With TWX BBS 1.0-alpha-1 out the door, I'm wondering what are some ideas for server-side scripts? Assume that an API is available for TEdit modifications, as I hope to add that to the next release and any truly interesting scripts would need it. My ideas:

1. ZTM replay option in the computer menu, straight data streaming would be orders of magnitudes faster than a native ZTM
2. Investment bank at stardock, possibly borrowing ideas from BRE and SRE with fixed-time investments
3. Random encounters for aliens. Could include dialog, trades, or quests.
4. Trader skills like navigation (more turns), fighting (better fig odds), or trading (better haggling bonuses)
5. Expanded fedspace where planets, mines, and fighters aren't allowed
6. New tradeable items at ports

Any other ideas?

Are you proposing that basically you provide a 100% ZTM and thereby eliminate that requirment (running a ZTM) from the game? This would have a major impact on a couple of areas in the game that players currently have to put some effort into.

Just curious also about the goal of expanding fedspace - that will have a negative impact on reds, esp in a turn game or game with ship delay.

               / Promethius / Enigma / Wolfen /

"A man who has no skills can be taught, a man who has no honor has nothing."

That's correct. Basically, the sysop would run a ztm, capture the output to a file, then the script would add a menu option in the in-game computer menu to replay that text. That should be enough to populate your helper's db, but run much, much faster

Well, you could also use it to create a dmz area, say, two hops from fedspace or between fedspace and sd. That shouldn't favor either side.

Do you know how providing 100% ZTMs this way would impact the game, and possibly in a negative way?

The "dmz" is not the issue, it is the burning of extra turns and time lag in ship delay move that the expanded area would create. Blues simply twarp direct to terra. Not sure how that wouldn't favor the blues. An example would be: A red in a 3 TPW ship requires 6 turns to move two sectors - now expand fed out 2-3 more and you are now burning 6-9 more turns. In a ship move delay game, you have also increased the time to make those moves.

               / Promethius / Enigma / Wolfen /

"A man who has no skills can be taught, a man who has no honor has nothing."

In a game I just banged Prom, I have a DMZ at backdoors to dock and terra, but the script is smart enough to allow a single toll fig... could be modified as desired by the sysop... there is demiliterized and then there is demiliterized.

Personally, I would love to see somethign that prevented limpets from being deployed below a certain sector number.

For some reason not all games have a backdoor to terra. I had always thought that was hardcoded into the game, but I have ran into a lot of them that don't (and some have two backdoors). I don't know if it is a glitch or some kind of setting (which I haven't found in T-Edit).

               / Promethius / Enigma / Wolfen /

"A man who has no skills can be taught, a man who has no honor has nothing."

All of those ideas try to bias the game towards builders. You might want to rethink the balance of these things.

Ironically tho a 100% ztm could be used to lock down the game in a matter of hours instead of days w/ the right players at the helm. It will be fun to watch how all of this gets turned on it's head.

Yes. I agree about the 100% ztm. The players that know how to grid out strategic areas and dead ends quickly, would definitely have a hugh advantage.

Great, so what ideas do you have? I gave my off-the-cuff ideas of ways to use server-side scripting to do things you can't today, but surely an experienced player like yourself will have a plethora of better ideas...let's hear them

Hahahaha... dangerous.

Ok. Should be good for some laffs.

Timed game close - Game is automatically closed when V=x.

Supernova bombs - Buy em at dock, get the ship into a sector, xport out, at extern... blamo, entire sector is navhaz (ships, planets, traders, ports, all gone).

Neutron bombs - Similar, but the radiation only effects colos on unshielded planets. All gone, poof.

Negative energy devices - Launch them into a sector w/ cannons and it'll absorb all cannon fire for a preset amount of time (like photons).

Warp cube - Strange device bends reality in a sector, randomly changing it's warps. At extern.

Wormhole - Some sectors end up randomly warping you to another sector, like an unpredictable 1-way.

Turn market - Buy and sell your turns to other players, base price on a market model (increase price if nobody wants to sell, decrease if nobody wants to buy sold turns, etc).

