[ANN] The mrxak Challenge- Competition One

mrxak

Okay, I was sick during the weekend I said I would start this one, and nobody bothered to email me a reminder. Anyway, I finally remembered, so here's the new The mrxak Challenge.

For those wanting to know just what the heck I'm talking about, these topics might be helpful:
(url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/webboard/Forum9/HTML/003895.html")The mrxak Challenge(/url) - Preliminary thoughts on a (as of then) hypothetical challenge.
(url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/webboard/Forum9/HTML/003913.html")(ANN) The mrxak Challenge- Competition Zero(/url) - The first test round of The mrxak Challenge.
(url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/webboard/Forum9/HTML/004279.html")Who wants another The mrxak Challenge?(/url) - Discussion about whether or not I should start a new one.
(url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/webboard/Forum9/HTML/004731.html")Somebody please email me, I'm lonely... sniff (just read the topic already)(/url) - My attempt to get some extra ideas so that I could start this one.

Easy:

"Escort Number Seven"

Yeah, people have already done stuff like this. This should be pretty easy to accomplish. It's still going to be a competition.

The goal is to get more than six escorts, and have them behave exactly as (or as close as possible to) how escorts behave normally. That means you should be able to hire them, fire them, upgrade them, and the player should pay a fee every day on that escort. You may use the BBS to accomplish parts of this instead of the usual bar or hail dialogs.

"Critical Hit" (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/webboard/Forum9/HTML/004903.html")Winners already selected(/url) - More entries still welcomed.

A weapon when fired will produce a random amount of damage to an enemy ship. Emphasis on random. The first shot should not always be the highest damage. The weapon should behave as any other weapon would, except that it causes random amounts of damage, or the occasional increase in damage.

Moderate:

"Ship Hangar"

Everyone has asked for it, now you'll create it.

You may do this with a subset of the Nova ships, or your own ships. You must have at least 5 classes of ships that take advantage of the ship hangar. You must have a fairly decent selection of outfits as well. When you store a ship in the hangar (which I recommend you have at only one planet), it should remember exactly which outfits and their quantities that it had. When you store a ship, you should immediately place the player in a 6th class of ship that cannot fly anywhere, forcing the player to buy a new vessel to use, or switch to a previously stored ship. You must be able to store at least two ships at a time.

Some suggestions I'd make to get you started: Use lots of cröns and bits to store your data, and make heavy use of the onBuy, onSell fields of outfits. Use the cröns as calculators to do binary addition.

If you just can't do it, try with only one ship in storage, and perhaps less classes of ships and outfits. Expand from there.

Difficult:

There will be no Difficult challenges in this competition.

Impossible:

There will be no Impossible challenges in this competition.

Feel free to complete any previous challenges as well. See the top of this post for a few links to previous challenges, and other information about them or The mrxak Challenge in general.

Remember: You must send your plug-ins to me as soon as you feel they are complete. You must also include a file (pdf, rtf, or txt) describing the steps neccesary for me to test the plug, a break-down of how you accomplished the task, and a description of what each resource does (by type and ID number). Instead of a file, you may choose to have this text in the body of the email you send the plug with. Any questions about the competition or the challenge itself should be emailed to me or posted here.

(Edit: typo)

(This message has been edited by mrxak (edited 12-13-2003).)

Mazca

I dunno about you, but I'd definitely class the Ship Hangar one as 'difficult'.

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(url="http://"http://www.mazca.com/")Mazca(/url) , Moderator, (url="http://"http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/cgi-bin/ubb/forumdisplay.cgi?action=topics&number;=9&SUBMIT;=Go&urgaylol;=yes")EV Developer's Corner(/url)
voices of violence will always be heard

fchsjv4

I've been told that the ship hanger idea would require a mod of the game engine itself. Is it indeed impossible? Of course, I haven't tried it yet, since I pretty much require a "Plug-ins For Dummies" book. Which, by the way, would be very appreciated be me and many others.

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-Drew
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"Marge, don't discourage the boy from weaseling out of things. It's what seperates us from the animals. Except the weasel."
-Homer Simpson

Chuckles

The ship hanger is not actually that bad. The only conceptual problem I am running into is the dealing with multiple copies of the same item, but I think i may know a way around it. However, ammo is gonna be a bitch. Give me a week.

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"If you can't feel the Force, you're not pushing it." -Prof. Li on the "Force"
Got g?
You will be attacked by a beast who has the body of a wolf, the tail of
a lion, and the face of Donald Duck.

Bomb

Quote

Originally posted by fchsjv4:
**I've been told that the ship hanger idea would require a mod of the game engine itself. Is it indeed impossible? Of course, I haven't tried it yet, since I pretty much require a "Plug-ins For Dummies" book. Which, by the way, would be very appreciated be me and many others.

