Space Sim w/Economy

[Auspice]

@Paradox said in Space Sim w/Economy:

I guess why I'm asking this, is because if it's #2, you don't really need an 'advanced space system' to accomplish that, you just need a clever mini-game to do it.

So the reason I'm with @Jennkryst on 'both' is a story from WNOHGB.

I had terrible insomnia as a teenager. There wasn't really much RP to be had. That's part of why I got so into the whole trading game.

Now, it did take literal hours on that game to get places. But I decided one day... to start cutting across a sliver of Romulan space. Doing so saved me like, 2 hours. That's a savings on fuel and maximizes profit across the board. Just one little sliver of the RSE. No one noticed. My ship was a blip on someone's radar and it was a ship that could go toe-to-toe with almost anything Starfleet had. (pro tip: always ask staff if you can salvage a random ship you see sitting dead in space in the same spot for a couple weeks straight. It might turn out to be the most powerful fucking non-Starfleet ship on the game.... with a good warp and great cargo capacity to boot.)

Well, one Staffer noticed. They noticed and brought out the NPCs.

On my next trip through that sliver of RSE space, I run into the Romulans. Who, before I can get my shields up, transport me off my ship (leaving my compatriots to wake up in the morning and find it just sort of chillin' right outside the RSE). They haul my PC to jail.

Well, on this game, the rule was: intent doesn't matter. Code does. If your shields are up they'd better be codedly up. And in my case, the next day I'm chatting with my company on channel and discover.......... the Staffer forgot to lock the cell.

My friends goad me on.
'That means it isn't actually locked!'
'Dude you should totally escape.'

So I did.
I ran out of the prison and straight to the spaceport. Grab the first ship I see.
THE PRINCE'S PERSONAL SHIP.

Staffer, by the time I'm taking off, notices.
I get transported off again and this time, the ship is blown up. (All the more crimes to put on her poor head.)

whoops.gif

Tossed back in jail, this time with it locked.
Two weeks pass (so almost 2 months IC in 4:1 time) and the Staffer goes alrighty, so here's what happened: they let you go. But only after embedding a chip in your brain that records everything your character sees and hears. CONGRATS. You're now a spy.
ps if anyone ever digs around in her head the chip comes up as just a weird dream about a polar bear and a fish.

tl;dr
9 times out of 10 I just want the mini game to kill time, but that 1 time can be fucking epic.

[Ominous]

It sounds kind of MUD-y, where people are expected to go out and have their own fun with the tools the server provides (I don't mean that as a negative. Just an observation.)

Do you think you would get the same enjoyment if you could set an origin, a destination, and a cargo, and then leave the system to calculate and provide a result later, while you go out and RP on the grid with the assumption being that your character is doing the hauling when you're offline? You log back in and see how successful the freight run was or maybe on that 1 out of 50 times you have a +mail saying, "Stuff happened on your trip. No more trips, until you schedule a scene with staff to resolve." Or does it lose its appeal?

[faraday]

@Ominous said in Space Sim w/Economy:

Do you think you would get the same enjoyment if...

Everyone is going to have a different answer to that question based on individual preferences. But from a game design perspective, you have to ask yourself why you're adding sim elements. There are a variety of valid reasons (not an all-inclusive list):

• System regulation. Example: IC economy to limit how much money people can accumulate and spend.
• RP Aid/Guide. Example: Die rollers, or +combat to help resolve a mass combat faster.
• Immersion (to make the world OOCly feel more like the IC one). Example: IC radios, dynamic grid/space systems so you can wander forever.
• Theme Enforcement. Example: Hard travel times, or code that limits vampires from going out during the IC day.
• Time Killer Mini-Game.

There's no right or wrong answer here, and nothing is going to please everyone. It just comes down to what kind of game you're going for.

