official campaign proposal: sandbox

[george moromisato]

One thing that will help, when the time comes to actually build the systems is access to the <systemTypes> element and the <Tables> inside it. I realize we can add tables to individual systems, but if we want to change the labels or any other minor cosmetic change, we have to have copies of those tables in every system it's used.

Another item on my wishlist for topology was a LevelTable for stations, much like the ships have that could be used in the system <Tables> to provide more control over station placement at the time its generated.

In 1.03 there will be a way to have global <Tables> that can be used in multiple systems.

I also agree that you are going to need a levelTable attribute for stations. Feel free to put in a ticket to track it.

[Ttech]

We created a Code project so we can post all the information, bits of data and such.

Its over at Google Code:
http://code.google.com/p/transcendence- ... -topology/

George: If you want to add / contribute, any of the people on this thread know, they can add you to the project.

[alterecco]

Edit: I should say, however, that I'm open to the idea--I just want to understand whether it is required for the project or simply a good idea.

OK, I understand that. At this point it is too early for me to say for sure, but I think work on the mod will continue either way :)

The random or dynamic systems are not really a required part of the mod as far as I see it.

[Aury]

George, could you do us a big favor and fast-track the canvas buttons (mouse interaction)? (like, in some 1.0X release, like 1.04 or 1.05 is fine; we need it for an interface for our new jumpdrive system )

[Prophet]

In 1.03 there will be a way to have global <Tables> that can be used in multiple systems.

I also agree that you are going to need a levelTable attribute for stations. Feel free to put in a ticket to track it.

That is great news, thank you George. I'll make the ticket for station levelTables now.

Another thing that came up tonight was methods of filtering out items and obects in an adventure. In this adventure there is no Elysium or Huaramarca, or any of the standard plot, so any item associated with those will cause problems. In the case of the Halo gems, the one that sends you to Elysium would crash the game if used in our adventure.
One idea was to have some attributes added, similar to startingShipCriteria to globally control what is allowed to appear in the adventure.
The other idea was to simply overwrite all the standard items and objects that are potentially harmful and adjust them to never spawn, however this won't affect modded items or objects.

[Ttech]

The Triad was formed 300 years ago when a rouge Stargate more powerful then any previously discovered was activated. Long since abandoned by the Ancients the stargate send generations of humans to a far away place. Among the first was the Ares, before they war, who traveled to the stars in an effort for exploration although not publically admitted by the government leaders. It never returned... As years went by, humans continued to diverse and expand, leading to many races and variations of humans. As technology grew more of the galaxy was explored. Though these long years whispers of ships lost filtered into the pubs and taverns that littered the human space. But it was never believed until now....
You the player are now in the far off Galaxy that was long abandoned by the Ancient Races and now populated by humans. A single governing entity controls it composed the major conglomerates - the Commonwealth, Ares... It is known as the Triad, the traid is loosly united and things are not all that they seem. Control your destiny and find the path that brings you enlightenment, fame, or glory.


What is it all?
This is what we have come up with over a day of work.

A Tri-Star system is the Triad's central hub where all the business happens. A rough idea is:




Every arm is a different group of the Traid, separate, and giving the player different rolls to play to find the best challenge as they see fit. (more to come in the morning)

[namer4]

I notice that people are posting network topologies pretty frequently, and I thought I'd recommend a tool that I've found very useful: graphviz (http://www.graphviz.org/). I've used it to visualize graphical models, parse trees for natural language, and in a few random projects. It's free, and while there's a bit of a learning curve, I think it's a big time-saver for certain kinds of tasks, like making nicely laid-out graphs programmatically.

[Prophet]

I was designated the official pictographer, so here's a rough idea of The Triad.


The term "The Triad" refers to the coalition government that rules this galaxy. It is made up of all the factions and sovereigns from the D&O campaign in an uneasy truce, imposed for the sake of survival. The individual factions still retain some autonomy and in-fighting still occurs.

At the beginning of the game, nearly all factions are neutral with one another, relying on eachother for survival, but all is not forgotten, and the blood feuds from the Milky Way galaxy still linger, causing tension and occasionally open conflict.

The Triad cannot exist forever, once one faction gains the resources to survive alone they could pull their support out of the Triad and the coalition would almost certainly collapse. That time is swiftly approaching and all players are sizing up the two main players: The Commonwealth and The Ares.

The player will sway power by completing missions. As a merchant, supplying goods to an Ares station would very slightly increase their power. As a bounty hunter, taking a job to hunt a CW diplomat could greatly hinder the Commonwealth's chances. Some of the smaller factions have yet to choose sides and might be open to persuasion for the right price. In the end, the lives of everyone in this galaxy is ultimately in the hands of the player, and will depend on who can pick up the pieces when The Triad finally falls.

[alterecco]

Awesome Prophet. I am digging that diagram! :D

I think that could very well form the topic for the next IRC session?

[Aury]

Likely will, considering myself as the ultimate T-lore junky is going to be having a field-day figuring out factional dispositions, and ttech probably will too, though I can't speak for him.

(btw- if you guys wouldn't mine waiting for me to get home first... )

[Ttech]

I was designated the official pictographer, so here's a rough idea of The Triad.


The term "The Triad" refers to the coalition government that rules this galaxy. It is made up of all the factions and sovereigns from the D&O campaign in an uneasy truce, imposed for the sake of survival. The individual factions still retain some autonomy and in-fighting still occurs.

At the beginning of the game, nearly all factions are neutral with one another, relying on eachother for survival, but all is not forgotten, and the blood feuds from the Milky Way galaxy still linger, causing tension and occasionally open conflict.

The Triad cannot exist forever, once one faction gains the resources to survive alone they could pull their support out of the Triad and the coalition would almost certainly collapse. That time is swiftly approaching and all players are sizing up the two main players: The Commonwealth and The Ares.

The player will sway power by completing missions. As a merchant, supplying goods to an Ares station would very slightly increase their power. As a bounty hunter, taking a job to hunt a CW diplomat could greatly hinder the Commonwealth's chances. Some of the smaller factions have yet to choose sides and might be open to persuasion for the right price. In the end, the lives of everyone in this galaxy is ultimately in the hands of the player, and will depend on who can pick up the pieces when The Triad finally falls.

You know you really took all the fun away. I was going to finish this when I got up. Nice job though.

[Aury]

You know he said it was just a rough idea.

[Atarlost]

This triad notion seems to be getting beyond the original concept. Allowing the player to shift the balance of power in the quarantine zone in a meaningful way will mean a lot of fiddly event scripting. This is the sort of thing that chokes professional game designers and is probably best left out, at least for the near term.

Without the balance of power issue there's no need for it, and there's really no room for it in the canonical universe. Many nations fighting wars with each other across the galaxy cannot hold a truce in a single system. Things don't work like that.

[Aury]

Atarlost; that's out of date. I rewrote a lot of the triad's background & inter-soverign relationships with alterecco & prophet the other day, and ttech wasn't happy we didn't ping him since I thought he wasn't there. And when I did further refinement today, I did ping him... and he wasn't there.

It's a lot more workable & manageable now. Don't worry, I came up with a lot of the same issues you came up with.