**

'Tis not impossible flexes muscles

I'll do it.

_bomb

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"that'll be 15 cents hippie!"

mrxak

Quote

Originally posted by Mazca:
**I dunno about you, but I'd definitely class the Ship Hangar one as 'difficult'.

**

Of course, considering that Competition Zero was considered "Easy", you shouldn't be too surprised.

mrxak

Quote

Originally posted by Chuckles:
**Give me a week.

**

Quote

Originally posted by Bomb:
**'Tis not impossible flexes muscles

I'll do it. :)**

Ooh. Some takers. Good luck!

I would recommend avoiding large quantities of ammo right away. Develop a system for working out lower numbers of outfits, then expand on that.

By the way, did anyone read the (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ubbmisc.cgi?action=getannounce&ForumNumber;=9&Start;=2452940.99&End;=2453069&Session;=")announcement(/url)? It actually refers to the "impossibility" of a ship hangar.

(This message has been edited by mrxak (edited 10-28-2003).)

Bomb

Quote

Originally posted by mrxak:
**
Ooh. Some takers. Good luck!

I would recommend avoiding large quantities of ammo right away. Develop a system for working out lower numbers of outfits, then expand on that.

**

I just compiled a printout of all the relevant bible notes I'll need and I'm going to attempt to write out the code tonight during my 3 hour class...

gotta be productive somehow..

I think Chuckles underestimates the challenge a little bit. Even the simplest elements are more complex than you might realize. It'll involve a good amount of resources to pull off, even for 5 ships and say 5-10 outfits.

_bomb

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"that'll be 15 cents hippie!"

mrxak

Quote

Originally posted by Bomb:
I think Chuckles underestimates the challenge a little bit.

Ooh! Chuckles, you gonna take that from this guy?

Fight! Fight! Fight!

What? You have a problem with me stirring up people's competitiveness?

Chuckles

Quote

Originally posted by Bomb:
**I just compiled a printout of all the relevant bible notes I'll need and I'm going to attempt to write out the code tonight during my 3 hour class...

gotta be productive somehow..

I think Chuckles underestimates the challenge a little bit. Even the simplest elements are more complex than you might realize. It'll involve a good amount of resources to pull off, even for 5 ships and say 5-10 outfits.

_bomb

**

I am coming up with 2 bits per outfit (one set in OnBuy/OnSell the "did you have it" bit), the other set by a mission "Store your ship" (not exactly sure how to do an elegant solution), and removed by a whole pile of small missions (IE Availability (b1&b2;) OnDone (G1 !b2), a "do you not have it" bit). I then am thinking of just repeating the process for additional ships using the contribute/require field to control visability of the outfits.
The stored ships would have another two bits, an OnBuy/OnSell bit, which would control their existance in the hanger and another to keep it out of the hanger while you were flying it.

Its a bitch, but I think it is actually Not That Bad.

------------------
"If you can't feel the Force, you're not pushing it." -Prof. Li on the "Force"
Got g?
You will be attacked by a beast who has the body of a wolf, the tail of
a lion, and the face of Donald Duck.

Madman80513

I think I'll do it too!

Ok: Assignment #1: Escort Number - WHAT?! That's it. I quit.

Good luck people!

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"The day Microsoft makes something that doesn't suck is probably the day they start making vacuum cleaners." -- Ernest Jan Plugge

what_is_the_matrix

Quote

Originally posted by Madman80513:
**I think I'll do it too!

Ok: Assignment #1: Escort Number - WHAT?! That's it. I quit.

Good luck people!

**

That's not too hard. I found that Nova can handle a 20 escort formation, but only just. 18 seems more consistantly dealable, but doesn't look as good. 40 is just freakin' crazy, but quite interesting. I'll just modify it for this challenge.

Matrix

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"Nothing is fool-proof to a sufficiently talented fool."
(url="http://"http://htf.mondominishows.com/valentine/main.asp?seed=7375&serial;=214877")The funniest valentine I've ever gotten.(/url)

(This message has been edited by what_is_the_matrix (edited 10-28-2003).)

Bomb

Quote

Originally posted by Chuckles:
**I am coming up with 2 bits per outfit (one set in OnBuy/OnSell the "did you have it" bit), the other set by a mission "Store your ship" (not exactly sure how to do an elegant solution), and removed by a whole pile of small missions (IE Availability (b1 &b2;) OnDone (G1 !b2), a "do you not have it" bit). I then am thinking of just repeating the process for additional ships using the contribute/require field to control visability of the outfits.
The stored ships would have another two bits, an OnBuy/OnSell bit, which would control their existance in the hanger and another to keep it out of the hanger while you were flying it.

