Microsaur Ideas

[JohnBWatson]

I like the idea but I don't think microsaurs should be special. I would suggest a live cargo itemtype that microsaur can inherit that carries the base functionality. There are a number of reasonable or traditional space pet types and human passengers and prisoners are also possible. Even crew could be implemented who perform a function and stay with you for a while or are fellow pilgrims who lost or could not afford ships of their own.

The base type would handle things like increased life support expenditures, hunger if implemented, and leaving (passengers and non-pilgrim crew would leave in a certain station or system and get you fined if you went past, freed slaves would leave at the next valid station, and cats might leave randomly while microsaurs, fellow pilgrims, and dogs would stay with you forever). Ideally, live cargo would also keep its special messages in a string table on the type rather than being in the dockscreen switch statements since it would be expected to have special messages.

The guarding would be microsaur specific, though some others would probably do so as well.

I'd suggest sphynx cats (because they don't have hair to clog the air filters), Laika brand Russian Space Dogs, giant space hamsters, and miniature giant space hamsters. Microsaurs, dogs, and giant space hamsters would guard while cats and miniature giant space hamsters would not.

Interesting. I don't think an unmodified playership could carry multiple humans comfortably, but your implementation idea is fairly solid. Little things that the player can pick up, trading a small cost along the way for some manner of benefit.

[Atarlost]

Interesting. I don't think an unmodified playership could carry multiple humans comfortably, but your implementation idea is fairly solid. Little things that the player can pick up, trading a small cost along the way for some manner of benefit.

All the playerships seem to have cabins close to the size of Apollo habitable volume so they should probably be able to handle three for a few days.

[Song]

Interesting. I don't think an unmodified playership could carry multiple humans comfortably, but your implementation idea is fairly solid. Little things that the player can pick up, trading a small cost along the way for some manner of benefit.

All the playerships seem to have cabins close to the size of Apollo habitable volume so they should probably be able to handle three for a few days.

Alternatively, it's something that a cargo bay module or specialist set of shiptypes (eg. Freighters/Yachts) could be able to handle to give some more decisions for players to make regarding setup and play-path.

[JohnBWatson]

Interesting. I don't think an unmodified playership could carry multiple humans comfortably, but your implementation idea is fairly solid. Little things that the player can pick up, trading a small cost along the way for some manner of benefit.

All the playerships seem to have cabins close to the size of Apollo habitable volume so they should probably be able to handle three for a few days.

That's reasonable.

[digdug]

I would just say that I highly support any favour text and anything that makes me feel more immersed into the Transcendence universe. Having a pet could be really cool, netHack has it, why not Transcendence ? Said that, of course, a pet, like any other random features of a roguelike, should be a bonus to stumble upon and enjoy, and not a burden to carry around. What about a cargo hold specific for alive things ? Could autofeed the microsaur, have extra life support for passengers and keep my strawberries fresher for longer times. Like said before, microsaur conduct will activate only if you open the box, or install the new cargo hold with the extra life support.

I like the idea but I don't think microsaurs should be special. I would suggest a live cargo itemtype that microsaur can inherit that carries the base functionality. There are a number of reasonable or traditional space pet types and human passengers and prisoners are also possible. Even crew could be implemented who perform a function and stay with you for a while or are fellow pilgrims who lost or could not afford ships of their own.

I like this very much ! It will allow a new variety of missions based on carrying around prisoners or passengers or pilgrims.
A pilgrim engineer wants a lift to Sanctuary. You take him aboard and as long as he is aboard he provides a bonus to shield or to weapon damage. Get a Sister on your ship ? your Domina powers refresh faster.
Another one: Militia mission to collect a prisoner to bring to a Commonwealth station, you can decide to do the mission and take the money or free the prisoner and get some other risky reward.

[shanejfilomena]

OMG.. I can not believe the replies to this are so negative...

I, Personally, Always wanted "More" out of the Microsaur item , such as with the Sisters Donation.
I NEVER enjoyed selling a Microsaur as an Item because A) you never feel you got enough for it
B) It is a LifeForm ..the only real one in the game that the player gets to have ..

