Communication with Station(s)

[shanejfilomena]

(I have connection problems: hope this does not post more then once )
when you find a station with full ports and you are low on fuel : Many Pilots Die Horribly in space

is there a add on or a device extention that can maybe communicate to a station the request for permission to dock / communicate " low on fuel and need to dock" ( maybe )

just a thought.......

[alterecco]

Nice idea... however, there is no such mod at present that i know of.

One trick is to shoot once at some of the docked ships... you are almost guaranteed that one of them will undock and run away.

[shanejfilomena]

Nice idea... however, there is no such mod at present that i know of.

One trick is to shoot once at some of the docked ships... you are almost guaranteed that one of them will undock and run away.

Actually, I was doing that after reading that advice to another player : I learned that some ships WILL NOT move, they will let you destroy them rather then undock.

And I learned that some ships will attack you ( usually not for long, others will chase you awhile, especially the Wolfen ), or bring along other fighting ship to run me off ( if I make it away ).

"..I sent off a laser pulse to the station, and stayed on the scene until help arrived."- From the deposition of Henry Charleston, eyewitness to the attack on the Korolov

Not a good Idea these days, maybe back then it was acceptable behavior to get the attention of a station to call a MayDay with cannon fire , but It is considered Rude and Hostile these days ,Obviously.

So a comm for stations mod ( there is a comm for ships: to hire escorts , I hired a csc once or twice testing it ) so , since I could not code myself out of a paper bag........I just thought I would ask the Great Minds of the Universe and see if any had something on the notepad.

[alterecco]

I can not really think of an elegant way to code it. It could be a usable device, with a hotkey attached, but then it would take up a space in that menu. It could be added to the ship interior, but again, that might conflict with some mods.

And how would the ability be justified? "Hey, move over, i need to dock!"

In general, i think it is one of those rougelike parts of Transcendence where the only real reply is "Sorry, bad luck... Try again :)"

[shanejfilomena]

It is an interesting question the more I think about it ( and probably not going to be used much unless it is put into a game of the future )

But to push the station code in the game for stations to clear dock ports for a player to come into play on demand for a low fuel ship ( there was a bug report of Korlov not clearing ports : so since I am sure that is fixed, there has to be a port clearing code someplace )

However , to send an SOS or communicate with ( anything ):
(if (not (shpIsTargetingComputerInstalled gPlayerShip))
(objSendMessage gSource Nil "Targeting computer must be installed to make contact")

; Otherwise, choose a targeted station to dock
(block (vessel weaponTarget (staGetsubordinates )).....
?????


for replies : I got.... (no )
(objSendMessage
gPlayerShip
station(?)
(random
(list
"Sorry, it's Open House Day, try Docking at the sisters'."
"Another Pilot that can't count the Fuel Rods..."
"We are not taking special requests"
" plyComposeString gPlayer "%name%, real pilots don't send out an SOS"
"plyComposeString gPlayer "%name%, Your Pilot Permit is Expired, Nice Knowing you"
"plyComposeString gPlayer "%name%, Shut down everything and try for the next station."
))
(setq vessel Nil)
)
)

( yes )
(objSendMessage
gPlayerShip
station(?)
(random
(list

(plyComposeString gPlayer "%name%, Your Clear to Dock!")
"Another Pilot that Can't Count the Fuel Rods, Dock At #6 )

that was as close to the idea as I got, I don't even think it would work ( nothing I do in xml ever does )

[alterecco]

The problem is not really the code to force another ship to undock, but the concept in general.

If you had to browse through all targets to find the station in question, and then press some keycombination, then there is a good chance that you will be dead anyways (assuming you were in a real hurry). Having it as a general 'broadcast' ability (tell the nearest station to clear a port) seems a bit overpowered to me. That could perhaps be mitigated by a cost (drawing some fuel perhaps :P)?

[shanejfilomena]

I get it: yes, NOW I understand.
the trying to cycle through targets would be time consuming.....

and reading back the " no " replies I realized......." just another Pilot that can't count the fuel rods ".........LOL

ok: dead idea.

[Bobby]

The general broadcast could have limits imposed to prevent it from being overpowered. Have the station charge you a fee for disrupting normal operations and or check how much fuel you actually have when you dock to see if you were lying (and refuse to open the airlock), and of course stations should start ignoring you if you "cry wolf" too often.

Perhaps a different route.
1. You kindly request a place to dock
2. One of the station's defenders (assuming he/she/it is not a customer) undocks (and takes up a stationary position nearby) to let you in, it would make business sense because it gets them another potential customer who might otherwise just go elsewhere, kind of like opening another check-out lane during peak hours.
3. The defender docks again when you leave

[shanejfilomena]

re: bobby:

I appreciated and enjoy your mods

but I am not a mod maker, I was just wondering about it ( my ships don't run out of fuel anymore, I am more careful , but I do get close at times : I try for solar armor and try to not get too interested that I forget to refuel. But there were times I died Horrible deaths, there were many times I wondered why a ship wreck was in a particular spot....did it run out of fuel?, like Helena......how DID her ship die?
could we help other pilots avoid this fate?

but it was pointed out that the costs might be too high for an under powered ship if it is a device : and I think , it might be too high as an over-write xml if some station codes to give orders were done and it might prevent a station from defending itself.......