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Blackspace: Exploration Edition

DarkUnderlord

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http://rpgcodex.net/blackspace/

Your goal: Find a location that you would call "home". Ideally it needs to be near a rich set of resources, they are:

A habitable Earth-like planet (cheaper and easier to build on).
Gas Clouds (rich in Gas, Chemicals).
Asteroid Fields (rich in Ore, Minerals).​

While you go, do systems / arrangement of planets and such feel right?

Also please note any bugs / errors.

At the moment, warp is set to 1 by default, which is not going to be normal for space exploration (normal will be 7-9) - but I want to see how it performs on the server and signify the distance between planets / stars etc... Jump Gates, Wormholes and such (ref other thread in this forum) will reduce the clicking between systems in the actual game.

If you want to change warp, simply enter: http://rpgcodex.net/blackspace/?warp=9
9 can be any number between 1 - 9.
 
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LundB

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Are there vast incomprehensible horrors of an alien and multi-headed dong nature drifting through the void of space for people to encounter?
 

Wild Slop

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I don't see how to build on the Earth like looking planets I find. Is the point now just to see if it feels right?

As a player of the last Black Space it feels ok. I like the long range and mid range scanner window thing you have going on.


The planets that appear Earth like are within a certain range of a sun & in blue planet zones, while the ones on the outskirts appear barren* (as well as and sunless planets outside the blue zones). Feels good.
Some large Earth looking planets being one square next to a sun may feel just a bit too close but maybe that's nitpicky.

Though I've seen numerous planets within a few squares of a given sun, I haven't yet seen one that appears Earth like outside of an area that is a blue zone.
But I don't know what to make of that I can't determine what can be settled or mined and the like.



I found a black hole yippie!


*exception found.
 
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DarkUnderlord

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Are there vast incomprehensible horrors of an alien and multi-headed dong nature drifting through the void of space for people to encounter?
No. It's mainly to test the random generator, both in terms of what it's generating and system performance. Once I get this working satisfactorily, then I'll move on to actually being able to do shit.

While you go, do systems / arrangement of planets and such feel right?
No
Any details on this would be great. There are certain things I check for and other things I deliberately don't, which may result in strange and wonderful combinations that also might be weird. I'm working out if it is or isn't a problem.

But I don't know what to make of that I can't determine what can be settled or mined and the like.
If it looks like Earth - blue with forest, it can be settled (or will be able to be, right now it just generates and you can fly, nothing else is in).

Gas Giants can be mined for Gas.
Rocky planets can be mined for Minerals.
Asteroid Fields and Gas Clouds can also be mined.
Stars cannot be mined.

The ideal settlement would be one or more Earth-like planets with Gas Clouds, Asteroid Fields and a variety of planets (Rocky, Ice and Gas) nearby.
 

Ranselknulf

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It would be easier to test if the warp speed was increased and / or auto navigate could be engaged.

Ie.. enter (x,y) coordinate and watch ship travel.
 
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The arrangement of stuff doesn't feel right. I found 5 stars all within 2 or 3 squares of each other.
 

DarkUnderlord

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Get some keybinds in this shit yo.
'k

The arrow keys and keypad (with or without numlock) is (or should be) your friend.

And yes, all new players start at 0, 0. I am tracking which direction people head off in and who is exploring what where. So far the great explorers are:

Systems Discovered - Captain (Ship)
1,500 - Early Bird (machte diversity)
274 - DarkUnderlord (Lothaudus)
232 - Old Soggylegs (The Unbelievable Faggot)
167 - Pipeweed (FriendshipisMagic)
71 - Stellarchippy (bagofpotatoes)
70 - Peter Lelland (Red Byrd)
1 - Japp (Starship Enterpliance)​

The arrangement of stuff doesn't feel right. I found 5 stars all within 2 or 3 squares of each other.
Read up on your space shit you all systems only have a single star heathen: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_star_systems

So yes, this is by design. I've tried to create systems that reflect a range of different stages of life, from newly born systems to dying ones. Someone who has a degree in astronomy may disagree though and I would welcome their input.
 
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Read up on your space shit you all systems only have a single star heathen: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_star_systems

Yeah, I'm aware that systems don't all have one star but when the first thing I saw was 5 stars next to each other I thought something was up.

