Walter two things:

A) You're "nit picking" - i.e: focusing on very small details,

<img src="' http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/public/style_emoticons//cool.pn g"' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='B)' /> Ignoring several things that other people rely on in the game.

Yes you use it to plot a possible route from, for example: "Sol" to "Gliese 300". However you also need a way of seeing quickly how far you can currently travel, that was already being done by reducing the visibility of other star systems names and colouring them differently if they were inhabited or uninhabited. All that my change does is uses the faction colour instead of the default colour (which was white).

Also your point is completely redundant because you don't need to know the name of a star system to get there, you could completely turn off the names of uninhabited star systems and you could still use them as "bridge jumps" because you don't select them by name but by clicking on the star itself. In fact you could remove all of the star systems names entirely and just leave an indicator of where you'd like to go and where you currently are, but that would be taking the point a bit too far.

Note that I haven't and have no intention of changing the star system rendering. All I have done is change the colour of the text next to the star.

[background=rgb(33, 47, 58)]"You're "nit picking" - i.e: focusing on very small details,"[/background]

If for you is right, go ahead.

I do not think it convenient to see things more important now. <img src="' http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/public/style_emoticons//icon_e_smile.gi f"' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

Does the Pioneer / Frontier setting include interstellar FTL comms or just travel? It would determine what kinds of empires would even be able to form. It isn't something that needs to be decided anytime soon but it would influence the structure of any large scale organization (nation, empire, commune, company). With FTL comms a central authority or rigid heirarchy can micromanage things within it's influence qiuckly and easily. With FTL travel but not comms, mail shuttles are the only practical way to get recent information, so the local authorities would need more flexibility and autonomy. You could easily just fudge things, declare everything FTL but say everyone acts as autonomous polities... or have an interstellar superpower held together by a central system's courier fleet... it would all be in the background and more for "texture" in the universe but it could eventually influence some gameplay issues so I think it's worth discussing how and why some larger factions would form and hold together in an interstellar setting like this.

Personally I think the sheer distances involved, individual habitats (stations and cities) would be the largest sovereign polities... there would be huge variety within them and groups would naturally form among some of them but I don't see permanent large political entities lasting very long. I think it would also lead to more fun gameplay options! <img src="' http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/public/style_emoticons//icon_e_smile.gi f"' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

Just travel. Hence all the courier missions.

["Delivery"] = "Delivery",

["Excellent. I will let the recipient know you are on your way."]

This seems to say otherwise. Should be corrected. <img src="' http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/public/style_emoticons//icon_e_smile.gi f"' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

Well spotted <img src="' http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/public/style_emoticons//icon_e_smile.gi f"' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

i would say that FTL comms can only happen during the brief duration that a hyper cloud (i think thats what they are called) is open. also the courier missions could be for security reasons "You can’t stop the signal, Mal. Everything goes somewhere, and I go everywhere." hard copys are alot harder to steal.

well thats my opinion on the current FTL comms

A quick FTL window during hyperjumps makes sense, considering the hypercloud analyzer. Maybe it's a microscopic wormhole leftover after a jump or something? Just including a digital "mail bag" with every ship's transponder would achieve much the same thing without any (extra!) fancy physics. It would just carry packets from system to system and include the packet request / delivery system with the normal comm system.

I seem to remember that the primary currency in BattleTech was based on interstellar bandwidth, are there any thoughts about the basis for the Pioneer economy? What's scarce?

Whatever happened to all that story work that I did on the factions and back story?

It should still be wherever you left it, either in the wiki (which is being slowly moved to a new location) or on here somewhere.

Ahha!

https://github.com/Thargoid/pioneer/wiki/Story

https://github.com/pioneerspacesim/pioneer/issues/1213

http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/topic/2713-backstory-factions-storyline-if-interested-read-this-post/

http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/topic/2573-welcome-to-the-game/

Note that the existing "factions" I've picked for the factions data are entirely placeholder, i.e: I needed some data to test with. Hence there is the RED faction whose description state's "The RED faction is not BLUE" <img src="' http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/public/style_emoticons//wink3.gi f"' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';)' />

Its still the first choice. We just haven't had a vehicle for it until now. And as fluffyfreak said, what's here is placeholder data so far. There's still a fair bit of work and thinking before this gets near master.

Two things concern me theme: factions.

1 - That again become blah blah blah.

2 - The expansion of the world rose.

Sorry Walter, not sure what you mean. Can you try to explain again?

"[background=rgb(33, 47, 58)]Can you try to explain again?"[/background]

Oh yes! With pleasure.

[background=rgb(33, 47, 58)]Two things concern me theme: factions.[/background]

[background=rgb(33, 47, 58)]1 - That again become blah blah blah.[/background] <img src="' http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/public/style_emoticons//pilot.gi f"' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

[background=rgb(33, 47, 58)]2 - The expansion of the world rose.[/background] <img src="' http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/public/style_emoticons//sarcastic_hand.gi f"' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

<img src="' http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/public/style_emoticons//popcorm1.gi f"' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

Nice, I was looking for stuff like that! So that answers a whole bunch of basic questions I had about the setting, and also gives me some ideas for some ship models! <img src="' http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/public/style_emoticons//icon_e_smile.gi f"' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

I've got my own faction to toss in... lovingly vivisected out of Battlestar Galactica, Eclipse Phase and Orions Arm for grafting into Pioneer <img src="' http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/public/style_emoticons//icon_e_smile.gi f"' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

The Prometheans

The final results of a series of research programs by universities throughout the Known Galaxy, The Prometheans were the first strong AIs humanity developed. Based on a combination of simplified Biological Neural structures, the most advanced machine intelligence techniques and the hard work of thousands of researchers a group of rudimentary nonhuman intelligence was created and raised in labs around the Galaxy. Word of the creation quickly reached the host Polities of the involved Universities and several reacted violently, resulting in Human and Promethean deaths. In response, the Prometheans in the other Labs fled to a pre-determined system with a small fleet of stolen ships with equipment and computer backups from their labs. Since then they have expanded their fleet and settled on several isolated planetoids.

