Breaking news everyone, Bounty Hunters still work! This is explains why Arturo couldn't get Link Missions from pers 1150 - it's the Bounty Hunter! (maybe pers 1151 is the hard-coded cap'n hector)
Now where can I post this piece of info for safe keeping. Cool Nova Hacks? Nah, too messy there.

Dr. Trowel, on Oct 1 2005, 02:52 PM, said:

My other idea is, I think, more elegant: use the nose shots in place of the large Nova shipyard pics, so they appear above the detailed ship info. You'd probably have to copy the dlog a/o ditl resources for the current EVO-N ship info dialog box, give the copy the resource # used by the illustrated ship info dialog in the stock Nova scenario, then hack it so there's a space for a pict the size of the nose shots. (I suppose the illustration could just as easily be beside or below the ship stats, if that looked better -- or maybe even between two columns of stats, if that is customizable....)

That's an idea that's been in my "secret plans" file since shortly after I ported Cold Fusion. My intention was to make three such plugs: one each for EVC-N, EVO-N, and CFN. If you beat me to it, that would be cool with me! If not, I'll get to it eventually.
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Ah, interesting. Something like this maybe?
Picture_4.png (15.28K)
Number of downloads: 258
Nah, I'll keep it how it is in EVO and leave that to you

Qaanol, on Oct 1 2005, 03:47 PM, said:

Perhaps for combat, but freighters won't carry cargo if they're not properly classified. Or is the ship classification independent of the escort classification?
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Hm, no it seems to go by the AI when it comes it to carrying cargo.

Afterburner, on Oct 2 2005, 08:57 AM, said:

I'd be very happy to test your Plug!

Thanks again for all your help testing my plug.
I'll send you an update in a few weeks after I'm fully recovered.

Please send me an eMail with any further changes attached.

regards
John - Afterburner
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Cool, thanks. I'm about to update the file right now. You may have to start a new pilot for the Bounty Hunter to work. (you said a few weeks a few weeks ago :p)

Guy, on Oct 2 2005, 05:06 AM, said:

attachment
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Dang -- you're fast! Did you build the plug, or is that PNG a mock-up done in an image editor?

Dr. Trowel, on Oct 2 2005, 09:54 AM, said:

Dang -- you're fast! Did you build the plug, or is that PNG a mock-up done in an image editor?View Post

That looks like about five-ten minutes of work in a DITL editor, barring crashes (I did about that much myself last night, but couldn't come up with a decent layout). Looks fairly good, although there isn't enough room for the weapons.

And just how does that Bounty Hunter pers work? Sounds interesting (and like a lot less work than previous suggestions about how to create a bounty hunter).

Edwards

Edwards, on Oct 3 2005, 05:48 AM, said:

That looks like about five-ten minutes of work in a DITL editor, barring crashes (I did about that much myself last night, but couldn't come up with a decent layout). Looks fairly good, although there isn't enough room for the weapons.

And just how does that Bounty Hunter pers work? Sounds interesting (and like a lot less work than previous suggestions about how to create a bounty hunter).

Edwards
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Yup, it hardly takes long to rearrange a few boxes. Would have taken me much longer to do a mock-up image. EVO ships only have 4 weapons max so I think 4 lines is enough.

I was doing some testing in EVO to try and get a rough idea of how often the bounty hunter showed up. It seemed to about 20% so I was going to make 5 copies of the pers and shove them at the end. As I was working out where the end was I remembered Arturo had had some problems with perses at the end - it suddenly dawned on me that there might be a good reason for that...
If you dominate any planets pers 1150 will show up and attack you - that's about all there is to it. I thought my manual method in the test plug posted above was pretty simple though - 2 missions, 1 bit, and 5 copies of one pers (although the test only has the one).

(EDIT)
Just some more info on the Bounty Hunter for those interested:
It will always attack you, even it appears by adding it to a system rather than dominating a planet. I'm guessing it won't appear by itself normally cos it wouldn't be good if it did.
It will always show up if you dominate a planet, even if it's ActiveOn is false or if you started the pilot when it didn't exist. If you add it to a system it's appearance will follow that of any normal pers.

This post has been edited by Guy : 03 October 2005 - 05:05 AM

Weird... but cool... but weird... and undocumented... why the heck isn't this documented in TNB?

