Okay, here's the problem:
I have a ship with a visible gunslot. When I now buy a gun, I want it to show in the slot. This would actually change the ship's appearance (sprite), although I don't buy a new ship.
Is that possible, and if it is, how can I do it?

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“It is interesting that well-protected secrets and complicated puzzles are often solved faster than easy ones. Why? Because the better a secret is protected and the more complicated a puzzle is, the more thinkers it attracts.” - me
(url="http://"http://starlightdev.freewebpage.org")STARLIGHT DEVELOPMENT(/url)

Re-render the ship with the gunslot, assign to a seperate shďp. When the outfit is bought, implement a ship switching NCB string in the OnPurchase field. You'll probably have to do this, as I don't think that there is a workaround that would enable you to keep the original graphic.

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Drinking causes hangovers.
I will uphold Ma'at.
Shemsu Hor.
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(This message has been edited by rmx256 (edited 07-02-2004).)

OnPurchase: C999
OnSell: C888

It could actually get more complicated than this if more than one gun was owned...

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Drinking causes hangovers.
I will uphold Ma'at.
Shemsu Hor.
(url="http://"http://www.freewebs.com/rmx256/index.htm")Kemet T.C. Website(/url)

(This message has been edited by rmx256 (edited 07-02-2004).)

About multiple guns, no need to be that exact.
But you understand that I want the player to keep his/her previously purchased outfits, don't receive any new ones (except the one s/he just bought) and also keep the ship's name. Is that possible with such a ship switching NCB?
I'm just asking, as the ship switching in the original game (Vell-os missions, Heraan missions) caused the purchased outfits to disappear (except the ones that were marked to stay with player) and the ship to be renamed. For instance, once you receive a Vell-os Dart, the ship's name changes from the original one to “Dart”. Same goes for the other Vell-os ships and the Thunderforge.

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“It is interesting that well-protected secrets and complicated puzzles are often solved faster than easy ones. Why? Because the better a secret is protected and the more complicated a puzzle is, the more thinkers it attracts.” - me
(url="http://"http://starlightdev.freewebpage.org")STARLIGHT DEVELOPMENT(/url)

(This message has been edited by Arion (edited 07-02-2004).)

You need not worry. There are several ship-changing operators. Hxxx is the one which gets rid of any outfits the player has bought and gives the player the defaults of the new ship type. Cxxx just changes the ships... nothing more. Exxx changes ships, as well as giving the player the default weapons of the new ships. Cxxx is what you probably want.

However, it could get terribly complicated...

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Or more simply, render your ship as a key-carried sprite. Do one rotation sans gun, and one rotation with the generic gun. Kinda like the Ptolemy for UT's Starfleet Adventures.

Matrix

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Phyvo: Thanks.

what_is_the_matrix: If you tell me this, please also tell me how it works. I have no idea about these key things. Anyway, the ship has banking, and I want it to remain that way, so your suggestion won't work for this one. On the other side, I know a ship which could use it
I could upgrade the destroyer to the cruiser that way
And the Comet to the Tempest
Whoa, getting ideas here, got lotsa ships based on others

EDIT:
Hang on a second, I just noticed, it won't work. Because everytime I buy this weapon, the ship will be changed. But I only want it to be changed when I have a specific ship
Ah, I'll make it different. I'll create an outfit that just changes the ship, say that it includes four cannons, but is still cheaper than if you buy them.
Yes, that's it. And the outfit is only available if you have the specific ship. Hm, hope that works

(This message has been edited by Arion (edited 07-03-2004).)

Assign an NCB or even a contribute bit (easier) to the particular ship in question. This will be set when you buy the ship, sans gun.

Now, make a cron that activates when that bit is set AND when you have the gun outfit (Ex: Oxxx & Byyy). Make sure it activates every day if possible. In the OnActivate field, have it Czzz to the laden ship. You'll need a second cron to take away the gun if it finds you don't have any. You'll need two duplicate versions of the ship resource w/ different graphics, but you knew that already. I think that will cover the bases, though. 2 Ships, 2 Crons.

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~Charlie
Sephil Saga Homepage: (url="http://"http://www.cwssoftware.com")www.cwssoftware.com(/url)

Eh??? What??? What's the crön supposed to do?
And these contribute/require checkbox clusters make no sense for me. I have no idea what they do and how they work. I read about it several times, people explained to me on several occassions, but I never understood.
Perhaps I know an easier version. Just one question about this, do the OnPurchase and OnRetire fields also evaluate once the ship is changed through a Cxxx?

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“It is interesting that well-protected secrets and complicated puzzles are often solved faster than easy ones. Why? Because the better a secret is protected and the more complicated a puzzle is, the more thinkers it attracts.” - me
(url="http://"http://starlightdev.freewebpage.org")STARLIGHT DEVELOPMENT(/url)

Quote

Originally posted by Arion:
**Eh??? What??? What's the crön supposed to do?
And these contribute/require checkbox clusters make no sense for me. I have no idea what they do and how they work. I read about it several times, people explained to me on several occassions, but I never understood.
Perhaps I know an easier version. Just one question about this, do the OnPurchase and OnRetire fields also evaluate once the ship is changed through a Cxxx?

