small questions

[Betelgeuse]

does the roll dice function have the expected probability or does it cheat?

for powers does the cost indicate that when you use that power your relationship goes down by that much?

what are the extra arguments in sysTicks?

are weapon fire and missiles considered space objects?

[Betelgeuse]

does scrExitDock make the player go to normal flight right away or does it wait until current action is done?

[Betelgeuse]

does the Initialize element go over everything in the screens list before the screen is displayed or as the player goes through the list?

[george moromisato]

does the roll dice function have the expected probability or does it cheat?

for powers does the cost indicate that when you use that power your relationship goes down by that much?

what are the extra arguments in sysTicks?

are weapon fire and missiles considered space objects?

1. The roll dice function does generate a separate number for each die (you end up with the appropriate gaussian distribution).

2. For powers, yes, the cost is the points of relationship used to invoke the power.

3. For (sysTicks) and other functions, the ... is just my notation to indicate that there is no help text for the function (and so the arguments, if any, are not shown). (sysTicks) does not have arguments.

4. Yes, the laser shot by a laser cannon is a space object (missiles as well). But I don't think you can access them--i.e., I'm not sure if there is a way for (sysFindObject) to ever find missiles (but maybe there should be...)

[george moromisato]

does scrExitDock make the player go to normal flight right away or does it wait until current action is done?

It makes the player go to normal flight, but functions after (scrExitDock) are still executed (although I have not tried it out).

[george moromisato]

does the Initialize element go over everything in the screens list before the screen is displayed or as the player goes through the list?

No. The <Initialize> element is evaluated:
1. Whenever the pane is displayed (e.g., (scrShowPane) or something).
2. Whenever the player moves the cursor in the list.

[Betelgeuse]

thanks.
I was wondering because sysTicks allows for extra arguments, was just wondering if they had any use.

sysFindObject finding weapon fire (even lasers and such) can be used for some fun things like a repeller field or armor that has the effect of having weapons sometimes pass through the ship.

[Betelgeuse]

4. Yes, the laser shot by a laser cannon is a space object (missiles as well). But I don't think you can access them--i.e., I'm not sure if there is a way for (sysFindObject) to ever find missiles (but maybe there should be...)

Sorry to bring up a old topic but has this change been made? Even if it hasn't are there any filters that sysFindObject accepts that are not in the vanilla xml?

[george moromisato]

Here is what sysFindObject accepts (from the comments in the source code):

Code: Select all

G			Stargates only
G:xyz;		Stargate with ID 'xyz'
s			Include ships
t			Include stations (including planets)
T			Include structure-scale stations
T:xyz;		Include stations with attribute 'xyz'

A			Active objects only (i.e., objects that can attack)
B:xyz;		Only objects with attribute 'xyz'
D:xyz;		Only objects with data 'xyz'
E			Enemy objects only
F			Friendly objects only
H			Only objects whose base = source
M			Manufactured objects only (i.e., no planets or asteroids)
N			Return only the nearest object to the source
N:nn;		Return only objects within nn light-seconds
O:docked;	Ships that are currently docked at source
O:escort;	Ships ordered to escort source
O:guard;	Ships ordered to guard source
R:nn;		Return only objects greater than nn light-seconds away

+xyz;		Include objects with the given attribute
-xyz;		Exclude objects with the given attribute

[Arisaya]

thanks for that table!