** » Thu, 10. May 07, 18:28

Don't forget a Gambling Licence- you WILL have illegal goods and entertainment on board. Hate to have Argon customs shut it down!

My wife happens to work as abartender in a casino. I have no scripting prowess, but you know I'll always throw my chips on the table!

PhantomDG1 · Post by **PhantomDG1** » Thu, 10. May 07, 18:57

Breakdown so far -

Custom Start - Entertainment Mogul

Idea/task – To achieve universal dominance through developing a cruise/entertainment ship empire.

Build a fleet, supply them, staff them, protect them and earn a reputation as the greatest pleasure liner mogul in the X-universe !

Additional info –

Pick up and drop off from various (possible custom) stations throughout the universe. Employ staff (capital ship crew) to help run/maintain ships.

On-board gambling / space fuel / weed. – needs to be supplied and paid for !
(calculations for earnings v outgoings)

Time on-board / distance travelled relates to earnings (similar to ‘ride to nowhere’)

Possible tiers / class of travel for more/less profits.

Protection for ships
(either docked fighters or player response fleets)

New routes can be made when new sectors opened.
(just buy a new station and add / modify existing route)

Custom made cruise ships (TP ships)
(Flybye already interested in taking this on)

That’s basically what this seems to be so far, but more ideas theories welcome!
Any scripters / MODers wanting to help out please come forward
(a lot of the scripts seem to already be out there, we just need to combine them)

SPECIAL THANKS to Flybye and Spacemonkey1119 (so far)

Phantom

Flybye · Post by **Flybye** » Thu, 10. May 07, 19:11

More thoughts:

1) I think everyone here agrees: EVERYONE likes lots and lots of sectors.
If this becomes a reality, it would be important to build it in such a way to make it easy to combine with another mod.

2) Cruise Ship stations: Should be something we need to purchase and deploy our own?

3) Is it possible to have seperate wares for each race? You can easily see how many Argon, Split, etc you have on board. Teladi would be the big money spenders, but harder to acquire.

PhantomDG1 · Post by **PhantomDG1** » Thu, 10. May 07, 20:43

Flybye wrote...

2) Cruise Ship stations: Should be something we need to purchase and deploy our own?

Agreed. The game could start off as simply trading, earning enough to buy your first TP ship ready for the off.

Stations could be two phase. Buy the initial Station/hub (center of operations)
Then smaller hubs as turnaround / pick-up points. (costing less obviously)

With each 'new' route requiring an additional Station/hub !

Flybye wrote...

I think everyone here agrees: EVERYONE likes lots and lots of sectors.
If this becomes a reality, it would be important to build it in such a way to make it easy to combine with another mod

I was thinking if a modified version of the sector patrol function could be used. Instead of various points in space the 'waypoints' would be each Station/hub.
(That way its only limited by the number of hubs the player owns. AND the player could make sure his cruises didn't enter enemy/unfriendly sectors)

Flybye wrote...

Is it possible to have seperate wares for each race? You can easily see how many Argon, Split, etc you have on board. Teladi would be the big money spenders, but harder to acquire.

A simple solution would be to attach this to the route sectors.
ie.. if a player has a cruise only going through argon sectors then maybe only stock with argon wares. But if the route is multi race then the ship won't depart until it has all the races wares on board.

Keep the ideas comming dude ! Oh and get back to work on that ship...lol

Thanks
Phantom

matches · Post by **matches** » Thu, 10. May 07, 21:10

Actually I think you'd need to stock all appropriate food-stuffs ALL the time. How many Argons are going to spend big bucks to tour their own sectors? It seems more likely to stock weres foriegn to the sector your travling in, to accomidate the foriegn races on said tour. Plus if you have freighters bringing in passengers from far-and-wide, who knows what you'll need on board? Stock everything all the time to accomidate the veriaty of passengers your likly to have on board.

PhantomDG1 · Post by **PhantomDG1** » Thu, 10. May 07, 21:38

Matches wrote...

Plus if you have freighters bringing in passengers from far-and-wide, who knows what you'll need on board? Stock everything all the time to accomidate the veriaty of passengers your likly to have on board.

Think you're probably right on the stocking/wares point. Better to cater for all tastes.

I'm still not overly convinced on the passenger frieghters bit. Why have them when the cruise liners are already doing all the travelling?

(Programming wise, the passengers that boarded could just be allowed a random number of stops before departing. That way you would have a figure to base charges / ware amounts / gambling time !)

Also charges / pick ups could depend on the distance between pick up points. Kind of like the difference between a mini cruise and a world cruise !

Phantom