Zyrain ferry - For starting (fedsafe and low fig) players you could summon zyrain to tow you to stardock from terra.

Port towing - Lock on and tow a port of your choice to another sector. Perhaps w/ someone still on it... lol.

Stardock revenge - If you ever blow stardock, dock holds a grudge. Every time you try to port/dock it'll shoot at you instead.

Hitmen - You can buy a hitman at dock in the underground. Costs vary based on various elements. Enemy ports someplace like dock, terra, or perhaps a random port (any random port event) and the hitman will try to kill them. If successful their ship ends up uninhabited just floating there and they're #SD# for the day. If unsuccessful, he gets caught and tells them who placed the hit. You could also bribe him and place a counter hit if you have enough money on you.

The "off-the-cuff" ideas are what will cause problems. On the outside eliminating the time required to perform a ZTM sounds like a good idea, but when you get into the idea a bit and know how it would be exploited by experienced players you might see that it might not be as good as it sounds.

Adding new products to ports would crash every script that is out that PPTs, steals, or negotiates. Making a port that sells something new sounds good, but then the players have to have updated scripts and helpers (except Zoc maybe) - guess who will have those first if they aren't provided by the Op? Althought, I'm not sure how many script writers will be making changes unless the front end gains major acceptance, and even then there is the possible problem of performance in regard to 3rd party scripts.

As for ideas on using server side scripting, I fail to see much of anything that would not change the game.

And Sing, I really hope you had a designated driver for the ride from the bar tonight.

               / Promethius / Enigma / Wolfen /

"A man who has no skills can be taught, a man who has no honor has nothing."

Of course server-side scripting would change the game; anything the sysop does "changes" the game from tedit scripts to gold edits to the turns setting to a slow server. If you like playing stock games, great, stick to what works for you. If, however, you think TradeWars should evolve over time, then it is going to need to "change". The interesting bit from evolutionary theory is there is no single direction evolution takes, but millions of little directions, some of which succeed where as most dead-end. In the same way, if TradeWars the game is going to continue evolve like it has on the helper front, then we need new ideas and people to give them a go. Some ideas will stick but most won't. The point is, you get no where if you just stick your head in the sand.

Hahaha. Would rock tho, wouldn't it? Make all these edits that make farming completely useless. Like a plague ship, if it docks at terra it kills all the colos there... lol. The irony is delicious.



Yeh but that's a bad analogy. Evolution is a natural process, coding doesn't just happen on it's own. It all goes to intent, ppl can interject their own intent into these things instead of aiming for balance.

Lots of little changes mean that everyone has their own version of the game. That's, historically, been the biggest argument against an open source version of the game. Chaos is not good for these sorts of things.

Now for some of my ideas. No doubt less extreme than Sings suggestions. lol

1) Stardock defense level can be set by the sysop.
2) Option to set maximum experience level for fed safe players.
3) Option to protect fed safe players in major space lanes as well as federation space.
4) Options to open & close games at a designated time and date.
5) Truce Options - The following conditions can be set by the sysop for a designated amount of time.
a) No one is able to attack other ships or traders.
b) Planet quasar cannons won't fire and interdictors on planets and ships are unavailable.
c) An enemy can't land on a planet once it is claimed by a player or corporation.
d) One fighter maximim in sectors with more than 2 warps and where no planet is present.
e) No fighters, mines, or planets can be deployed in major space lanes, around
or in federation space, or around or in class 0 ports.
f) Ports in federation space, major space lanes, and class 0 ports are invincable.

Note the word "Options". It should be up to the sysop to configure the settings.

Big D ;

I can whip out this one based off of SO_Truce_Processor

Most of these are in the Truce_Processor and the rest in SO_Fed_Sentry

A - is done
B - ship part done
C - If level 2 ships w/o figs can't land, so this is done too.
D - no ship has figs , making this moot.
E - cept for the MSL thing , this too is done by the Sentry script.
F - that part would take work before edit is brought online.

Good Ideas there Big D ... and very playable if I say so myself.