| Frabby | |||
| System messages which you receive both when jumping into a sytem or when scanning the system fall into three categories. Star systems in the game may have no system message at all, or a combination of some or all of these types. 1. Descriptive messages put in place by the GM (Example from Venice: "The Venice system is comprised of numerous worlds revolving around a class M dwarf star of great age.") 2. Claims, sometimes stating the claiming position, sometimes not (Example from Capellan: "IMP Jax claims this system on behalf of the IMP.") 3. Other information (regulations, advertisement, etc.) (Example from Solo: "Welcome to Solo - Home of the AFT. Visit AFT Ariel on Eridani for all your starship needs! In the Solo system, each affiliation may apply its own laws within the boundaries of its own colonies, starships, ground parties and outposts. No general laws currently apply in Solo, but the Association of Free Traders (AFT) reserves the right to impose any laws it deems necessary to ensure the safety of AFT assets.") I'd like to see a change here. Descriptions are given to a system by the GM and cannot be changed. Not all systems need a description, just those with very obvious anomalies such as binary/trinary stars, protostars, nebulae etc. They should be reported on a system scan, but not neccessarily whenever you jump into the system. System messages are quite a different issue in that they are devised by player action and broadcast throughout the system so that you automatically receive them when entering the system. I suggest to give Command Complexes the ability to broadcast system messages by means of a standard order. Using this order, outposts and starbases can set a message to be broadcast if they are set to Public and have at least one operative command complex. The Public flag is required because the signal can be traced and will invariably give away the location of the base. If anybody is unhappy with the message (esp. system claims) then he could ask the owner of the broadcasting starbase to remove it, he could also destroy the command complex or simply broadcast an additional message himself. An example of how this might look like: Jumping to system Venice (124) The Venice system is comprised of numerous worlds revolving around a class M dwarf star of great age. System Message from DTR New Tate (3201) Signal traced to quadrant/orbital Alpha 1, Cyprus (791), 20-26 This is DTR space and DTR laws apply, make sure to understand and obey. Ignorance is no excuse for breaking the law! Within the confines of DTR law all position may enter this system and travel, trade and explore at will. INDependent positions are illegal unless they have registered with DTR authorities and received a permit! WARNING: Quadrant/orbital Gamma 9 is a Restricted Area! Stay clear at all costs! System Message from IND Bograt Base (12345) Signal traced to quadrant/orbital Alpha 13, Zaro (566), 3-4 Death to the ignorant DTR! I claim this system for Bograt Enterprises. All trespassers face gruesome death! An alternative suggestion would be to tie the message to any position instead of one with command complexes. I believe this would be far more difficult to code in, but it would also allow starships to be "public" (sensor opaque) and emit system-wide messages, such as a distress call. | |||
| Andy | |||
| I like this idea a lot. It solves a number of issues : 1. The "system claim" can be counter claimed but in order to do so you are going to have to have sufficient assets in order to defend the counter claim. 2. Starbases wishing to advertise their specific markets can do so. The location data will also aid starcaptains finding the market in question. The message from command centre is a great idea as well as it should only be a starbase or outpost that can transmit the data constantly for long period of times. Ships should not be able to do this otherwise the game will be flooded with messages which will just get unmanageable and annoying. Andy | |||
| Mayhew | |||
| I like the idea, but some sort of restriction needs to be considered. Certain systems can give rise to a lot of messages, for example Yank can become annoying to jump into with all Starbases broadcasting various trade messages. | |||
| kerryh | |||
I like this idea a lot. It's a wonderful solution to the system message & claim issues. | |||
| kerryh | |||
Not that annoying. It would give Yank and certain other systems more of a 'busy'/'center of commerce' feel to them I think. | |||
| Andy | |||
| System Claims and counter claims should always be at the top when you scan the system. If there is an order which is "claim system" with a check box for remove claim then it could be programmed that these messages always get put at the start of the system scan. There also needs to be a message associated with the system claim to identify the laws of the system etc. Other messages can then be put out by other starbases to advertise markets. Perhaps a maximum of 5 messages can be received for any one scan. These would then rotate if there were more than 5 messages. Andy | |||
| Rob Alexander | |||
| This sounds like a very good idea. All I'd add is that it needs to be clearly formatted so as to be legible - suitably indented, some kind of divider between each message etc. rob | |||
| Andy | |||
How do we stop the unscrupulous market traders using a claim system and adding a message to promote their starbase? Apart from the Photon Gun that is? |