Project Eden (WIP massive random scenario)

Discussion in 'Scenarios' started by ravien_ff, Jun 18, 2018.

  1. Vermillion

    Vermillion Rear Admiral

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    If by adapted, you mean it's floating. Then yeah.
    It should be sitting on the ground.
     
    #741
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  2. ravien_ff

    ravien_ff Rear Admiral

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    It's using the default blueprint so it might need the clearpivot command.
     
    #742
  3. Myrmidon

    Myrmidon Rear Admiral

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    Which command is that?I am not familiar...
     
    #743
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  4. ravien_ff

    ravien_ff Rear Admiral

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    It's mainly used when you're creating a blueprint for a POI, though it can be useful when creating any blueprint. It will reset the blueprint's center to the middle of the bounding box, which is important for proper placement of POIs and can help fix off-center ships and bases.

    prefabinfo NameOfBlueprint -clearpivot
    OR
    prefabinfo 'Name of Blueprint' -clearpivot (if your blueprint has spaces in the name).
    Then spawn your blueprint, and re-save it.
    Then go to your empyrion - galactic survival/content/prefabs folder and delete the new blueprint file it placed there.

    When you next spawn your blueprint, it will be properly centered.
     
    #744
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  5. Germanicus

    Germanicus Rear Admiral

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    Oh, one word to the starter Mission on the Dead Planet with the second step... When I finished the build of the CV I could not call up the Mission to the Ice Dwarf again after it miraculous vanished. It was not to be found in the PDA. I remembered to land there but... nothing happened when I did.
    So I went to space again, towards the unknown signal and the UCH Colony Ship - here I would suggest to have the PDA Mission pop up as soon as you are within 100m of the Beacon and not at 50m from the UCH Vessel.
     
    #745
  6. ravien_ff

    ravien_ff Rear Admiral

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    Yeah there's still some quirks with the PDA mission I'm working on. :D
     
    #746
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  7. Myrmidon

    Myrmidon Rear Admiral

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    So it is not a command. It is an arguiment/parameter of the command "prefabinfo". Thanx.
     
    #747
  8. Welderold

    Welderold Lieutenant

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    Yes, it floats and robots drop it from the "tummy" . Fortunately, I have a friend with Polaris. The POI looks very firepower.
     
    #748
  9. Germanicus

    Germanicus Rear Admiral

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    Here are funny things on this Sandy Moon...:D

    HetothThofthKiofId_2019-12-09_13-05-09.png
     
    #749
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  10. Demonic

    Demonic Captain

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    !!Massive wall of text warning!!
    Okay, so, I'v been flying around project Eden for a while (even started dead planet start yesterday, loving it so far) and I'd like to give a detailed (somewhat) thoughts and suggestions about the trading in it. Keep in mind I don't know how hard is it to create a custom traders so feel free to call me crazy and kick me out :D.

    First, my thoughts.

    While the idea of "bulk" trading is really nice and I'm really glad you decided to include trading in the scenario, I didn't really use it that much, apart from selling loot and buing stuff I need, I was a consumer, not a trader. The reason for it was the fact that while the "pedia" tells you what stations buy and need what, you are left to your own devices to find them. And while I don't mind exploring (and I know it's a big part of EDEN and I like it for it) but there is a "blind" exploring and "targeted" exploring. "Blind" exploring is fine, when you are just exploring, seeing what's where etc... but I don't like exploring blindly when looking for a specific thing.

    For example, when I was simply flying around after I left my starter planet, I was blindly exploring, trying to map out my surroundings and get an idea about what planets are around etc. and that was fine. But after a while, I got the mission to survey planets. In that instant, I had a goal. I didn't have all the necessary planets explored but I didn't have to fly around blindly since I knew a few facts - A) I am looking for temperate planets and B) temperate planets are located in the "goldilocks zone" , in the middle ring onf the scenario's map.

    So I could look at the map, see where the warps from my temperate region lead and try to devise a sort of pattern for my search and I knew what warps to ignore based on how I saw the warp lanes be plotted.

    With trading, I can't do that. I know A, what I'm looking for, but for most of the stuff, I don't know B, where to look for it. I have to wander around hoping I'll run into the necessary station by sheer blind luck. And that's something I don't like. I don't want to be handled things on a silver platter, but I'd like to do more then just to rely on blind luck.

