my latest project

[Psycholis]

I was mildly inspired while watching tv the other day and decided to take a break from the alcurean fleet for a bit. Here's the preview for the 'Heart of Gold' ship from the movie Hitchhiker's guide. Not 100% accurate, but I do what I can.



And here it is in-game.

[Aury]

Does it come with an infinite improbability drive and some tea to run it?

[digdug]

when destroyed, can I loot the golden rod ?

[Psycholis]

i might need help building the first of those. like a transpace that has random direction and distance. you have no idea where you'll end up. might be right next to where you are.

[Prophet]

Very nice ship. Now I want to go watch the movie again!

Here's a super simple version of the Infinte Improbability Drive I whipped up, it picks a random position from 1 to 1500 ls in a random direction from the system's star.

Code: Select all

    <ItemType UNID="&itIPDrive;"
            name=				"Infinite Improbability Drive"
            level=				"5"
            value=				"20000"
            frequency=			"rare"
            mass=				"5000"
            unknownType=		"&itUnknownAlienDevice;"
            modifiers=			"MajorItem; Alien"

            description=		"Using quantum theory, this prototype drive transports its ship to every conceivable position simultaneously while active then randomly stabilizes when quantum fluctuations subside."
            >

        <Image imageID="&rsItems1;" imageX="0" imageY="192" imageWidth="96" imageHeight="96"/>

        <MiscellaneousDevice
                powerRating=		"750"
                capacitorPowerUse=	"-10"
                powerToActivate=	"10000"
                />

        <Invoke key="J" installedOnly="true">
            (objJumpTo gSource (sysVectorPolarOffset 0 (random 0 360) (random 1 1500)))
        </Invoke>
    </ItemType>

I used the star as the jump origin for calculations so that the player doesn't start jumping ridiculously far out.


Now to outfit it with a souped up "Point of View" gun! (If only we had a <OnWeaponFire> event.... )

[digdug]

and with overlays we can change the shape of the ship for a bunch of ticks after each jump then return it to the normal one.

[evilbob]

Now to outfit it with a souped up "Point of View" gun! (If only we had a <OnWeaponFire> event.... )

Hmm, if we had a weapon that changed the target's soverign on hit...

[digdug]

<OnAttacked> could simulate that, but we need to override all the ships in the game

check if the attacking obj is playership, check if point of view cannon is installed (we cannot check if that is the actual weapon in use, see OnAttacked Mod for details : http://xelerus.de/index.php?s=mod&id=205 ) then change the sovereign of the target.

[Bobby]

the infinite improbability drive should also have a chance to move on top of a station(beware the penitent) or spawn random things(friendly pirate, crate of light titanium and grains, wrecked dreadnaught, etc.)

[Atarlost]

Don't forget redecorate your ship.

Actually, the odds against a ship that passes through every point in the universe at once dropping you at your intended destination are infinite so it should just cause you to win the game.

[schilcote]

Don't forget redecorate your ship.

Actually, the odds against a ship that passes through every point in the universe at once dropping you at your intended destination are infinite so it should just cause you to win the game.

Yeah, make it so that there's a 1 in 10^15 chance that you teleport right into the Galactic Core .

[Atarlost]

I don't think you understand how the infinite improbability drive works.

In all cases it does what the author would consider most amusing.

[schilcote]

I don't think you understand how the infinite improbability drive works.

In all cases it does what the author would consider most amusing.

I think I understand. It generates an improbability field of infinite magnitude, causing every event possible to happen at the same time.

[Atarlost]

Except it doesn't actually cause everything to happen. It just causes things the author thought were amusing to happen.

[Psycholis]

"Karey Kirkpatrick, who adapted the novel for the screen in 2005, described the improbability drive as a "a plot contrivance machine", allowing Adams to construct elaborate plotlines based on coincidences that would, in other narratives, be considered too improbable to be believed.[2]"

Wikipedia