Three things. Much cool. Maybe?
I just submitted proofofconcept.zip. It has some wierd stuff that is all proven to work. In the interim, until the plug is cleared, or if theres some compression problem, heres the readme:
readme said:
This file is a proof of three concepts ive not yet seen. None are rightly refined, nor as rescource efficient as I will get them eventually. This plug must be used with AbsoluteMinimum. The unlabled outfit is just an iff + fuelscoop so the shuttle doesnt get stranded.
These are:
A system description mission, longer times for longer jumps, and 'deliver to vacuum'.
The system description mission starts automatically at your first landing on either planet. The other component is the array of self destroying stellars in the far corners of each system, navdef 5, and far enough out that even using f5 to target the closest stellar in the system doesnt work when you are all the way in the corner. The self destroying stellars are unique to each system and have set strings that specify what system it is. The mission description has a series of mutable strings, set up such that each will show only in one system. So you can sorta have a landing description, but for the system. It only costs one mission that must always be active, one planetary weapon, and one extra spob in each system. I dont think thats such a high price. (Much credits to Edwards for the self destroying spobs.)
The next concept is that of longer jumps taking more time. My idea for this was that each of the three clusters of systems actually represent a planet, orbiting three stars respectively. Obviously the time to get from planet to planet within a system is much shorter than between stars. (Yes, the map is off scale. But thats irrelevant). This part wastes a bit more rescources. In the self destroying stellars referenced above, some start invisible missions with one day time limits to observe ships on the corresponding far side of the jump. If the player stays withing the cluster, these missions silently restart and silently fail. If the player leaves one cluster for another, the mission succedes, starting an autoaborting mission with a big dateposting. I also have the qxxx operator to cover up the date, since the post technically happens the moment after you enter the system. A few r() operators could even make the actual time it takes to cross the long jump unpredictible, so the excuse "recalibrating clocks" or whatever i have now would make even more sense. The point is that, at relativistic time, it only takes a few seconds, so you have to ask the locals what time it 'really' is. This takes two missions per long jump, plus a single autoaborting one, but the self destroying spobs are already in place from the above. Two missions per jump is still expensive... Theres probably a better way to do it. Ill figure it out later.
The third concept is the only mission that shows up in the BBS. This is a wierd mission, I was just pondering different kinds of deliveries that have never been done. This is a fancy hacking together of 4 (I know... im embarrased. Such a waste) missions to create a single mission where the objective is to jettison a certain bit of cargo into one of the empty systems. (Note the self destroying spobs create a no jump zone in every system.) Ive been thinking about it very hard, there must be a way to do it with less missions. 4 for a single delivery are not worth it. Note that you can only do the mission once per pilot, so fail once, just to test it out, and create a new pilot and do it right. Remember: alt-K is jettison.
Cheers- NebuchadnezzaR