    The other issue with trading is simple - raiding and selling loot gives me enough money so the hassle with finding the station really isn't worth it. Even with the horrible prices of CPU extenders (which are negated by AE11.5) It's easier and faster to raid POIs to raise the money.

    Now, the suggestions

    Everything below applies to a multi-star map, since imho it doesn't make sense to work with something that will replaced (I mean, you could stick with the single star system, but why the hell would you? :D)

    Okay, so what's needed for the trading to be a fun to do and a valid option to pick? If I boil it down to the basics, it has to be a decent alternative for other money making stuffs and the money need to have a value, meaning there should be enough important stuff to buy so you can spend the moneyz.

    Let's talk about the trading being a valid option. I'll try to sum it up in points for easier digestion.

    • Trading should give enough money to compete with raiding - I can't say for sure if the prices as are now enable this, I was only able to find buyer AND seller for leather, but the profit there was... well meager to say the least. The gross margin itself was low and the amount I could buy from the traders wasn't hight enough for the trade to give much money, especially when you account for the time I'd have to spend going to the buyer.

      Even for a starter trader the profit would simply not be enough.

    • Finding and plotting trade routes should not be entirely random - I know the scenario is randomly generated, but afaik you can control what POIs can spawn on what type of playfield. So, instead of randomly generating the POIs there would be sort of a logicval pattern to it.

      I'll use the leather as the example. Leather is made from animals, and it's much easier to produce it from tame animals, so it would make sense that Talon selling leather would be on temperate planets (afaik they already are). Now where to sell it? Leather is used by the luxury trader together with gold and it's usually better to have your factory closer to where you sell your goods (okay, I know that's probably not entirely correct but realism is not my goal, fun is). So, the luxury trader could be in orbit of temperate planets. And since temperate planets don't usually have gold, you already have an example of short range low profit route (leather from planet to orbit) short to medium range high profit route (luxury goods to planet and to other planets within a single star system) and medium to long range medium profit route (gold from inhospitable planets/other star systems) to Luxury goods trader.

      It doesn't necessary need to be realistic, though it helps if it is sort of believable, but the main point is, there should be some logic to the points where you can buy/sell specific trading stuff. That way, when I find a station with a demand of hydrogen cells and I know water planets tend to have hydroplants, I can look around for a nearby ocean or tropical planet to see if it has it, or maybe they need other gasses and there are gass farms in gas giants) I can deduce where to look instead of having to rely on luck.
    • Money from trading should scale with player getting better as other options do - You don't want to give the player a f**kton of cash when he barely left his planet in a small SV, but you want to 'reward' him for exploring and having bigger ship and more creds to start.

      There are four variables that can help with this - Cost, W&V, distance and danger. The first two are kinda self explanatory, if a single thing costs more than those measly 100K you have, it doesn't matter if it has 200K profit per unit. You won't get it, cause you don't have the money to buy the goods. If the traders sels a lot, but the goods are heavy, you can theoreticaly still earn a lot, but you have to carry the stuff, which the measly small SV might not be able to do.

      Distance is rather simple, your ship either can or can't jump between the two places you need to go. It probably doesn't matter much since Warp capable CVs are usualy something players try to build ASAP, but still, choosing between jumping directly from A to B in CV or having to go through C and D before you get to B in SV will have an effect on profitability.

      Danger is probably the most interesting one but the least practical in the current state of the game. However, there still can be some stuff available in drone heavy asteroid fields (rare ores or materials) or some trade routes could be "blockade runs" where you have to deliver stuff to a base in a hostile envirenement, but untill the environement itself will have effect on the ships, there is imho not much use for "danger" right now"

    • Money needs to have value. - What that means money has to be able to buy you a usefull stuff. In POIs, you can find certain devices way sooner than you can build them, or some devices cost rare metals, hard to come by in your scenario (erestrum and zascosium, I'm looking at you). If a player would be able to buy such devices instead of having to find the planet which had them and brave it's dangers, suddenly there is a way for the dedicated trader to upgrade his ship with these rare things. If one could buy whole ships it would be even better, but afaik, EGS doesn't support buing ships from NPCs...
    Now, to sum up those suggestions to a rough example of a system. There would be three main types of trade routes:
    1. Short range - playifield to playifield (ie, no warp jump or starhopping needed, just a ship able to go from atmo to orbit and possibly a moon)
    2. Medium range - planet to planet - a route a Warp capable SV can do, trading within one star system
    3. Long range - system to system - route for large CVs capable of jumping between star systems
    Each type should yield more net profit for the player.