This post has been edited by Qaanol : 03 October 2005 - 12:53 PM

Just a couple of things I'm looking for opinions on, if anyone's testing this:
1. Should the Hinwar, Azdgari and Igadzra really be set to plunder if they'll only ever plunder the player (which couldn't happen in EVO)?
2. Some seeker flags wouldn't work if a homing weapon had been given a bad guidance type. Namely the "ignore asteroids" for Pursuit Missiles and the "loses lock if target not directly ahead" for Needle Missles. Should these been unchecked to keep it the same as EVO or would that be being anal? Try out the Needle Missiles and see whether or not they're too pathetic with the flag checked.

1. I don't think so -- plundering humans seems like it would be "beneath" Strand warriors. The desperate Hinwar might do such a thing, but it's not a behavior that would match what happens in the original game. Changes belong in "enhancement" plugs rather than in the sort of thing you're doing, in my opinion.

2. Real Life is keeping me too busy for me to do play-testing, but matching EVO gameplay seems like the thing to do. If you want to aim for what's good for game balance instead, I'd still at least check "Loses lock if target not directly ahead" for Needle Missles -- given their low ship space requirements, they shouldn't be too powerful. (I tend to mount them on every ship I fly, simply because I can carry a huge number with a fairly low tonnage investment. More incentive to do otherwise would be good.)

Also, I note that while you nicely gave the weaps appropriate exit types, in the version I dl'd you had not yet fixed the shans so turrets are spaced out along the ships' spines, and you haven't moved guns to the sides on the UE & Voinian fighters that use "ShotXOffset" in EVO 1.0.2. You could use ConText to quickly grab the values out of "CFN Turrets is Turrets" for those fields; even though the sprite sizes differ, the Freighter (129) is the only ship for which I didn't use the exit points from original EVO.

Dr. Trowel, on Oct 6 2005, 05:47 PM, said:

Changes belong in "enhancement" plugs rather than in the sort of thing you're doing, in my opinion.
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This is true but I'll just reiterate that these govts are already set to plunder so technically I wouldn't be 'changing' anything by leaving them like that. But yeah, I think I will uncheck them anyway.

Dr. Trowel, on Oct 6 2005, 05:47 PM, said:

2. Real Life is keeping me too busy for me to do play-testing, but matching EVO gameplay seems like the thing to do. If you want to aim for what's good for game balance instead, I'd still at least check "Loses lock if target not directly ahead" for Needle Missles -- given their low ship space requirements, they shouldn't be too powerful. (I tend to mount them on every ship I fly, simply because I can carry a huge number with a fairly low tonnage investment. More incentive to do otherwise would be good.)
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Well I'd like to match EVO gameplay it's just that the pursuit missiles actually say they ignore asteroids so I'm kinda leaning towards 'fixing' that.

Dr. Trowel, on Oct 6 2005, 05:47 PM, said:

Also, I note that while you nicely gave the weaps appropriate exit types, in the version I dl'd you had not yet fixed the shans so turrets are spaced out along the ships' spines, and you haven't moved guns to the sides on the UE & Voinian fighters that use "ShotXOffset" in EVO 1.0.2. You could use ConText to quickly grab the values out of "CFN Turrets is Turrets" for those fields; even though the sprite sizes differ, the Freighter (129) is the only ship for which I didn't use the exit points from original EVO.
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Oh yeah, I guess I should fix those too. Coming up...

BTW, has anyone had trouble expanding the file?

I've detected a small bug. The first version of Avann (ID 157) has a link to the second version of Yandros (ID 229). This hyperlink wasn't there in the original Override and doesn't look very good.

