[SCRIPT] Overtune BBS V1.50 : Updated 19/06/2006

[arcana75]

Cycrow, which part do I change to increase the chances of the speed tunings to appear in the BBS?

[Cycrow]

theres 2 parts you can change to make it appear more often.

at the top of the quest script, theres a value you can change to change the time between appearing.

lowing this would reduce the time between displaying each entry, if you also want to change the chance, goto the prio event, something like, if $event == "prio"
and change the return value to something higher, 100 should make it pretty common

[xalien]

Cycrow, maybe you should change the way the frequency of the messages is determined?

Currently, when I buy something I get some peace and quiet, but after a while whenever I dock I get a feeling I'm being stalked by a crowd of a rogue mechanics trying to fix my ship. I was thinking about a random chance (like 5% probability) of finding them.

Also, messing with spaceship's engines and thrusters is not something you can do anywhere you please (like in a grocery shop), you need a proper gear for that. Maybe it should be limited to shipyards, pirate bases, equipment docks and trading stations?

Just my 2 cents.

[Tritous]

well these are in some cases dodgy mechanics with tools in the back of their ship so not always true. but they could perhaps be made more common there. I know that's possible in the editor, but don't know how easy that would be the way cycrow has scripted the rest.

perhaps there should be two types of overtune? a safe one which is most common in shipyards and EQ docks (although sometimes elsewhere) which is the equivilent of an engine-out tune or on ramps. Slightly cheaper, slightly less boost. And perhaps a dodgy one, a jack and wrench jobby, maybe more expensive, maybe cheaper, maybe more tunes, maybe the same, less reliable (a 20% chance of random hull damage up to 20% and 10% chance of a total failure and he does a runner, 5% chance of both) It should be worth the risk in that you can usually get more tunes out of it so it's better value...but those who don't want to risk the repair costs (like on a destroyer) can stick to the safe tunes (the guys with qualifications)

of course, it's just a case of a second copy of the overtune with different text, different likelyhood of appearing, and a chance of failure added, but that's cycrow's choice. I think it would be a nice little twist though

[Cycrow]

ffunny u mention that, coz its something i've actaully been working on, the doggier engine tunings will cause random errrors, like damage to equipment or cargo, etc.

the main problem about the probobality of messages, is that its handled internally how often theyre displayed.

so if i do a check for a random 5%, ie 5% probability, then the game will still do a random check of its own, making it even less common.

best i can do is reduce the probobilty of the game engine selecting it

[marnediv]

OK, I have your Overtune script installed on my game and the weirdest thing happened, I recently overtuned my Centaur a few times, now it is capable of traveling at 225 kps. Great, right? Not! I started to my next destination flying through Two Grand and the warning kept coming up "Sheilds Critical"... So I wondered if a new Nebulai was created there by G.O.D. so then I fly into Patriarchs Keep and again the same warning???

I could understand a freaky nebuali in one sector, but not two??? So I lowered my speed to 200 and my sheilds started to raise again without any depletion

Then I figured it out. It seems that if you fly too fast in the Centaur, the ship cannot maintain its sheilds up, reason being that when I reaised the speed again to 225 kps, once again the sheilds started to decay...

Now I have my Centaur to more or less where I want it with speed, but I can not use the speed because the sheilds deplete.

Any suggestions??? I am really clueless on this and need your assistance... I know that I could go to an equipment dock and lower the overtune a bit, but then I would of just lost I think it was 14 million credits for the last tune-up.

Thanks for any help that you could provide...

[Cycrow]

its actaully part of the script, should be mentioned in the readme

anyways, if the ship goes to fast it draws energy fro mthe shields to maintain its speed.

you can turn off this feature thou, goto the artifical life settings, and theres an option to turn off the shield draining for overtune.

[marnediv]

Thanks for the response, that solved it...

[warpdriver]

I decided to give the Xscript installer another shot and tried out this script. I have to admit it's pretty awesome, though I feel guilty having a Teladi Osprey with the speed of a Split Dragon and the steering of a Paranid Nemesis. Heh. I think the pricing is about right for the upgrades, but I have a suggestion.

How about you have the engine tunings and rudder optimizations take up room in your cargo hold like weapons do? This would make pilots have to decide purchasing the upgrades over leaving room in their cargo holds for trade runs. I guess it would need to be "S" type freight for all ships to take advantage of the upgrades, unless you want to make the freight "M" or higher so M5's can't speed through Xenon sectors at such a speed to emerge unscathed at the next jumpgate.

If you do decide to add hull damage to the script for overtuning your ship too much, you might want to have some kind of warning message or icon that flashes when you're exceeding your hull's stress level. Something like a temperture light in a car, perhaps?

As for the interval between receiving the overtune messages in the BBS, I've found a way to get the messages to appear at nearly every station I dock with. It only took a couple of hours to get my Teladi Osprey to its current overtuned specifications, provided you have the money available for the upgrades. I think I've spent as much money on my Osprey's upgrades as if I would have purchased a new M1.

