[AL Plugin] EJon-Tech/MarCon Ind. 'Trading Plugin' (1.2 German Aug 9 2010)

EmperorJon · Post by **EmperorJon** » Sun, 7. Feb 10, 21:02

Just got this through from my website:

--------------- Form Response ---------------

01 - Will you download the PSS and Economic Booster? = Yes, definitely!
02 - Explain the above = Downloaded last night and played for a few hours.
03 - What do you think should be done in the future = Add this (comment in box below)
04 - If you selected the last answer in the last question, comment what here = An idea:
It would be nice to be able to pay the company to set up an NPC station of your choice.This would allow the player to place stations that they normally could not purchase due to low race relations or would not want to place or run themselves (aka, in my most recent game I'm playing as a privateer/pirate with good relations with the argon. Part of my house rules are no station building.). Perhaps price it at half the credits for the player to build the station ("an anonymous donor has offered credit-for-credit matching funds for the construction of the station...") because the player would not be receiving any income from sales. This would allow the player to fix holes in the economy or help increase the production of end goods they may need (like lasers or shields) without having to wait for a script (and this is in no way an attack on the station placement portion of your work) to decide (if it ever does, no script can read the players mind) that the station is needed.
05 - If you have any more comments, add them here = So far I really like the booster and will definitely keep it was one of my base script list. My one complaint is that it would be nice to have a confirmation dialogue when purchasing the licenses. I accidentally spent all of my money on one when exploring the menu after installing the script.

1. Thanks!
2. Thanks!
3. Erm. Thanks!
4. You. Are. A. Genius.

5. I was going to add a confirmation menu, indeed.

Tahlmorra · Post by **Tahlmorra** » Mon, 8. Feb 10, 01:59

Glad you liked my idea

A couple more:

1.) Remove a station: The opposite of my previous idea. Pay the center to convince the faction government to revoke a station's operating license (i.e. removes it from the game or possibly disrupt production for a period of time). Uses would be removing a competing station or one which for some reason is a drag on the economy (i.e. a glut of weapons forges in an area of few resources where one of the forges produces a product the player wants but is running out of resources because demand is so large). Prices would be extremely high (high enough to make credit outlay vs potential profits a serious consideration), possibly scaling vs station type, and not guaranteed successful.

2.) Lobbyist Division: Pay a large sum of credits to a center to improve relations with one of the two races linked to that station. The basic idea being once a player has a large income they (like any modern corporation) may be willing to pay an substantial price to improve race relations rather than having to take the time to actually help the race. Prices would be high and success would not be guaranteed.

Both of these ideas could also incorporate a small chance of decreased race relations as a result of the attempt (public discovers that player is bribing the government).

The goal of the idea I sent with the form and the first one above is to allow the player to emulate the station placement and removal functions of the GOD engine, for an appropriate fee, of course.

Thanks for taking the time to listen to my ideas and to make this really nice script.

lamoyja · Post by **lamoyja** » Mon, 8. Feb 10, 02:21

What I meant, was you said that there was a bug where the sector owner was spawning as the owner of the stations, rather than the correct owner.

So when I was playing, I saw some stations that were owned by the Yaki. This confused me, as they were basically unuseable. (couldn't dock with yaki)

Can npc's use the yaki stations? Or are they supposed to be a neutral race, and not belonging to the yaki?

mark_a_condren · Post by **mark_a_condren** » Mon, 8. Feb 10, 07:43

lamoyja

Apparently EmperorJon wanted the spawned stations to belong to the original owner race for that type of station, however, when i was coding it i set them as belonging to the race that owned the sector. The interdepartmental communication got fubar'd.

So at present they belong to the sector owner and come with all the restricions of the vanilla stations in that sector, as to who can trade with them and who can't. So if you can dock with that races station you can't dock at these stations. (humm .. ar .. don't forget you don't need to dock to use the ATDI to trade with a station, at the moment it has no race relation restrictions .. which i think EmperorJon will have changed in upcoming releases)

This has however led to the possability of who owns the station (original owner or sector owner) becoming a settable option, so the player can set it to suit thier prefered game style. Each of these possabilities i foresee having different long term effects on the game.