Guy, on Oct 7 2005, 10:53 PM, said:

BTW, has anyone had trouble expanding the file?
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When I option-click your link I get a SimpleText Read-Only document. My Stuffit Expander v7.0.3 gets a fatal error #17540 having to do with bad/unrecognized format. Stuffit does manage to create a new folder with the name "EV Nova Override Update" containing 7 files as follows:

sillycon.ttf (type=document, icon=generic doc, size=zero K)
Update Read Me.rtf (type=document, icon=generic doc, size=zero K)
Nova Essentials (type=EV Nova document, icon=Nova data file, size=zero K)
Override Data 1 (type=EV Nova document, icon=Nova data file, size=zero K)
Override Data 2 (type=EV Nova document, icon=Nova data file, size=zero K)
~ Nova Override Update (type=EV Nova document, icon=Nova data file, size=zero K)
SillyconValley.suit (type=font file, icon=Mac font suitcase, size=zero K)

I have successfully downloaded and expanded .sitx files in the past.
If I just click your link, I get a new browser window filled with gibberish text that starts out like this:

StuffIt!Ą6÷Ü
˘˘+ť…*đŘ
Šđľśđ1˘đ{7Ź
đ°fđe7Üđi7„
đŰnX*÷Ü
˘˘3™çJŻ**H*Ńk*ô\@)čäkbe,§Řpl”Ţ<pŘl€xyÍw őË*Ѐ“TČuŁŕ4–e@7*Żx A~*;˜ĐěđşoÍFą0űc öĽ$řűHNů¸(\YEŰqLţŸ™e|ĽúŔ.ˇKÁmRó‘UôľŒÝ
>´Ľ`!ä¨zéMĎDŇ+Ż ?*Jj‘*-ĹDŒĺĹ÷ńřđ"¨ĆŘđKńŰXŁeH? =r0….éţú*ÍĐK%´Ł>“,*Bň_
Ÿć1(zĄ+‚ëŢŘ-ŹŻÁ´        .dĂđ6   FYxOXČ°đŽ~!;fŐeŰW“|úö8ÔD“*cŞ?ů9ý´N$*FQh°âh°Gľ
Z(b@v
íY*•19l#ŰiĽÍƒ*đÇ+ŞˇęSk*+k÷Í{ţâáXĂLŁ?ƀňŞÝZ0D?&č”:}(^ńu7.üo
&őÍ°‚<r4ěěi šjÇŔUýuÝW!OÍ/ -Řť$Rˇý+ P Çr*”ЈDŮAđĆŕTůÚ

p.s.- Good find on the Bounty Hunter përs wierdness. I never played Override long enough to be able to dominate any spöbs and so never even knew about that automatic appearance thing.

This post has been edited by Arturo : 08 October 2005 - 02:56 PM

Frequency 245, on Oct 8 2005, 10:45 AM, said:

I've detected a small bug. The first version of Avann (ID 157) has a link to the second version of Yandros (ID 229). This hyperlink wasn't there in the original Override and doesn't look very good.
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Strangely, this link is actually there in the original EVO (but not the port). 229 won't appear until after 157 has gone though so you should never actually see the link.

Arturo, on Oct 8 2005, 07:44 PM, said:

When I option-click your link I get a SimpleText Read-Only document. My Stuffit Expander v7.0.3 gets a fatal error #17540 having to do with bad/unrecognized format. Stuffit does manage to create a new folder with the name "EV Nova Override Update" containing 7 files as follows:
<snip>
I have successfully downloaded and expanded .sitx files in the past.
If I just click your link, I get a new browser window filled with gibberish text that starts out like this:
<snip>
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Yeah, browsers don't recognise .sitx as a file type that should be downloaded so by default will try to open it in a window. Safari is even stupid enough to add .txt to it when you actually do download it.
Okay, I've just compressed it using a different version of StuffIt which I hope will fix it. This one also includes the Turret/Gun offsets and the govts mentioned above no longer plunder. I'll sort out the seeker flags later - any more opinions on these?

Guy, on Oct 8 2005, 04:24 PM, said:

Okay, I've just compressed it using a different version of StuffIt which I hope will fix it.
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Yup, that fixed it. Although it's still downloading as a SimpleText Read-Only, Stuffit is expanding it correctly now. Thanks for taking the time.

Guy, on Oct 9 2005, 01:24 AM, said:

Strangely, this link is actually there in the original EVO (but not the port). 229 won't appear until after 157 has gone though so you should never actually see the link.
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I also don't know why, but one of my pilots has the link. It could be concerned with that this pilot did the Voinian and the first part of the UE string.

Frequency 245, on Oct 9 2005, 06:34 AM, said:

I also don't know why, but one of my pilots has the link. It could be concerned with that this pilot did the Voinian and the first part of the UE string.
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Er, can you do that without cheating? Yandros only switches right and the end of the UE string so I think there's something screwed up at your end.

