Docking in Design Philosophy

ID:154217
 
Mar 29 2002, 2:24 pm
I have an interesting ship system. There is an inside of the ship. How would I make it so that the ships insides would be created at run-time. Also, how could I use the block command so when I approach a station the entire inside would be moved to a docking port and it would be connected. The insides are about 5 by 5. There are multiple ports and multiple ships. Also I am using Sapphiremagus's system for vehicles.
I am also mystified by the block command. Would that command make it possible to create entire ships and move those ships to the docking area.
here is a sample ship with the station. The ation is on a different z level and so is the ship. In overview there is the one tile ship and a 3 by 3 station. depending on where you press dock on the station you will dock in one of the three docks in the area depending on whether one is in use. Tell me if you need a better description.
#1 Mar 29 2002, 4:23 pm
Exadv1 wrote:
I have an interesting ship system. There is an inside of the ship. How would I make it so that the ships insides would be created at run-time. Also, how could I use the block command so when I approach a station the entire inside would be moved to a docking port and it would be connected. The insides are about 5 by 5.

You can do it, but I would recommend using objs or specialized movable atoms instead of turfs for the ship interior. Using turfs, you would have to create new ship turfs inside the docking bay when the ship is docked, then replace them with the standard station turfs when it leaves. Using objs or movable atoms, you can just move the existing ship interior into place.

I know this doesn't apply to your specifications, but you could even make it so that the collection of atoms that make up the ship travel as a unit carrying mobs inside along with them. Mobs inside could be allowed to see the interior of the ship, while mobs outside would only see the spiffy extrerior. :)

I am also mystified by the block command. Would that command make it possible to create entire ships and move those ships to the docking area.

block() just returns a list of all the turfs within a rectangular block of space. Once you have the list, you could replicate the turfs to the interior of the station, but as I listed above, that would be pretty inefficient.

here is a sample ship with the station. The ation is on a different z level and so is the ship. In overview there is the one tile ship and a 3 by 3 station. depending on where you press dock on the station you will dock in one of the three docks in the area depending on whether one is in use. Tell me if you need a better description.

That's a fine description. It's very possible to do exactly what you are talking about. I've even considered doing it. ;)
#2 Mar 30 2002, 5:05 am
In response to Shadowdarke (#1)
If you do could you send me an example. I may save this project until later. Also I may have docking work by instead of the ship going in the station it just brushes up against the side and a tunnel is created. Would your method produce lag Shadowdarke. I can forsee the ship breaking up unbearably. Nut maybe the new Sync_steps option may help my effort.
#3 Mar 30 2002, 5:18 pm
In response to Exadv1 (#2)
Exadv1 wrote:
If you do could you send me an example.

I won't be doing it anytime soon. I can whip up a little demo if you want, but I have a number of projects going right now. It may be a while before I get to it.

Also I may have docking work by instead of the ship going in the station it just brushes up against the side and a tunnel is created.

This is a much more practical system, since it requires much less building material and eliminates the need to preasurize the dock with a large volume of air. It also makes it less noticable it you teleport players from the dock to the ship and not bother relocating the ship.

Would your method produce lag Shadowdarke. I can forsee the ship breaking up unbearably. Nut maybe the new Sync_steps option may help my effort.

I've used multi-tile speech balloons larger than 5x5 while tesing sd_Text and had no trouble, though there is a small bug that makes the balloon tail move out of synch no matter what size the balloon is. I really need to address that. *adds another item to the list*
#4 Mar 30 2002, 7:14 pm
In response to Shadowdarke (#3)
No actrually there will be no telelporting in the later stages. Could I have a small demo though. What would the demo be exactyly.
The 5x5 ship going inside the station.
or
The 5x5 ship goes near the station. A tube is created and presurrized. (preferred)

Here is what happens. There are three station A,B,C. Lets say ship A is created. Then on a seperate z level(the shiop building level) ships A interior(turfs or objects?) is created. Then it is immediately moved to a dock near station A (however it floats out in space) and a tube is created which conected to the station. Then when you undock the ship destroying the tube you have the option to engage thrusters which packages all the turfs there are packaged or moved to a null location with a variable that has its relative position to the lower left corner of the ship. Then in one ship mod also all mobs/objects become contents too with relative positions also.
Then when you arrive at say Station B you have the option to drift which really recreates the ship in 5x5 mod using relative positions. Then that ship can be flown around that large are all 25 tiles moving in a synchronized motion until you float the outer door near a docking hook up. There the ship can use a docking verb to create a tube connecting the station and the ship.
OR
Just make it so it is always a 5x5 block and have a very large map.
#5 Mar 31 2002, 12:05 am
In response to Exadv1 (#4)
Exadv1 wrote:
No actrually there will be no telelporting in the later stages. Could I have a small demo though. What would the demo be exactyly.
The 5x5 ship going inside the station.
or
The 5x5 ship goes near the station. A tube is created and presurrized. (preferred)

Either way. The theory is the same.

