Messages

[Sarcasm on]
If i cannot exchange the rims on my car, which i bought because i really like it,
then i just don't drive my car anymore, because now i hate it.
[Sarcasm off]

If you go to your local supermarket tomorrow, you also do not know about the exact
prices there, before you arrive, do you stop going there then?
You do know the rough pricerange, sure, but that is the same in VE.

Let's say you arrive in a system with 3 stations, press a button and a window pops up.
In it, you see all prices of all stuff you can buy at all three stations.
Even though in a VE-reality, it would be pretty probable to have such a system,
where is the adventure in VE as a game if you had such a system? Where is the risk?

You almost certainly would end up calculating all in advance, fly to a a neighbouring system to see,
what the prices are -there, then fly back, only to find out the prices have already changed again,
rinse and repeat...

About trading ships... That would probably require some big codechanges, as we cannot even "carry" them in
our cargohold, and if we could, then we all would surely have at least three, one big, slow trader,
one fast agile hunter and one ship that can do a bit of both hunting and trading.

Then, as needed, we just switch at the next station if a quest or a system is too difficult or something like that.
That would kinda ruin the gamemechanics, would you not agree?

Just don't jump onto the hyped pixelated train 
I am ooold and had to live through that time, i do not want to suffer again.
Retro-graphics isn't fun, it is just plain ugly.
[Whimpering mode off]

One idea would be to create a new game within the lore of the old game.
Like... A roleplaying game based inside the Expanse,
or at a time before it all happened (a prequel so to speak)

We fly around in early versions of the ships we know plus some "new" ones,
then actually land in stations and on planets, disembark and run about with
characters we created and also some who joined us, solve quests and puzzles and
do tactical combat. Which is done in a roundbased system, everything else is in real time.

Perspective is topdown so it would be in line with existing (and new) assets, resources and
won't alienate so easily the existing community.

The ships we use to travel cannot be customized so much anymore, because they are more or less
only a way to travel now, instead we can find (or mine) resources from planets and asteroids and
built items for our characters from that.

Combat could also be in real time, then you could probably keep the whole movement-system and
just enhance it for walking mode or so. This would be though a storydriven game where we talk
to many people so the dialoguesystem should be solid.

And the name of the game will be "void not yet expansed" 

Gladly so. The firmware of your modem is outdated and VE does not support windows 2.0. 

And optionally the 3d animated head could be replaced by a picture-portrait,
so we can look like our most liked spacepilot from StarTrekWars

I do see a problem though if we have some sort of "self" waving and
taunting about. Because it will look at the person in front of the screen,
there is a significant danger for an identitycrisis!
Is my subconscious -self- flying the ship?
Am i insulting myself?
Who IS that idiot in the portrait that -again- smashed MY (his? ours?)
ship against that darn asteroid?

So additionally to such a portrait, we need a psychiatrist in those stations,
where we can go to to solve such a Crisis...and behold, -there- is also then
our much needed moneysink

*smiles*
What we really need is Content, not fancy-flashy-shiny cover-ups
of systems that would need much work to change to something nicer
while their function is at 100% already.

*grins* Well, i guess i was wrong about the purpose of this thread

Pinkeh, I don't get it, why quit modding altogether?
You know of course that you can release mods on other
sites than the steamworkshop.

I do not know how it would work on Apple or Linux
I am using VoidExpanse v1.29 and windows 7
(It might be useful to install games NOT in C:\program files as especially windows
can be an OS in the arm regarding accessibility, hiding important things from the user.)

