A neat note, that may be of use to folks writing mission scripts and even descriptions. Often overlooked is the ability to have a mission text read a bit value and present different text in response. Nova uses this a few times, primarily to give you gender-appropriate lines, but it can be extended to completely change how a mission reads, according to a number of variables. For instance, I'm using bits to tell the game what size of ship you have, divided simply as "small", "medium", and "large". These exist as a subset of the actual ship hull classes, in that frigates, destroyers, and cruisers are categorized as "medium", for example. In scripting, this allows me to avoid a traditional problem in the Nova storylines, where the mission text will sometimes describe your ship doing all sorts of amazing tricks that you don't realistically imagine it doing. For instance, you're flying an IDA Frigate, when the game says something like "You hurry back to your ship and jump into the cockpit, blasting out of the small hangar and dodging fighters on the way back up to space."
To avoid this, come up with some control bits that determine your ship class. Then, if one bit is read as "true", it tells the game that you have that kind of ship. Now you can write a script that goes something like this:
(If bit is false and ship is "small"): "You sprint across the hangar and dive into the cockpit of your ship, skipping several safety checks and igniting the engines far sooner than the warmup time they need. With lasers flying past the cabin and glancing off the hull, you burst out of the small hangar and escape to space."
(If bit is true and ship is "large"): "You sprint across the hangar and jump into your shuttle. Skipping several safety checks, you blast out of the hangar and rocket through the atmosphere with enemy fighters sniping at you from all sides, as the long-range cannons on the (player ship name) lance down through the atmosphere and cover your approach. One of your assailants is struck by a shot and bursts apart in a loud, bright fireball, and the others, reassessing the odds, break pursuit. You pull the damaged shuttle into the hangar aboard the (player ship name), and order the helm to break orbit."
While Nova uses the bits to simply provide brief branches in dialogue, you can arguably use this system to completely change the outcome of a mission, or at least, an exciting difference in how the mission plays out. I am extending this as well to provide for some differences governed by what equipment your ship has installed, such as an outboard anti-personnel cannon on a small ship allowing you to land and capture an enemy base while gunning down the defensive forces, possibly ending the mission early because of your decisive victory. By comparison, perhaps the lack of the outfit results in a protracted space battle after takeoff, because the ground forces mobilized before you could stop them. I haven't actually experimented yet to see if this is possible - changing a mission's succeed/fail status on landing based on a different bit, but I'd imagine it should be possible. "Alternative victory conditions", if you will.
This is extendable to other things, as well, including planet descriptions. Let's say you're flying a ship that is just impossibly large, and could not dock at a station (NDC Dominants fulfil this criterion). You can change the description text to say something about your ship staying at a distance while you get carried over in a shuttle, and you can even change the string that appears when hailing the station to dock, e.g. small ships see "You are cleared to dock, (ship name). Please make your approach." while huge ships see, "We are prepared to receive you, (ship name). Shuttlecraft are standing by." This has been determined to be false; I incorrectly assumed that mutator bits in descriptions would apply to strings, too.
Another great use for this is to simply accurately describe the number of crew on your ship. In a small ship with few crew, it's generally assumed that you'd be performing most of the ship's functions. So, lines like "You fly your ship into orbit" or "You grab hold of the targeting controls and get a lock on the enemy ship" make sense. But, if you have a cruiser, it would make more sense that you'd command your bridge staff to perform these tasks. So, by reading the ship size bit you've set, you can have mission text reflect this, by showing alternate text such as "You command your tactical officer to get a lock on the enemy ship."
So, get creative!
This post has been edited by Delphi : 16 May 2015 - 03:50 PM