I only used some bugs. Though I know that this is also interpreted by some as cheating.

Guy, on Oct 9 2005, 02:42 AM, said:

Er, can you do that without cheating?View Post

Yes, it's a definite (known) loophole in the bits. Allows for the nice combination of a Voinian Cruiser and a UE Cloaking device.

As for that misplaced link, might it be more likely to show up in Nova due to the reciprocal/hereditary links set-up?

Edwards

Here's a few interesting things I've noticed recently:
(EVO) Weapons of the taboo guidance type 2 have a turn rate equivalent to 120°/second (needle/pursuit/SAD/SAE).
(EVO) The base turn rate of 30°/second for weapons of guidance type 1 is only added anti-clockwise. Ie, when turning clockwise they turn 30°/second slower than they should, meaning Hunter Missiles cannot turn clockwise at all!!
(EVN) Guidance type 2 still exists but it behaves far worse than it did in EVO. The chance of a missile hitting a target is very small.
(EVN) The AI seems rather reluctant to fire missiles with low turning rates.

Edwards, on Oct 10 2005, 06:33 AM, said:

Yes, it's a definite (known) loophole in the bits. Allows for the nice combination of a Voinian Cruiser and a UE Cloaking device.
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Oh yeah, I remember now. Only they made it extremely difficult (impossible?) to pick up multiple strand strings at once.

Edwards, on Oct 10 2005, 06:33 AM, said:

As for that misplaced link, might it be more likely to show up in Nova due to the reciprocal/hereditary links set-up?
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Not really. No matter what you do it should never appear with the default data.

Guy, on Oct 10 2005, 08:13 PM, said:

Here's a few interesting things I've noticed recently:
(EVO) Weapons of the taboo guidance type 2 have a turn rate equivalent to 120°/second (needle/pursuit/SAD/SAE).
(EVO) The base turn rate of 30°/second for weapons of guidance type 1 is only added anti-clockwise. Ie, when turning clockwise they turn 30°/second slower than they should, meaning Hunter Missiles cannot turn clockwise at all!!

Weird. Never noticed.

Quote

Oh yeah, I remember now. Only they made it extremely difficult (impossible?) to pick up multiple strand strings at once.

Not really. No matter what you do it should never appear with the default data.
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You can do Igadzra + Zidagar or Igadzra + Azdgari, but not Azdgari + Zidagar or all three. This has to do with the TimeLimit on the missions: 42 days for the Igadzra starting mission to get <classified> from Kitrak to Igadzra, 21 days for the Zidagar starting mission to defend Pozdag-3, and 21 days for the Azdgari mission to get from South Tip Station to a disabled Azdgari Arada in Racet and then to Outpost Rai.

To get Igadzra + Azdgari, accept the Igadzra mission from Kitrak, fly to South Tip Station and accept the Azdgari mission, fly to Igadzra to finish that mission, then fly to Racet for the disabled ship and finally land on Outpost Rai. All without landing anywhere you don't need to. In a ship with 1 day per jump. A fuel scoop or the ability to disable and steal fuel is a must.

Getting Igadzra + Zidagar is much easier. I have not yet (ever) gone through more than one strand on a pilot, but I just today made couple of pilots that started 2 strand strings each. I think I'll have them both do both UE and Voinian missions for extreme multistring bliss.

This post has been edited by Qaanol : 11 October 2005 - 04:40 PM

I'm using Guy's fixes with CFN, and I've encountered an oddity... I didn't get the UE cloak when I was supposed to. This is actually the first time I've played through EVO, so I don't know whether the problem was introduced by Guy's fixes or not.

In EVO 1.0.2 the UE Cloak is granted on accepting the Observe Voinian Research Base mission. If you then go observe the Dreadnought Prototype but abort the mission it turns into Voinian Dreadnought, the AuxShips don't come attack you, and you can disable and try to capture the Dreadnought. Aborting removes the cloak, but you can reaccept the mission, getting a new cloak, and try to capture another Dreadnought. As many times as you want. You can have 7 Dreadnoughts and a Cloak. No defense fleet stands a chance. Just watch out that your escorts don't die from the damage of the defense ships exploding right next to them.