**

Eh, what.... exactly!

OK. Damn- I've been out of the loop so long I forget I need to explain what I'm doing sometimes. I'll skip explaining the contribute/require since you can look that up on your own.

First, the OnPurchase and OnRetire fields are NOT evaluated when you do a Cxxx, that's simple to answer. Neither are the OnSell/OnPurchase fields of an outfit given via Dxxx/Gxxx.

Basically, what you're doing is using the OnPurchase NCB as a marker, saying "I have this type of Ship". What the cron is doing is waiting until it knows you have that kind of ship, AND that weapon is on the ship. If these conditions are meet, the cron will activate, and switch you over to what is essentially the same ship with different graphics. The second cron is there to undo this- it's checking to see if you have the "Laden Graphic Ship" and DON'T have the weapon- it's going to switch you back.

Does that help at all?

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~Charlie
Sephil Saga Homepage: (url="http://"http://www.cwssoftware.com")www.cwssoftware.com(/url)

I still don't get it... I think I'll trash the idea. It isn't the first good idea I have to trash because I can't realize it.

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“It is interesting that well-protected secrets and complicated puzzles are often solved faster than easy ones. Why? Because the better a secret is protected and the more complicated a puzzle is, the more thinkers it attracts.” - me
(url="http://"http://starlightdev.freewebpage.org")STARLIGHT DEVELOPMENT(/url)

If I made you a demo plug, would that help at all?

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~Charlie
Sephil Saga Homepage: (url="http://"http://www.cwssoftware.com")www.cwssoftware.com(/url)

Be careful with using NCB's to keep track of the player's ship. Not only is the On Purchase set string not evaluated when the ship is granted via an operator, but it's also not evaluated when capturing the ship. And, since On Capture is evaluated regardless of whether the player assigns the ship to their fleet or takes it as their own, it'll only work if there's no chance that the player can capture the ship at all.

I'd go with the contribute/require method.

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Quote

Originally posted by slouch:
**Be careful with using NCB's to keep track of the player's ship. Not only is the On Purchase set string not evaluated when the ship is granted via an operator, but it's also not evaluated when capturing the ship. And, since On Capture is evaluated regardless of whether the player assigns the ship to their fleet or takes it as their own, it'll only work if there's no chance that the player can capture the ship at all.

I'd go with the contribute/require method.

**

OnCapture is evaluated if the player assigns the ship to their fleet? Uh-oh.

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~Charlie
Sephil Saga Homepage: (url="http://"http://www.cwssoftware.com")www.cwssoftware.com(/url)

Quote

OnCapture is evaluated if the player assigns the ship to their fleet? Uh-oh.

Yep. I didn't realize that myself until I played Uncle Twitchy's SFA, and peeked at how he accomplished the unlawful ship capture mission.

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Damn, that means you can't keep track of some ship owning with a NCB nor can you switch a variant with another one should you capture it and the dever doesn't want you to have one?

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That's going to cause some major problems with my plug... This may involve DITL editting and removing the assign to fleet option if I don't figure something else out FAST.

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~Charlie
Sephil Saga Homepage: (url="http://"http://www.cwssoftware.com")www.cwssoftware.com(/url)

Actually OnCapture is set as soon as the capturing is successful, in other words when the dialogue shows up how you want to use it. That's what I heared at least.

Masamune, a demo plug would help, perhaps. It is always better to see things with your own eyes.

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“It is interesting that well-protected secrets and complicated puzzles are often solved faster than easy ones. Why? Because the better a secret is protected and the more complicated a puzzle is, the more thinkers it attracts.” - me
(url="http://"http://starlightdev.freewebpage.org")STARLIGHT DEVELOPMENT(/url)

Quote

Originally posted by Masamune:
**That's going to cause some major problems with my plug... This may involve DITL editting and removing the assign to fleet option if I don't figure something else out FAST.
**

Why not switch over to using Contribute-Require flag bits for shďp tracking in SS?

The problem is not ship tracking- its the fact that the AI version of a ship and the version the player can use are COMPLETELY different- anytime you buy or capture an AI version ship, it immediately converts you to the proper version of the ship.

Unfortunately, the "obvious" solution of using contribute/require bits won't work for 2 reasons:
1. I'm already using too many C/R bits- don't have enough left.
2. Crons happen at the beginning of the day- this won't work immediately, and can cause some massive glitches.

I also realize I'm going to have problems regardless with taking over a new ship- namely, once you switch out your ship, your old ship will be utterly useless because Nova won't recognize the outfits it has on it.

Doh!

All in all, I think these are minor issues- even if I do take out the ability to capture escorts, it makes sense as far as the SS universe is concerned.

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~Charlie
Sephil Saga Homepage: (url="http://"http://www.cwssoftware.com")www.cwssoftware.com(/url)