[jockodipunto]

I currently use this script all the time in my X3 games and think it is awesome. Is this usable in X2 does anyone know? If not, is there a comparable script in X2 that does the same?

Thanks.

[Cycrow]

this script relies primarily on the BBS, so its compltly imcompatable with X2, as you cant do anything with the BBS on x2.

to make the speed take up cargo space would be very difficult to achive, as it would require a script running on each ship that has checks the cargo hold to c if you remove these and then detune the ship. The more ships you overtune the more scripts that need to be running all the time, not really that practical.

a few things i've been planning to add is random damages to ur ship when you install it. So theres a risk that paying for the upgrade could cause more problems. Also, if i do add the hull damage, it will happen only when ur shields are down

[warpdriver]

It would be neat to see the AI ships use overtuning as well. Attack a wing of pirate Harriers and see them chicken out and run away at 1000kps. Or imagine a Kha'ak carrier you can't outrun.

[Cycrow]

the AI already does use overtuned ships, and if you use any of my other scripts with AI ships, like some of the missions, then they will also sometimes use overtuned ships

[warpdriver]

Cool. That would explain why a three way dogfight between me and two other Ospreys was so intense.

[God-Demis]

Very nice script, but I see what is coming...everyone picks a ship with decent shielding and weapons, and overtunes it to be fast too. So, this makes split ships useless.Everyone buy a Nova and make it faster than a Mamba!!! How expensive you make it doesn't matter.Never does in games. Eventually someone will have the money to make his ship unbeatable.(Imagine I take falcon sentinel and overtune it to have speed of 200?No one could beat me).

I think I won't use it. Would make my mamba raider worthless.

[Cycrow]

yeah, but to get a falcon sentinal to the speed of 200 would mean ur ship would end up costing more than an M6 and you will lose ur shields as it uses ur shield energy to maintain that speed

[God-Demis]

I just think that this script makes the Nova Raider(because this is the ship most people fly)more imbalance than it is(and it IS imbalance because all Raiders have one shield less, EXCEPT THIS ONE!!!My god,75 shield,one of the best M3 weapon generators, rear turret with a variety of weapons to choose,MDs, Ions,Hepts,the best turn rate,and a speed of 200?

I think that using this script there is no point at flying any other craft.
(By the way I don't consider your script a cheat,it just makes M3 more unbalanced than they already are).

[Mike.Galaxy]

First 2 say: Very good work, always wanna have some extra tuning on some ships. Used it for the first time in my DDRS-Mod game.

Nothing 2 complain, but just a few simple thoughts of a simple player (have no exp. with scripting / modding of X3)

Its fine 2 meet these "mechanical wonder boys" at the stations, but would it be possible 2 to contact them via the "persons onboard"-button instead of a simple BBS-Message?

It would be much cooler 2 meet them there, cause normally u can ask these persons onboard only such things as way to next shipyard /E-Dock except these story-plot-related stuff.

Not having the audio for the needed dialogs may be a minor problem, maybe it's not possible to add interaction via the persons onboard screen?


Though it's fine overtuning your ship by these ocassional BBS-Ads, my personal opinion is, that getting those xtra tunings may be a little bit to easy.

Why not scripting some little mission to get the xtra-tuning as a reward for completing?

One last point. I've regognized ovetunings 4 speed and rudder, but not 4 cargo-space. Maybe U already have implemented it in Your great script, but I haven't got a chance to upgrade cargo, so maybe its not part of the current overtune script

In some cases somebody may have the wish to upgrade cargo space of a certain ship. Why not asking these little mechanical wonderboys again?

Just my 2 cents.
Keep up the good work, Cycrow!

[Cycrow]

well unfortuatlly you cant add stuff to the comms menu
as scripts give no access to it, whch makes the BBS the best way to achive it.

one thing im planning on adding is making it more dangerous and risky to overtune, so u could run the risk of damaging ur ship or equipment, for it not to work, etc.

and as for the cargo, its also something that cannot be done via scripting, only engine and rudder tunings allow you to increase beyond the maximum

[Mike.Galaxy]

well unfortuatlly you cant add stuff to the comms menu
as scripts give no access to it, whch makes the BBS the best way to achive it.

one thing im planning on adding is making it more dangerous and risky to overtune, so u could run the risk of damaging ur ship or equipment, for it not to work, etc.

and as for the cargo, its also something that cannot be done via scripting, only engine and rudder tunings allow you to increase beyond the maximum

Thank U 4 clearing this.
I thought in X2 it was possible to add additional cargo-space over the maximum via the script-editor, but maybe I'm wrong ...

The idea with risky overtuning sounds good (even if I will encounter some heavy damages on my VERY OWN SHIP I will scream and jump up the walls and will RELOAD - just thinking of some similar situations ingame, when I can't get through certain plot mission by the fifth or seventh time or getting heavily damaged by a horde of creepy Khaak-Fighters, when sitting in my M4 during first hours of a new game, when money is rare (me at theses moments --> )