This is how i did it:
1. make a copy of the WHOLE gamefolder (its just 500 mb or so)

2. rename that folder in a way that you know its the server-version of the game
    (VoidExpanseServer as an example)

3. copy all mods (MPK files) that you want to use to the VoidExpanseServer\Server_dotNET folder

4a. start VoidExpanse.Server.exe in the VoidExpanseServer\Server_dotNET folder

or, if you want to start a dedicated server
4b. make a shortcut to the VoidExpanse.Server.exe in the VoidExpanseServer\Server_dotNET folder file
      and add "--dedicated" (without the quotes) to the Target-line, then use that shortcut to start the server

On my machine it then looks like this:
G:\!_games\steamapps\common\VoidExpanseServer\Server_dotNET\VoidExpanse.Server.exe --dedicated

5. you can replace the VoidExpanseServer\Server_dotNET\ServerIcon.png thumbnail with one of your own,
     that then appears in the serverlisting. It should (i think) also be 128x128 pixels big

6. you can edit VoidExpanseServer\Server_dotNET\SettingsServer.xml to change settings for your server

7. forward port UDP 5000 in your router to be accessible from the internet

8. join your server as you would join any multiplayerserver

And yes, it is VERY badly explained in the wiki

[Sillyness on]
Easy Solution: Don't fight and loot! ;P
[Sillyness off]

[Sarcasm on]
Can we please have a real autolootfeature where the ship automatically
gathers any resources that fly around and dumps (also automatically of course)
those that are the least worth from both the floating container and
the cargohold?
[Sarcasm off]

[Constructive Criticism on]
Those containers never vanish until you exit the game.
So you could just focus on fighting, then later gather them all.
They would still block your path regarding movement and weapons though.
(personally, i would like that they explode when being rammed. the crates, not the ships )
You also can press space, as far as i know, it has the same "take all and close window"-function.
[Constructive Criticism off]

Hammish, thank you for the notes about randomization
Hm, in real life, we have gas stations now that sell bread
and flowers and all sorts of stuff, but... no cars

Personally, if i were (able) to make such a mod as you described,
i would go all the way and (if possible) make a new station,
for hulls only, maybe that also would result in more freedom
filling it with proper items/controlling what can be bought there.

So you would have to fly to a shipyard in freedom space to be able
to buy a freedom-y shiphull as an example.

Welcome
Good points, here a few remarks:
In time you will know at least to which shipclass a possbile target belongs.

The agressionrating of a system kinda lets you know what to expect,
He who mines in an AR-Level 50 system with a shuttle and dies had it coming anyways ;P
A good addition would be a small little HUD addon which simply reads the hulltype and/or
name of the locked target.

By the time you get the big radars, your radar/minimap will be full of dots that are near
each other so it could be usful to have some indicator which dot you locked on to.
On the other hand, if it is an enemy and it is coming for you, you dont have much time left anyways,
especially not in a dedicated mining vessel.
If it is not an enemy or one that doesn't come for you, its (as of now) not really important, is it?

Still, the more advanced radarsystems could have some sort of colourcoding, like this:
Civilian ship = Blue Dot
Any ship of a faction you joined = Green Dot
Enemy ship (stationary or patrolling) = Red Dot
Enemy ship, hunting you = blinking Red Dot

It also would help if the dots scale down with a bigger radar-range.

Yes, pretty much all of the negative reviews on steam speak about
a lack of content, while at the same time praising the
framework/game/base itself

I am a great (and old) fan of the classic Elite and even though
VE is not quite there yet, it is my greatest hope that someday
it has become a 3d top-down version of it.

I mean that threads like this one can be counterproductive to a games succes.
And, no offense to the opening poster, such questions in the end are not
very useful really.

When it is a success, we all know because we get more and continued
development of the game in question. If it is not a success, we also know.
The only party who could truthfully answer that question is
the producer of the game anyways.

(By the wayside: what does "m/" mean?)

What if it does not work?

Is there ANY remote chance at all of making the whole thing
available as open source, so others can work on it,
instead of it being buried in the dust?

Also, GOG does not -only- have old games and generally
i would say it has also a bigger
"lets support the underdog"-user-base.

Don't misunderstand me though, i rather pay for games that are developed
at least to a complete state than go for half-developed, but cheaper/free games.

I also think topics as these should not exist,
not in these days, where (exagerrated) one post on twitter can decide
on the sucess or doom of a movie or game.

All hail the A-Team! 

And for all those with ATSIDD
(Atomit Torch Studios Information Deficit Disorder):

http://atomictorch.com/

There is a bloh...blooo...blog!

My apologies, what i meant was "trader with no life and OCD issues"