[SG]

@Paradox said in Space Sim w/Economy:

So let me ask, what are people really interested in:

1. The time sink of cruising from Point A to Point B to kill time

2. Something to do BESIDES RP that requires some planning/scheming to try to maximize benefits.

I guess why I'm asking this, is because if it's #2, you don't really need an 'advanced space system' to accomplish that, you just need a clever mini-game to do it.

The time sink of cruising from A to B is terrible. Space systems where you have to spam your own screen every few seconds are the worst. I think ideally, space would just be a set of rooms that you can move your ship through. Maybe ships have a set number of rooms they can do per fuel tank? I dunno, but I hate most of the space systems out there already that aren't as easy as moving your bit to another room.

[Auspice]

@SG said in Space Sim w/Economy:

@Paradox said in Space Sim w/Economy:

So let me ask, what are people really interested in:

1. The time sink of cruising from Point A to Point B to kill time

2. Something to do BESIDES RP that requires some planning/scheming to try to maximize benefits.

I guess why I'm asking this, is because if it's #2, you don't really need an 'advanced space system' to accomplish that, you just need a clever mini-game to do it.

The time sink of cruising from A to B is terrible. Space systems where you have to spam your own screen every few seconds are the worst. I think ideally, space would just be a set of rooms that you can move your ship through. Maybe ships have a set number of rooms they can do per fuel tank? I dunno, but I hate most of the space systems out there already that aren't as easy as moving your bit to another room.

On the other hand... I love them. :X

[Jennkryst]

@Auspice said in Space Sim w/Economy:

@SG said in Space Sim w/Economy:

@Paradox said in Space Sim w/Economy:

So let me ask, what are people really interested in:

1. The time sink of cruising from Point A to Point B to kill time

2. Something to do BESIDES RP that requires some planning/scheming to try to maximize benefits.

I guess why I'm asking this, is because if it's #2, you don't really need an 'advanced space system' to accomplish that, you just need a clever mini-game to do it.

The time sink of cruising from A to B is terrible. Space systems where you have to spam your own screen every few seconds are the worst. I think ideally, space would just be a set of rooms that you can move your ship through. Maybe ships have a set number of rooms they can do per fuel tank? I dunno, but I hate most of the space systems out there already that aren't as easy as moving your bit to another room.

On the other hand... I love them. :X

Ditto.

Though we could do SOMETHING about having to spam yourself with scan/radar reports. HSpace 5 had a java plugin (which was tricksy to read, but it was totally a thing). The Battletech MUX had a similar thing, with countdown times for every weapon, and a real-time top-down hex map with terrain and shit.

Which... is significantly more than I am advocating for. But I mention it because solutions to the problems exist.

[Ominous]

@Jennkryst @Auspice

So I take it that both of you need to actively be involved in driving the ship from point A to Point B, and having the cargo hauling happen off-screen in the background would not scratch the itch?

[Auspice]

@Ominous said in Space Sim w/Economy:

@Jennkryst @Auspice

So I take it that both of you need to actively be involved in driving the ship from point A to Point B, and having the cargo hauling happen off-screen in the background would not scratch the itch?

Correct.

I like pilot-y games (which surely comes as no surprise to those that know me).

I don't fault those who don't. Same as I don't like super crunchy rules laden systems, but some folks do.

I've even debated seeing if I can find the old CrystalMUSH database to spin back up.

[Darren]

It should be possible to handle alerts and such via the web portal, which would eliminate all/most of the spam in the client. It is also possible to do something clever with prompts but that would only work with a tiny handful of clients.

I am tempted to investigate creating my engine for Ares rather than Evennia, since Ares' web stuff is much further along and Django is such a beast.

[Jennkryst]

As mentioned in Smol Birb thread, would also accept non-space airship sort of fu. It will not be the perfectest spelljammer/eclipse phase/star wars sort of thing. But. It will haz boat.

[Ominous]

@Jennkryst

What about actual sea sailing boats?

[Jennkryst]

@Ominous Maybe? I unno.

[ZekeTheG33k]

@Jennkryst I have never really gotten that code to setup. Though tbh it has been ages since I worked with MUX.