And with Arco - who asks " Did I kill your Microsaur or something? " - is basically a good lead in for something to do with Pirate activity & Microsaur
( or in the case of the Posted Idea : Salvagers)

There's an obvious solution to all this. Have separate activated/unactivated versions of Microsaurs. The unactivated version is the only one that spawns in the game and the activated version is obtained if and only if you open up the box that Microsaurs come in. The activated version would be the only one that gives you conducts/regrets and whatnot when you have it.

Now - Activating a Microsaur that consumes items, the Item Atrribs would have to be re-done :
right now most items are generic and a Microsaur would need be able to lock onto food it could actually eat - leaving less healthy options alone ( otherwise you WILL need that AutoDoc )

in a station, an activated Microsaur could chew it's way through all food Items leaving nothing for the player to buy ... so on a station it should go inactive as for any Hunger.

Hunger code, if any - how long does it take to use a tank of fuel ? I think the Produce code is too fast for some ( which is why the Stasis Pod was invented : http://xelerus.de/index.php?s=mod&id=650 )

*** I did do a restaurant with "Servings" ( http://xelerus.de/index.php?s=mod&id=1126 ) : originally not for sale nor could you loot them if the Hotel was destroyed , but this could be a useful idea of buying servings or Hotel table scraps ( MREs that the Microsaur could eat leaving the items the player is familiar with alone : each serving carries a Charge for the Activated Creatures )

PRICE of pet usable food HAS to be low, we have all been the Poorest Pilot in the Universe and there are times we can not even afford Fuel ..so the MRE / Serving idea might be more useful if it's "Dirt Cheap" .

Also , you do NOT want a hungry or starving Microsaur to need attention while the Ventauri are trying to cook your Goose ...... so it has to act like the Repair Droids ( http://xelerus.de/index.php?s=mod&id=579 ) and "Hide" ( not need anything that distracts the player ) when your ship in a fight.

-------------------------

If you don't want to know what kind of Chocolate is in the box ... Don't open the box.

[catfighter]

I personally love the idea of other living things with needs and/or bonuses. Having friends along for the ride or getting to watch your Microsaur maul some overconfident Teratons would make it feel so much more...in depth as a gaming experience.

Feeding sounds like a good idea, but it shouldn't be implemented until the other functions are tested/approved. It sounds like it could get annoying very fast unless it isn't necessary often or there is an extremely cheap and easy way to automate it (which doesn't require an out-of-the-way trip to a vet station for one of those flashy feed-o-matic modules). The "buy scraps from a hotel" idea sounds like it would either get too involved (searching for hotels becomes one of the prime directives) or a once only event (go to one hotel, buy a half-ton of scraps, then forget about it for the rest of the game). Don't get me wrong, it sounds like a cool idea; I just don't know how it could be made fun without taking up all of your attention.

One solution I thought of was that of pest control. Anyone carrying food for extended periods of time will pick up an infestation of the Horrifying Space-Mice of Doom, and then they'll need a cat or a Microsaur to stop the beasties from eating your cargo. Even without an infestation, eating whatever happens to be crawling around your cargo hold or nearby docking ports could take care of the need for constant care and give you a reason to want a little companion on your travels, just in case. (I get the feeling many stations would pay a lot of money for someone to let their pet loose for a while to take care of certain Space-Mice problems) And maybe they could even go so far as to take care of those ****ing little ****ers known as pteravores.

[shanejfilomena]

I personally love the idea of other living things with needs and/or bonuses. Having friends along for the ride or getting to watch your Microsaur maul some overconfident Teratons would make it feel so much more...in depth as a gaming experience.