I've tried to create systems that reflect a range of different stages of life, from newly born systems to dying ones.
How will they be placed? Will we be able to find dying systems close to new ones?
 

DarkUnderlord

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aleph

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The arrangement seems okay to me, clusters of stuff and vast empty spaces between is intentional, I guess. But why are gas clouds(?) green and planets purple? The color scheme would make more sense if you switch those.
 

DarkUnderlord

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The arrangement seems okay to me, clusters of stuff and vast empty spaces between is intentional, I guess.
Yeah. Distance is intended to be a huge issue which technology will overcome.

Map of the Known Universe
knownuniverse.png


Systems Discovered - Captain (Ship)
1,500 - Early Bird (machte diversity)
525 - Pipeweed (FriendshipisMagic)
379 - dfd (gdfg)
341 - DarkUnderlord (Lothaudus)
232 - Old Soggylegs (The Unbelievable Faggot)
142 - Japp (Starship Enterpliance)
119 - Peter Lelland (Red Byrd)
71 - Stellarchippy (bagofpotatoes)
21 - Aleph (ALETTA)
11 - Piety (Choad Reaver)
11 - Zewp (Starship Faggotpride)
3 - Xeno (The Blazing Saddle)​

But why are gas clouds(?) green and planets purple? The color scheme would make more sense if you switch those.
'k

So far it's generating what I've designed with no real surprises. Undecided on planets right next to Stars and Stars right next to each other (as in, literally in the sector next door) but it's rare enough that I don't mind it. Distribution of planet types seems to be good, though I've just dropped the chance on nebulae - because it's creating a few too close to each other. Not quite everything has been generated yet, so there are still some surprises but I've got enough data now that doing the math on the possibility of those special things appearing seems to confirm their rarity is ok.

I set the max warp at 50 now too, but you'll have to manually set it in the URL.
 

Wild Slop

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I like seeing multi-star star systems but yes depending on the placement of one too many it feels strange. Same with planets being directly adjacent to the sun, there was the one instance where I saw a particularly large Earth like one next to a star and it looked odd.

I take it the Yellow zones to represent a star system with no Earth like planets. Saying that with nothing of substance to add at the moment other than when hunting for a home seeing that yellow blip on the radar meant keep going.

How about moons and moons with Earth like conditions for a possible addition?

Asteroid belts. The random blotches asteroids are fine but maybe they could also sometimes appear around systems in rings. If this might mess with resource allocation perhaps the asteroids in a belt could be more likely to yield far less.
 
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DarkUnderlord

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I like seeing multi-star star systems but yes depending on the placement of one too many it feels strange. Same with planets being directly adjacent to the sun, there was the one instance where I saw a particularly large Earth like one next to a star and it looked odd.
Yeah, I'll fix that.

I take it the Yellow zones to represent a star system with no Earth like planets. Saying that with nothing of substance to add at the moment other than when hunting for a home seeing that yellow blip on the radar meant keep going.
Pretty much. Though "fuel" is a concept I'm toying with so eventually, Star Systems will be a great place for Solar powered craft to quickly re-charge, especially with multiple Stars. Otherwise you will have to mine resources and refine fuel (at a previously established and sufficiently advanced Planet or Station) as you go. The idea is to limit endless exploration without leaving a trail of Stations that others could use to track you (unless you use shitty Solar power, so there'll be pros and cons).

And yes, this means that should you fuck up, getting stranded in space with no power to get you home is a possibility.

How about moons and moons with Earth like conditions for a possible addition?
Both exist in terms of "small planets" but aren't placed any differently at the moment. I'll make some changes to Planet and Star placement so that small moons are actually found around other Planets.

Asteroid belts. The random blotches asteroids are fine but maybe they could also sometimes appear around systems in rings. If this might mess with resource allocation perhaps the asteroids in a belt could be more likely to yield far less.
Yeah, one thing I did shy away from was making Oort clouds around all the Systems. In real life, there are enough resources on any one planet or within any single system to last quite some time but... that's no fun from a game perspective. From a game view, it's more a case those objects are there but they have insufficient resources to be worth showing. Yeah.

