Posts made by Jennkryst

clears throat

A continuation of the Serenity discussion so that can maybe (but most likely won't) get back on-topic. Also just re-posting this because we keep talking in circles and it's time to have space sim discussion again, so all the points are up there ^ !

The big thing to remember is that the soapbox is not the whole of the MUing community, despite what mindsets and... er... statements from atop soapboxes... might imply. You cannot take the WoD mindset and apply it 1:1 to the communities of other games and expect it to come out the same way.

Taaaake Star Wars.

In one corner, we have Chontio using the FFG rules. Centralized RP on the one planet and really no way to have your fancy SWAG. I joined WITH A GROUP, and we got... not a lot done, because we were techies, and that kind of hinged on having gear to upgrade. 'Just handwave gear' is incredibly close to a 'just use what your resource stat says is cool' attitude. Which might work some places, but not there. Or maybe not? All I can say is that there used to be waaay more than 4 people on around this time, but right now... there's just the 4. And I'm one of them. Whee.

In the other corner, Age of Alliances uses Dahan's Dynamic Skill System... the one that is in place on Serenity, but scales to 100 instead of 40. Presently, there's 55 players online, with 79 for today's record. It feels more like a Star Wars game, with ships and flight and equipment and all that. Also, you can totally just avoid space yourself, and use the shuttle system. Win/win!

All that said, I'm not advocating playing at AoA over Chontio. I'm on record as being a huge Edge of the Empire/Force & Destiny nerd. I was incredibly vocal about getting the FFG ruleset in place for a MU, and one of the reasons I pulled the chute on AoA in the first place was how the headwiz was ADAMANTLY against it when he decided to wipe the database for Episode 7. But at the same time, I want to play a game that FEELS like Star Wars, and not a WoD game with the labels replaced.

Sooooo.

Yeah.

Got off on a tangent there. Ahem.

Anyone know where we can find code of any of these fancy old space sims? I have some (unfinished and buggy) HSpace 5 code. It's hardcode for Penn, but it exists and has the foundation for Brachistochrone trajectories, because unlike earlier HSpace systems, there is no coded drag. Once you get up to your desired velocity, you will continue until you slow yourself back down. Not that that matters, because planets hadn't gotten to the point that they were mobile yet.

Anyone? Space code? Bueller?

@GangOfDolls [answer redacted because it's off topic]

Followup question for Serenity Staff here: what kind of game do you WANT? Like... activity-wise? Because the soapbox is like 90% WoD mindset, with the fast-travel and handwaving money and all that boring bar-RP (all of that is probably better discussed in depth elsewhere).

@Tinuviel Ah. AoA has... uh... Dynamic space. So huge swaths of grid don't each need their own room @dug out. It's a temp room made and deleted as you move through it.

In space, they use TerrySpace (TerriSpace? I forget).

@Seamus I have the code for HSpace 5 somewhere, but it's not anywhere close to finished. Bonus points, though, it's hard code, so you don't need to know Penn to work on it, but instead, I think... C++?

@TiredEwok If memory serves, DSpace is the weird maze that is Tatooine on AoA that literally takes you 2 hours to move from one room to the next (unless you're in a speeder, and then it takes X seconds based on the vehicle's speed). TSpace was the one they had, which I could maybe like if it got updated.

Like... yeah, I have issues with HSpace, too, but I like it better than any of the alternatives that I've seen (including just handwaving space stuff).

Switching over to a new code base entirely would take some work, but would probably still be for the best. If not a fresh slate of DSS, there's the Cortex rules that are nice.

Still... find that HSpace master object and bring it along. Or hand it to meeeee before wiping everything. I need it. For things.

Not a huge sign, but a concern.

Advice steps!

1. Get admin pass for the shell and #1, for reasons explained above.
2. Discuss with current playerbase the plans. Maybe vote? The last bbpost on board 1 is almost a year old. In fact MOST of the bbposts are a year+ old.
3. That reboot idea is at the top of MY list, but is up to you all and should have a high acceptance rate among current players if you want to go that way. If you do, maybe offer a small boon to current players making the jump. ACTIVITY only lists... like. 7 PCs around for the last week, if I am reading it right, so getting a consensus should be easy.
4. I love the space stuff. 9/10 to keep, with the 1/10 to figure out how to get HSpace 5 working, instead. Reminder to everyone that Serenity is essentially the 10th character on the show.
5. Guns and stuff could maybe be looked into. While I love digging into the nitty gritty of ships? Guns I would prefer to just be generic. Pistol does x, pistol with mod does x+1... could be cheaper to buy it with the mod already, but no mechanical difference of factory installed vs you doing it. That's just me, and I could take or leave this one either way.