Feeding sounds like a good idea, but it shouldn't be implemented until the other functions are tested/approved. It sounds like it could get annoying very fast unless it isn't necessary often or there is an extremely cheap and easy way to automate it (which doesn't require an out-of-the-way trip to a vet station for one of those flashy feed-o-matic modules). The "buy scraps from a hotel" idea sounds like it would either get too involved (searching for hotels becomes one of the prime directives) or a once only event (go to one hotel, buy a half-ton of scraps, then forget about it for the rest of the game). Don't get me wrong, it sounds like a cool idea; I just don't know how it could be made fun without taking up all of your attention.

One solution I thought of was that of pest control. Anyone carrying food for extended periods of time will pick up an infestation of the Horrifying Space-Mice of Doom, and then they'll need a cat or a Microsaur to stop the beasties from eating your cargo. Even without an infestation, eating whatever happens to be crawling around your cargo hold or nearby docking ports could take care of the need for constant care and give you a reason to want a little companion on your travels, just in case. (I get the feeling many stations would pay a lot of money for someone to let their pet loose for a while to take care of certain Space-Mice problems) And maybe they could even go so far as to take care of those ****ing little ****ers known as pteravores.

yes! I was only suggesting the Attrib re-work on consumables for the creature - but if the Hotels were to sell scraps - the player would basically go after that as a random treat - like purchase :
the real food items would be in random loot and station merchant sales.

[catfighter]

yes! I was only suggesting the Attrib re-work on consumables for the creature - but if the Hotels were to sell scraps - the player would basically go after that as a random treat - like purchase :
the real food items would be in random loot and station merchant sales.

You know, I think you may be on to something! If the Microsaur is going to have actual functions, it would start with some basic abilities, but you have to earn its loyalty by buying your trusty travel companion some extra treats (hotel scraps, randomly looted PetHappy(TM) treats, toys, etc) to unlock even better abilities.

[travbm]

Why not have dinosaurs from T-rex to brontasaurus and triceritops. These large animals could be taken to planets to make lots of fertilizer or game meat to feed many of the hungy people of the commonweald or if the idea catches on the Confederation.

[Watch TV, Do Nothing]

keep T-Rex in your Apollo-sized cockpit for maximum lols

[Atarlost]

There's no market for dinosaurs. What there is is a market for small genengineered animals that don't clog air filters. Birds that don't have down. Hairless cats. Well, there's already a hairless cat breed so those wouldn't need to be geneengineered.

The microsaur is a bird without down. Or possibly an entirely bald bird if you don't like to imagine them with feathers. It looks a bit un-birdlike for advertising reasons, but it's basically filling the same social niche as a lap dog or affectionate cat or hookbill in environment where you asphyxiate if your air filters get clogged.

Larger imitation dinosaurs have no purpose. If you want to make lots of fertilizer you get a cow or chicken. If you want meat you get a cow or pig or chicken. You don't go out of your way to engineer something decorative to do the job of a chicken. If for some reason you want bigger eggs you get an emu, you don't engineer something to do the job the emu already does just fine.

[Song]

......now I'm just mentally picturing all the ridiculous microsaur situations that have been joked about in IRC.....only with emus.

...it does work rather well for comedy. And I sure as hell wouldn't dare try stealing from any cache that had a guard-emu.

(Edit: I'd do the obligatory Freefall reference but I can't remember any of the relevant strip numbers to find them)

Keep in mind though that this is the same setting that, to deal with world hunger, brought back giant freaking sloths (Megathere) so they could be farmed (rather than, say, going for insect-based or algal foods). Practicality doesn't really seem to be the most pressing thing.

[PM]

Having a pet could be really cool, netHack has it, why not Transcendence ?

Because in Nethack, pets are more like Transcendence's wingmen or converted Dwarg zoanthropes. You can have a few dragons, one geared-up level 30+ archon, or various other pets roaming around and killing everything in sight for you. Microsaur here... just sits in the cargo hold like vendor trash. The closest Transcendence has to Nethack style pets are Dwarg Behemoths.

[Atarlost]

People at least used to collect and name slime molds in Angband. Slime molds are a low level food for people who've run out of real food and people collected them.

That's clearly what the microsaur needs: the ability to be named individually.