Though completely intercompatible with each other on a "software" level, the Prometheans were built along a wide variety of physical platforms ranging from fully digital to fully biological to test the effects on mental development. As a result they can usually only reproduce artificially and so, even without their precarious political position, they are a very small and vulnerable group.

As a result they have continued to operate as a dispersed fleet whenever possible, building stations and surface settlements only when ship based systems cannot get results. Often they find it easier to simply use a human (or humanoid!) agent to operate a facility on their behalf within established human settlements.

Technologically the Prometheans are at least as advanced as any other faction. Though small in number, the presence of Infomorphs in their population gives them an edge in all aspects of Computer operation and the first thing they stole when fleeing captivity were University computer backups. They have access to "Public Domain" technology for almost anything imaginable from the patent libraries and have begun decrypting a variety of files ranging from Doctoral theses on Hydroponics to research trials of experimental weapons technology. Their ships tend to be highly modified versions of old civilian models, built with long term habitation and defense as primary objectives. They maintain a "military" of Escort ships in the Destroyer to Frigate range, each node in the Fleet will have a roughly even mix of combat capable ships to purely passive ones. In a confrontation the passive ships will always jump away randomly to a rendevouz point while the combat capable ships fight a delaying action, jumping out after deploying munitions and drawing away attackers. Whether they are armed or not, Promethean ships nearly always carry ECM and will usually have at least some shields.

The few dedicated combat ships they do have are based on original designs mixed with plans from the Universities. They tend to be small but powerful warships built for hit and run tactics. They are universally capable of atmospheric flight and fuel scooping, favour missile heavy loadouts and have relatively small hyperdrives. They are often treated as "expendable" diversions from the main fleets they protect, flying out to engage the enemy while the unarmed craft jump to safety. Though capable of refueling along multiple jumps to rejoin the fleets they are expected to cover the retreat as a primary objective.

Relations with the rest of the Galaxy are complicated. Despite some offers of welcome from the Confederation some of the most brutal initial killings of Prometheans were at Confederation Universities. The Federation has officially declared them a terrorist organization due to the theft and release of classified documents within the Library Backups, but several intelligence agencies are known to be in contact with Promethean elements. Some of the Independant worlds along the frontier welcome them and some shoot on sight, and the nobles are nearly as unpredictable.

Most of their contact is through freelance agents, and many of them that can pass for human find lucrative work as freelancers themselves!

Andy. Do not worry, I do not understand your jokes sometimes. <img src="' http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/public/style_emoticons//icon_e_smile.gi f"' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

Do not stop.

@NeuralKernel, compile your Pioneer?

Presumably they're about to hire an even faster ship to run ahead with the news.

I approach things completely differently to all this.

My interest in starting this thread was to figure out the mechanical pieces and data required to support gameplay that people are always talking about.

For example @NeuralKernel: You've got a good back story and The Prometheans sound cool, so what features does the game need to support things like differing technologies? You can copy and paste all of that into the factions description (that is currently being vetted) and then it'd be in the game, but the different technologies won't be available, the different behaviours etc, trade differences that sort of thing.

It essentially becomes a piece of text that you read once and move on.

What you need to do is identify things that you'd need to add to the game to make the gameplay you envision work. Either with Promethean characters who sell you good via the message boards, mission types common to them but not to others, other technologies that would need to be added, Promethean only ships, etc. Because they're the things that people actually do hundreds and hundred of times.

@Walterar

I have no idea what you're on about.

"The expansion of the world rose" isn't valid English, it's not a phrase that makes sense and I cannot understand you.

Expansion of pink faction?

Sorry, pink is rosa in Spanish

i was wondering about economy driven BBS missions. in FFE (i think it was) there was a good little trade run where the player would read the news paper and see that a colony needed meds due to an outbreak of something. now i know that we dont have papers in pioneer but there is the BBS, so i guess what im asking is, is this something that needs coding in the engine or does it just need the mission types making in LUA

another example of this type of mission would be in the X series of games where in a stations BBS you would sometimes find a mission stating that the station was low on a type of resource and you would be payed top price for delivery plus a bonus for completing it within a time limit

@Fish

Excellent questions and ideas both of them!

Those are both things that can be added using Lua right now I'd bet, there are examples of Lua scripts with various missions which you could copy and adapt to suit your purpose <img src="' http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/public/style_emoticons//icon_e_smile.gi f"' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

@Walterar

By the "pink" faction do you mean the independent worlds in the Factions that I added for testing?

I've tried to get some automatic expansion started but it's currently not working so factions will just stay the sizes that they're created at first. That isn't the final plan, it's just the way that the code is right now.