A question for all developers: is there an easy way to have a mission in which the goal that you need to accomplish is viewing a spob??

The only way I can think that this is possible is if you make an invisible ship that stays by the spob which you have to "observe", except that the player thinks he/she is observing the planet. One problem is the ship would show up on the radar. Any help would be appreciated, thank you.

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What did I tell you about making those corny signatures??

I really don't think it's necessary to just create an invisible ship just for that. Just make a one ship dude that looks inconspicuous to the rest of the standard dude fleet.

You know, if for example you have to observe Outpost Ylynn, just for checking it out, use a one ship dude like a cruiser or a frigate that just happened to be there. That's it.

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Nosumus Fortiolis Quad Volimus
I'm the only guy in the universe that can make horses laugh and cry.

If didn't want any ships in the system though, you could always make the spöb with a cloaked ship on top of it. Though if it's cloaked, I don't know if you could observe it and complete your mission. <scratches head>

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Originally posted by Coraxus:
**I really don't think it's necessary to just create an invisible ship just for that. Just make a one ship dude that looks inconspicuous to the rest of the standard dude fleet.

You know, if for example you have to observe Outpost Ylynn, just for checking it out, use a one ship dude like a cruiser or a frigate that just happened to be there. That's it.
**

No can do, it has to be an empty system. Although it is possible I could twist the storyline a bit to make it fit, thanks for the advice.

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Originally posted by specops:
If didn't want any ships in the system though, you could always make the spöb with a cloaked ship on top of it. Though if it's cloaked, I don't know if you could observe it and complete your mission. <scratches head>

Indeed it is quite a puzzle...

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What did I tell you about making those corny signatures??

I'm not entirely familiar with the mission side of NovaTools yet, so I could be wrong...but couldn't you make it so that the mission is simply to enter the system...so the player enters the system the spöb is in, and voila, they observe it...
Like I said, dunno if its possible...but worth a thought?

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If you want to go with the ship method, just create a new ship resource, set it so that it can't be targeted and is always cloaked, give the player a cloak scanner at the start that makes the ship visible but not the radar signature, and make the ship graphic a black dot. That's a little roundabout, but I think it should work.

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Pretty much, Apple and Dell are the only ones in this industry making money. They make it by being Wal-Mart. We make it by innovation.
-Steve Jobs

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Originally posted by Quantum Transcendence:
**If you want to go with the ship method, just create a new ship resource, set it so that it can't be targeted and is always cloaked, give the player a cloak scanner at the start that makes the ship visible but not the radar signature, and make the ship graphic a black dot. That's a little roundabout, but I think it should work.

**

Thanks, that sounds like it would work (though it is a bit round-aboutish).

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What did I tell you about making those corny signatures??

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Originally posted by mac_man:
**No can do, it has to be an empty system. Although it is possible I could twist the storyline a bit to make it fit, thanks for the advice.

**

What? I thought you wanted to observe a spob. If it has an empty system, it certainly is not going to have a spob of anykind.

Oh, and am I now to assume you're talking about EVN? If so, when it comes to plug-in development, it's not my forte. I think EVN's engine works differently than the other EV series in many aspects, including what you are trying to look for.

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Nosumus Fortiolis Quad Volimus
I'm the only guy in the universe that can make horses laugh and cry.

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Originally posted by mac_man:
**A question for all developers: is there an easy way to have a mission in which the goal that you need to accomplish is viewing a spob??

**

My apologies if I am not thinking clearly and this is useless advice... can you make a single immobile ship that looks like a planet? Both do show in radar, although the graphic is slightly different. You did not say you had to land, after all. And with a single spob you aren't going to need the nav either. The fact that it will show up in targetting scanner is a problem...perhaps you can talk around it by telling the player you've installed "modified sensors?"

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"I know the stranger's name."
Turandot

Could an ncb do the trick? One of them tests if a system has been explored. If it's a system the player is unable to get to until the mission pops up, it could work. You could even throw a crön in to make the missions work out.

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why can't the player just land on the spob?

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Thanks for all the suggestions, just to clarify some things:

1. The player cannot land on the spöb (It's deadly!)
2. I am using EVN
3. By empty system, I meant empty of ships. It will still have that spöb. (Sorry for the confusion)

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What did I tell you about making those corny signatures??

I don't have the files in front of me right now otherwise I would look for myself - but how are the "observe" missions done for the wraith space exploration in the polarian plot? If I remember correctly that was observe or find gas giants right? Was that done by targeting a wraith in the system?

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What ever doesn't kill
you makes you stronger -
or bitter

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Originally posted by roninuta:
**I don't have the files in front of me right now otherwise I would look for myself - but how are the "observe" missions done for the wraith space exploration in the polarian plot? If I remember correctly that was observe or find gas giants right? Was that done by targeting a wraith in the system?

**

No, it's not by targeting, you just observe the wraith ships. However, it was done by setting the mission objective to be observing the ships. In response to the above statement concerning using an immobile ship rather than having a spöb, that would work, however the ship would not stay in one position. That is, if the player ever reentered the system, the "planet" could be halfway across the system from where it was originally. In regard to the targeting, that is not a problem as Nova has a flag which, when set, makes ships untargetable.

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Pretty much, Apple and Dell are the only ones in this industry making money. They make it by being Wal-Mart. We make it by innovation.
-Steve Jobs

Don't forget the mission options that can be used to force the special ships to start in a particular spot...
.
mcb

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