How have you saved time on plug-ins?
As any self-respecting developer knows, nova came with a truckload of kick-ass new features - now, while these features help us create a better, more interesting, more fun universe, some also include something possibly even more important: they allow you to save time. So, what is this topic? It's a place to ratle off how EVN's new features have helped YOU save time. I'm hoping that this topic will end up with at least 10 ideas for those of us who have 20 minutes free everyday and want to make the most of it to get your plug-in out the door. Note something: this topic is NOT intended to be brand-new ideas, so if something is listed here that is blatant/well-known, it doesn't mean it's not valid. The purpose of this topic is to be a compilation, not a new-idea pool. I'll start us off:
{} in planet descs: If you're making an Auroran add-on and want the Tekel to become first house, you're going to want to change the Aurora description - but if first house trade-offs were common, you'd probably want to change only one or two words. You could make an entire new system with a new planet and a new description - or, you could test for the ncb in a {} statement. So, instead of making a whole new system with a new planet and new desc that appeared on b99 but only changed "Heraan" to "Tekel", you could just replace the word "Tekel" with {b99 "Tekel" "Heraan"} and save yourself the hassle of making a new system.