Its a bitch, but I think it is actually Not That Bad.

**

I have devised the following bit system (the actual bit numbers are arbitrary), which should work (in theory). In practice, who knows. I was trying to think of creative and hidden ways to get it all done and this is what I came up with. This is the most simple base code needed to buy one ship, buy one outfit, sell said ship to buy another, then go to the shipyard and "buy back" the first ship.

This is also dependent on a strange variable: when you sell a ship, does that automatically trigger the onsell of an outfit, even if you're not selling that particular item on its own, but the entire ship? If so or if not, this system would have to be adjusted very slightly.

Ship #1:
onBuy: b0001
onsell: !b0001 & b0004
shipavail: !b0001

Ship #2:
onBuy: b0006
onSell: !b0006 & b0007

Outfit #1:
onBuy: b0002
onSell: b0005

Mission #1: (invisible): avail: b0002 + b0001 + b0004 + !b0005
ship type: ship #1
give: outfit #1

Mission #1: (invisible): avail: b0002 + b0006 + b0007 + !b0005
ship type: ship #2
give: outfit #1

And so on. Every outfit would require an invisible mission that is triggered when they get the ship back that is assigned to it. It's awfully convoluted and I haven't yet sorted out the issue of multiple outfits (because the bits can onl be set once) but the whole thing is still in the works.

Basically, it goes like this: you buy a ship, buy an outfit, bits are triggered. You sell the ship, bits are cleared, that ship becomes available at the hangar. You go back and buy that ship, setting the last necessary bits into place that trip the missions (that are invisible) into occuring and if they all work properly and coherently, you need only take off and land to have all the outfits you had before, though only one of each. Yeah, it sucks, but I'm still working on it.

_bomb

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"that'll be 15 cents hippie!"

Bomb

I take it from the awed silence that I will remain forever the high God of plug-in making.

_bomb

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"that'll be 15 cents hippie!"

Mazca

Or perhaps everyone was too polite to tell you all your bits are wrong or something.

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(url="http://"http://www.mazca.com/")Mazca(/url) , Moderator, (url="http://"http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/cgi-bin/ubb/forumdisplay.cgi?action=topics&number;=9&SUBMIT;=Go&urgaylol;=yes")EV Developer's Corner(/url)
Look over their! There doing a weird dance with they're hats! - Shenlon

mrxak

Quote

Originally posted by Mazca:
**Or perhaps everyone was too polite to tell you all your bits are wrong or something.;)

**

I'm just a bit surprised that he hasn't figured out multiple outfits yet :p.

Aprosenf

For multiple outfits, here's an idea: Outfit 128 has OnBuy: G129, OnSell: D129. Then, when you put your ship in the hanger, all the 128's go away, but the 129's persist. When you go to retreive that ship, it activates a bit (e.g. b100) that activates a cron with the iterative entry bit that has an EnableOn of b100 & O129, an OnStart of G128 D129 G130, and an OnEnd of !b100 b101. Then, you have another cron with the iterative entry bit with an EnableOn of b101 & O130, an OnStart of G129 D130, and an OnEnd of !b101. That basically allows you to count outfits by giving the player an equivelant number of a hidden outfit, and then that hidden outfit turns into the original outfit when retreiving the ship, and then another hidden outfit is used to restore the first hidden outfit. If you didn't have the second hidden outfit, you'd end up with the original outfit but you wouldn't have the hidden outfits anymore, so you wouldn't be able to regain the original outfit if you put your ship in the hangar and retreived it a second time.

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C:dos
C:dosrun
rundosrun

mrxak

A different method than the one I was thinking of (at least I think it's different). It will be interesting to see how it works.

Borgie

Quote

Originally posted by mrxak:
**A different method than the one I was thinking of (at least I think it's different). It will be interesting to see how it works.

**

wow i gotta say this is way over my head i just used to toy around with resedit for ev and evo to get some cool ships and mods but wow...lol still can't wait till to evnew comes out

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Don't think about attcking me, it will be your last battle

Bomb

Quote

Originally posted by mrxak:
**I'm just a bit surprised that he hasn't figured out multiple outfits yet:p.

**

I actually have figured out a system. It is just so terribly bulky it would never have any practical value whatsoever (as in lots and lots of wasted resources.. leaving a substantially reduced number for the actual scenario). I'm currently trying to work out a way that could actually be applied in any normal plug-in.

_bomb

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"that'll be 15 cents hippie!"

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[ANN] The mrxak Challenge- Competition One