I'll work on tweaking the Asteroid Field algorithm though and see about making full circles.

what constitutes a 'discovery' of a star system? do i just have to see it on the long-range map, or actually enter it?
Just on the map - as long as you're the first person's map it appeared on. As you fly around, I check the space around you and determine if it's unexplored or not. If it is, it calls the generator which then decides what should be there, if anything. At that point, we create the Systems and then save the details of who triggered the generation. If I up the range on the Long-Range Scanner you can actually see Systems popping into existence as they're generated.

Planets themselves will eventually be "discovered" by the first person to land on them... but that's not in yet. That way I differentiate between the person who just did a fly-by and the person who actually bothered to stop by and explore a bit. I'm thinking there may be a piece of equipment you need, like "Surveying" equipment which you use on the Planet to trigger it, which will also tell you details about that Planet / Star (Minerals and such).
 

DarkUnderlord

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Working on Asteroid Belts... Wild Slop is this what you had in mind?

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Currenty that's drawing random arcs around the gravitational centre of the System. Works well with lots of objects, not so effective with just a few.
 

Wild Slop

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Yeah, looks real good & that solar power thing sounds good too.

Like you were saying about the Moons and Oort clouds
From a game view, it's more a case those objects are there but they have insufficient resources to be worth showing.
...that's nicely put and it occurred to me as possibly being nitpickey when writing what you responded to, but yeah even so, those are some sweet arcs I see above. Can asteroid fields still be found in lovely blobs outside of star systems?

Extra little graphic icons placed in certain areas could spruce thing up. The different space background tiles are nice for example. This is going to start sounding like I'm obsessed with rings; Do you have any graphic icons of Saturn like ringed planet icons?
 

aleph

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An idea for a bit later later in the development process: Gas clouds could contain all sorts of exotic stuff or rare resources but travel through them could require some special engine or fuel. So you have to do an extra investment but have the chance to gain something valuable out of it. Maybe players are also required to specialize, one focuses on planet exploitation, another on asteroid mining, a third on gas cloud exploration. Or something like this.
 

DarkUnderlord

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Can asteroid fields still be found in lovely blobs outside of star systems?
Yes. At the moment, I randomly pick between the two methods. So sometimes you get some arcs mixed in with some blobs. Some Systems end up very arc-like, others not so much. Variety-wise it seems to be giving a good spread.

I am a little concerned about planets appearing in the middle of Asteroid Fields but aren't too worried about it for now to re-work it. If I work on a standard circular orbit than everything should be at different ranges from the centre - but you can get some weird orbits apparently, so figure the randomness isn't a huge issue. Though I do have a "Goldilocks" zone now, meaning habitable planets should be a bit rarer.

Extra little graphic icons placed in certain areas could spruce thing up.
Anything in mind? Player built structures are yet to come in so Jump Gates, Stations and Mines should be fairly common.

Do you have any graphic icons of Saturn like ringed planet icons?
No, I don't. Finding ringed planets that I could use that weren't just the same Saturn shot over and over again was insanely hard. I'd look to replace all the Planet images with some decently made ones at some point, and throw some in with rings to mix it up. Especially for the Gas Giants.

An idea for a bit later later in the development process: Gas clouds could contain all sorts of exotic stuff or rare resources but travel through them could require some special engine or fuel. So you have to do an extra investment but have the chance to gain something valuable out of it.
Ships in general will need to specialise at least somewhat. In terms of Class selection, which will determine speed and other things. You'll have to balance at least a bit between getting there quickly (Warp Drives and such) vs having the right equipment and enough cargo holds to save needless trips back and forth.

Maybe players are also required to specialize, one focuses on planet exploitation, another on asteroid mining, a third on gas cloud exploration. Or something like this.
There will be different mining drills that work better on certain Resources than others (bonus Ore etc...). And Asteroid / Gas Fields have a random chance to "downgrade". Originally I had a set amount per field but that meant millions of table rows which were mostly unnecessary. Instead, fields will have a random chance to "downgrade" based on the tools you're using. Meaning if you want the most Resources out of a field, you'll want the best equipment. Plus you can totally troll other people's fields by mining them inefficiently.
 

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