@BlackDahlia said in SerenityMUSH - Discussion:

Unpopular opinion, but kind of enjoyed the coded stuff. It gave more to the story.

I concur. And would love the space code, if nothing else, for other space shenanigans. More later!

I took a glance here earlier, and will do a fancy thing after work if I remember. Whoop.

Double post because I am horrible...

People have mentioned the possibility of rebooting the setting. I would like to add a similar hot button idea to that - upgrading to HSpace 5!

Yeah, I would totally brainstorm alternative money making methods. Coded paychecks if you have npc employment, for one. A pile of money if you're a douchey noble.

I've always thought that some sort of tracker for time spent on things on (or off) screen would be useful, if annoying. I've only seen it implemented in an... okay-way (not perfect, but not terrible) on Shadowrun: Denver. But there is absolutely no way to earn money on that game outside of either going on shadowruns, or being paid by shadowrunners. They also don't track the time put in, so even if you should be busy for a week doing one task, there is no mechanism in place preventing you from doing another task in that time frame*, aside from threat of maybe a slap on the wrist in the event you are caught.

*this is regardless of intent. Doing this on purpose is obviously cheating, but you could do it entirely on accident, too.

Is WWZ closer to book or movie? Because I have some issues with movie logistics.

Crews are actually a pretty convenient way to police alt crossing. It would suck for folks who won't make alts, though. It also presents a problem for new-new players. If I show up with a bunch of folks to make our own crew, yay. If I show up with no one and have to find one? Bleh.

A hiring board and willingness to @teleport folks is key. It would also help incredibly if people would adopt my highlander flashback-style of RP. 'Here is how we met years ago/here is some quick bond-building stuff' instead of just... constant... bar-p. It also fills the time of waiting in the black between planets.

@Jaded At present, I use the keyboard/mouse out of necessity. I have an ooooold flight stick somewhere, from the Mechwarrior 3 years. It's pre-usb (though I have an adaptor (also somewhere)).

I plan on eventually doing the dual stick method instead of hotas, in part because about a third of the time I'm standing and that would muck up the pedal work.

Eh, I probably still have my old Alliance char through merit of never going back to remove the vacation flag. But lazy.

Edit to add: the fact that you guys still run HSpace might actually entice me, since every other space game are run by cowards who hide from flying ships. COWARDS I SAY.

If you steam, Elite Dangerous and its DLC are on sale this weekend for $21(ish) dollars. Join my armada today!

Edit because sale dates.

@TiredEwok said in SerenityMUSH – Still Flyin':

@Jennkryst

Did I stutter?

@icanbeyourmuse said in SerenityMUSH – Still Flyin':

The Firefly verse has cannibals. They are terrors.

Yeah... UNPLAYABLE terrors. Woe.

Can I play a psychic space cannibal?

So I finally got a new, decent-ish gaming laptop and have finally been able to play some of the games I bought and missed out on (and hear the siren song of new games), so that's fun.

Stationeers is early access, but holy shit. I have never played Minecraft, buuuut... it looks Minecrafty. With a graphics update. And everything isn't a cube voxel. And the ideal gas law. And power cables that will melt or catch fire if too many watts go through it (just like the aliminum wiring in my house!). And an explosive decompression... 'cannon', let's say. And... in game logic coding? I... I learned (incredibly basic) assembly language to tell solar panels how to do a semi complicated thing. Just do it already.

Battletech... is a game I kickstarted, played a smol bit of the beta, and when the game released for realsies, just crashed my computer after the intro video. But now that I own a working computer, it is fantastic. My need for a Battletech MU is back again. Get on it, @Thenomain.

Warmachine Tactics I wanted to like. Truly. But they don't have Circle or Tharn for me to run around all cannibalism-y, so. Boo on them. Unless they added that while I wasn't looking.

Osiris New Dawn is... not owned yet, but the siren song is strong. I shall resist. Bloop.