Here is what happens. There are three station A,B,C. Lets say ship A is created. Then on a seperate z level(the shiop building level) ships A interior(turfs or objects?) is created. Then it is immediately moved to a dock near station A (however it floats out in space) and a tube is created which conected to the station. Then when you undock the ship destroying the tube you have the option to engage thrusters which packages all the turfs there are packaged or moved to a null location with a variable that has its relative position to the lower left corner of the ship. Then in one ship mod also all mobs/objects become contents too with relative positions also.

Why store it in Null? What I had in mind was to store it in it's own little map space, so that players could interact inside the ship even while it is cruising. Move into the captain's chair, and your perspective goes from your character to the ship, allowing you to fly the ship wherever you like.

Then when you arrive at say Station B you have the option to drift which really recreates the ship in 5x5 mod using relative positions. Then that ship can be flown around that large are all 25 tiles moving in a synchronized motion until you float the outer door near a docking hook up. There the ship can use a docking verb to create a tube connecting the station and the ship.
OR
Just make it so it is always a 5x5 block and have a very large map.

I probably won't get into anything like that, though the idea about docking in full 5x5 mode sounds fun. The more complex the demo, the less likely it is to see the light of day.


You do realize that if I write this as a demo, it will be freely available to everyone, right? (or maybe a nifty BYONDscape submission. :) )
#6 Mar 31 2002, 9:01 am (Edited on Mar 31 2002, 5:03 pm)
In response to Shadowdarke (#5)
Shadowdarke wrote:
Exadv1 wrote:
No actrually there will be no telelporting in the later stages. Could I have a small demo though. What would the demo be exactyly.
The 5x5 ship going inside the station.
or
The 5x5 ship goes near the station. A tube is created and presurrized. (preferred)

Either way. The theory is the same.

Here is what happens. There are three station A,B,C. Lets say ship A is created. Then on a seperate z level(the shiop building level) ships A interior(turfs or objects?) is created. Then it is immediately moved to a dock near station A (however it floats out in space) and a tube is created which conected to the station. Then when you undock the ship destroying the tube you have the option to engage thrusters which packages all the turfs there are packaged or moved to a null location with a variable that has its relative position to the lower left corner of the ship. Then in one ship mod also all mobs/objects become contents too with relative positions also.

Why store it in Null? What I had in mind was to store it in it's own little map space, so that players could interact inside the ship even while it is cruising. Move into the captain's chair, and your perspective goes from your character to the ship, allowing you to fly the ship wherever you like.
Woops! I completely forgot about that.
Then when you arrive at say Station B you have the option to drift which really recreates the ship in 5x5 mod using relative positions. Then that ship can be flown around that large are all 25 tiles moving in a synchronized motion until you float the outer door near a docking hook up. There the ship can use a docking verb to create a tube connecting the station and the ship.
OR
Just make it so it is always a 5x5 block and have a very large map.

I probably won't get into anything like that, though the idea about docking in full 5x5 mode sounds fun. The more complex the demo, the less likely it is to see the light of day.
If you write the demo base I will expand on it for you. I can not seem to write base code but once I have bae code I will expand it. All I need is code for how to telelport mass amounts of turfs and move them in a synchronized motion. Also I have a ship creation layer but how would I adjust coordinates so I can split that place into sectors.
You may not want to give me a demo for this. Just give me an explanation.
Example:
The whole map is 100x100 (for now). Originally a ship should be created in the top layer (say it is 13). The lower left is where ships are originally created and nothing should stand idle here. Then it is automatically moved by the dock like above. Then, here is the hard part, When you engage thrusters I want to move the turfs to that ship layer(13) and move to a free and open 10x10 area. How would I find an open area without hard coding it so that it would search for an open area and then plot it down. I feel this would be very math heavy. Tell me if you need a detailed explanation.
You do realize that if I write this as a demo, it will be freely available to everyone, right? (or maybe a nifty BYONDscape submission. :) )
I have BYONDScape so that would be alright for me. It would be so good it should be accepted. If you would like you can join my team for developing a game about this. I will get the site posted soon. I am creating it.
http://www.avidgamers.com/exadv/index.php