    Each trader would be placed logicaly and with a certain pattern, so a player is able to deduce where he should look for a buyer/seller even if he hasn't seen one previously (F.e. luxury resorts buying alcohol and luxury goods)

    There should be traders selling stuff otherwise obtainable by crafting/raiding, like ores, ingots (already are) high lvl devices etc, so even the dedicated trader can work his way towards a bigger, better ship.

    Now, PDA.

    Missions are a thing. I saw what you can do with the missions, I know you can do missons obtainable only on a certain planet type etc. so there could be some polaris mission chain showing you the basics of trading, teaching you the logic behind it ( f.e. look for buyer in logical places).

    Phew... if anyone reads it all and sees this, I'm impressed. Actualy I don't even expect Ravien to read it all :D
     
    #750
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  11. ravien_ff

    ravien_ff Rear Admiral

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    Read it all. Great feedback and excellent suggestions!

    Some of it unfortunately isn't feasible in a random scenario. Traders can't sell items that are bigger than the player inventory (they don't use the logistics system when you're buying items). And putting specific trade stations around specific planets requires a separate orbit template.

    Multiple solar systems will help a lot however and I do have plans to use many of your suggestions. :D
     
    #751
  12. Demonic

    Demonic Captain

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    Would you mind giving me a few details on how random scenario works in regards to planet/moon/orbit playfields and plotting warp lanes? Cause while I understand it's a random scenario, I highly doubt it's completely random... I mean, if it was, there's no way you'd be able to make the three "rings" of planets.

    About the stations... are moons connected with the planets? If so, you can simply put the "factory" traders into moon playfields and booom. Still a short route with only a playfield/playfield transition.

    Anyway, if you want some more specific suggestions, feel free to send a PM my way, I can try to come up with trade routes etc... (and if you wonder why I'm so interested in trading, well I loved in on the Discovery server for an ol' game called Freelancer)

    P.S. I did tell you to call me crazy and kick me out ;)
     
    #752
  13. Vermillion

    Vermillion Rear Admiral

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    It seems you're still using the old Crashed Titan. I just encountered it at the bottom of the ocean.
     
    #753
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  14. ravien_ff

    ravien_ff Rear Admiral

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    Ah thank you for letting me know.
     
    #754
  15. Germanicus

    Germanicus Rear Admiral

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    Keep it... I like the old TITAN more as it has more stuff to loot and dismantle than the newer, prettier TITAN:).
     
    #755
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  16. dichebach

    dichebach Captain

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    Just want to pop in here and say: Wow! This scenario is SO GOOD! *Applauds*

    Okay, now back to Renexi . . .

    Oh, BTW, I tried that "Very Hard" "Dead" Planet: yep that one IS hard! Froze to death pretty quick. Did a bit better on the "Hard" snowy one, but eventually died before getting a constructor built. Nice to be challenged!
     
    #756
  17. Myrmidon

    Myrmidon Rear Admiral

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    Since the last update i am getting errors when i try to resume my old game with your scenario. I get the message that the save is not longer udable and I must delete it but I manage to load and play. See a screenshot of the terminal ...

    Screenshot from 2019-12-12 17-47-21.png
     
    #757
  18. Germanicus

    Germanicus Rear Admiral

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    Well, I do a new start too but merely out of visual than technical Issues.
    All deep impact craters on the Dead Planet are now shimmering in an ugly yellow. at least when I want to pick up where I left to test in EXP.
     
    #758
  19. Germanicus

    Germanicus Rear Admiral

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    Fresh started game started far slower than before. Even without loading all Planets in but it took 88856ms to load (!) :eek:
    HeirtotheThrone_2019-12-12_21-32-36.png
    Which are not to be seen in the screenshot above
     
    #759
  20. ravien_ff

    ravien_ff Rear Admiral

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    It's generating 2-6 full sized solar systems. This is hard coded by the devs and I'm making adjustments for the A11.5 update.
     
    #760

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