A second possable user setting is as to if the use of the Adv Transport Devicel to trade with stations takes into account your relation to the station owner, and in the case of a spawned ECon Boost Station, be it sector owner or original station type owner.

Ok, seems i've rambled on long enough.

Hope this answered some of your questions ...

MarCon

lamoyja · Post by **lamoyja** » Tue, 9. Feb 10, 01:28

Ah, good point on using the transporter to trade with the station. Forgot about that option... I like to squeeze out as much trading experience as I can .

Master of the Blade · Post by **Master of the Blade** » Tue, 9. Feb 10, 17:25

Update on the lasertowers->ships thing, it is as we thought- it's happened to all of them, after I saw about fifteen of the beggars trying to fight off a Xenon invasion force in Grand Exchange with, again, no weaponry or shields. Of course, I did the same for them. Still, it shouldn't be happening in the first place.

That said, it could be explained away- the Ejon tech corporation donated some prototype ships to the races, to help protect the PSS and the sector it is in. Or something.

mark_a_condren · Post by **mark_a_condren** » Tue, 9. Feb 10, 18:07

Master of the Blade

didn't do the questionnaire. I'm SORRY! PLEASE DON'T KILL ME

There is no need to KILL YOU !!! When we can make you suffer by turning your Lasertowers into Helpless ships ..... Arrr heeee hoo

No, Just Joking .... (You Hope)

In the code that was written there is the command to create the Lasertowers, When Ejon did that code there is 4 Lasertower entries to choose from, I have know idea which he chose, 1, 2, 3 or 4. It would appear that the Ship Mod that you are running has overwritten one of these LT entries, You can guess which one was chosen to create the LT's for this script, and as yet i havn't been able to correct it without knowing which entry was used. BUT, we are working on it, sorry for the problems this is causing you.

The Other menu entry Problem with replacement PSS's has been fixed, one Variable in one line of code not being updated when replacement stations were placed, Errrrr .... .

As soon as we can we will get the hotfix for that uploaded

MarCon

EmperorJon · Post by **EmperorJon** » Tue, 9. Feb 10, 18:25

4 lastertowers.

One is like a turret, one like a circle thingy, one the real lasertower, and the last I can't remember. That mod must be pretty bad if it overwrote the actual lasertower model!

Jack Slinger · Post by **Jack Slinger** » Tue, 9. Feb 10, 18:31

Good Scrpt!

I have but one issue with it so far. When using the remote trade menu you can ether buy or sell depending on whether its a product or a reasorce you clicked on, this works fine but in trade stations you should be able to do both and your menu will only let me buy! Apart from that keep up the good work.

EmperorJon · Post by **EmperorJon** » Tue, 9. Feb 10, 18:33

Ah! Did not think that either!

Hmm, is there a check for 'goods'? Because if there is, we'll sort that out.

Mark's going through most of these problems.

I'm desinging new stuff.

Like the 'spacefly' script, the 'Get rid of this factory please *BRIBE BRIBE*' script, the 'I want something here' script, and possibly a new idea too.

Master of the Blade · Post by **Master of the Blade** » Tue, 9. Feb 10, 20:19

No- NORMAL lasertowers work fine- they don't just up and vanish like yours do. Could you have accidentally used an obscure lasertower entry?(I mean, there are about seventy to choose from, having looked in the model viewer). But all the mod changes(AFAIK) is, well, nothing- just adds two ships into the game- doesn't touch anything else. Very strange...

mark_a_condren · Post by **mark_a_condren** » Wed, 10. Feb 10, 11:28

Master of the Blade

Well your Lasertower problem has got me absolutly stumped !! I've checked the lasertower we are using and everything else i can think of at the moment and all to no avail. I have been unable to reproduce or diagnose the prob so any chance of me fixing it are remote to say the least.
My only recommendation to you is if this becomes an unacceptable problem for you, please stop using the script.

On a good note, I have managed to fix the Station list menu and a few other minor errors.

To Everyone ...

I am currently rewriting the transfer script for transfering wares between Stations and your ship. This will enable you to transfer wares both ways at a Trading Station or EQ Dock while maintaining the current Product and Resource transfer restrictions at any factory type Station. However the current restriction of NOT transfering upgrades and some equipment will remain in place. You will need to Dock and transfer these in the convention manner.

What i would like to know is, is the current amount transfer menu working in a convenient manner. At present you have the 2 options of 1.) 'Tranfer All' and the MAX amount that can be transfered preselected, and 2.) 'Enter Amount to Transfer' this being a user defined amount, with the MAX being displayed, Any amount entered over this will result in only the MAX being transfered anyway.

At present the Trading Station and EQ Dock amount transfer menu is simply a double up of this, 2 options at top (MAX and user Defined) for transfer to station, and then the same to options below them for transfer to ship.

If the current system is proving convenient then this is how it will be.
IF NOT ... please speak up now so it can be ajusted.

The options of choosing the owner race of Economy Boost Stations is also being implemented. If it proves a possabilty to incorporate the option to choose to impose Race Relations on the Trading with Stations without disrupting the rest of the script, this will be implemented as well.
Both of these will be user selectable options, turn them ON or OFF, up to you and your game style.

So basically, if the transfer menu needs changing, SPEAK UP.

MarCon

Jack Slinger · Post by **Jack Slinger** » Wed, 10. Feb 10, 16:04

I'm all for the current layout, a lot of numbers to get your head round at first but being able to type in how much you want to transfer is very useful. So you have my vote to keep the current system but just fix the bugs previously mentioned.

mark_a_condren · Post by **mark_a_condren** » Wed, 10. Feb 10, 16:22

Jack Slinger

Thanks for the feedback.

Believe it or not, 2 mins ago i finished fixing the transfer script so the transfer to Trading Station or Dock works both ways. If the Station and your ship both have the ware, you get the option to go either way, if only one has it, it will only give you that option.

As for the rest of the bugs, the ones i havn't killed already i'm chasing around the room with a broom.

But most of em i've delt with, right were the chicken got the Axe.

The figures that were put in are the ones that i would want to know before buying or selling anything, so i figured most other people would too.

MarCon

EmperorJon · Post by **EmperorJon** » Wed, 10. Feb 10, 16:48

Thanks for those fixes Mark, I've got a decent amount of spare time tonight.

As in, 4 and a bit.

So plenty of time to finish off a few niggling peices.

You did get my message Mark? About the Spaceflies? You'll need to check it over, in the meantime I'm about to start something else.

Maybe the 'I want a station here' script?

EmperorJon · Post by **EmperorJon** » Wed, 10. Feb 10, 18:09

The Spacefly Hunter is almost perfected! I think I'll release it with the hotfix:

Spacefly Hunter
● The Spacefly Hunter will collect Spaceflies in it's current sector
● The Spacefly Hunter will collect more flies, the more flies the collects
● The Spacefly Hunter has his own Pilot name and experience (for above)

● The Spacefly Hunter requires:
Ion Disruptor
Spacefly Collector
Special Command Software Mk1
Triplex Scanner

Note: He may leave the area of the sector, travelling far off the ecliptic to search for these elusive creatures

Warning: Spacefly Hunting is illegal in most space, and if the Hunter is scanned with flies onboard you will lose reputation! For best results, use this command in Pirate, Goner, Unknown, Terran or Split space.

Post by **Cycrow** » Wed, 10. Feb 10, 19:36

btw, just so you know, ill be releasing Spacefly hunting software at some point, which allows you to command your ships to go out and hunt and sell spaceflys

EmperorJon · Post by **EmperorJon** » Wed, 10. Feb 10, 19:49

I was going to evolve this at some point to allow selling, notification of when it's full, collect them and sell to homebase, that sort of thing.

Ah well, we'll see which script is better.

I for one already know my answer.

Yours.

Post by **Cycrow** » Wed, 10. Feb 10, 20:35

u can check it out yourself if you like, im just converting my old X3 Reunion script to TC

http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=141347

EmperorJon · Post by **EmperorJon** » Wed, 10. Feb 10, 20:36

And due to some reason mine ha snow completely stopped working.

So you win.