offering help

The most appropriate place for Questions, Queries, and Quandaries regarding the nature of the Vega Strike universe and its past, present, or future history. Home to the occasional unfortunate RetCon.
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Nimrod
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offering help

Post by Nimrod »

Hi there,

I'd like to offer some help to the vegastrike project. I'm no coder but I think I could help with the manual. I wrote some science papers and some science fiction so if you want some scientific sounding text I am the right man for the job. Just give me some work

cu

Frank
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Post by Silverain »

Welcome Nimrod,

Updates and improvements on the manual (see the most up to date in the wiki), and for the rest of the wiki information are always welcome.

The only word of caution is that if you intend to do any major changes, post the text on the forum first to make sure it ties in with the VS universe and everything else.
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Nimrod
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Post by Nimrod »

Hello

no, I wasn't thinking about major changes. First thing I wanted to do is working a little bit in the weapons section. I like VS a lot but the most frustrating thing in the beginning was not to find any text info about the weaponry. Stats are nice but a little bit dry.

before I post something in the Wiki, I'll post it in the appropriate forum and wait for the reaction.

Is there something like a complete weapon list of all the weapons in the game?
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Post by Silverain »

Nimrod wrote:Is there something like a complete weapon list of all the weapons in the game?
See weapon_list.xml in your vegastrike directory for a list of current weapons. Also, be aware that the list is being rebalanced, so you may want to access a latest version from CVS (see wiki howto's on how to get it).
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Post by CoffeeBot »

Actually, yeah, I was wondering about texts for ship modifications, too.

Is there any sort of collaborative effort going on to provide stuff for these? I'd jump in and write things for them, but, I'm sure the item creators and other devs have something in mind for them so it might be an exercise in futility. Making icons for them, too, would be great (which I'd love to help out with, also).

Who's coordinating it, and how can we help?
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Post by Silverain »

CoffeeBot wrote:Actually, yeah, I was wondering about texts for ship modifications, too.

Is there any sort of collaborative effort going on to provide stuff for these? I'd jump in and write things for them, but, I'm sure the item creators and other devs have something in mind for them so it might be an exercise in futility. Making icons for them, too, would be great (which I'd love to help out with, also).

Who's coordinating it, and how can we help?
I had started putting together data and icon/pics for the upgrades (like I've been doing for cargo), working under the storyline/universe limitations of the Minister of Information. However, with the great rebalancing going on, I put this on hold until something solid was available to work from (and of course, lost track of time because of RL issues...).

We were receiving great artwork for the cargo icons from Dirty Magic, but he's been offboard for a while. I have some artwork for upgrades, but not much.

Best recommendation for contributions is to post example entries and artwork here, for JackS to review, and then someone (usually pontiac or myself) will put it in the wiki, and organise updates to CVS.
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Post by Nimrod »

Hello

I took a look at the weapons list and started writing down some ideas. What do you think about something like customer rating of the weapons? I had something like a gun amazon in mind. Official ad describtion and customer rating. For the rating I was thinking about asking around in the forums and put the most interesting opinions in there.

I was poking around to put some info about the uln together:
Summary:
aggressive
xenophobic
somehow linked to pirates and luddites?
so dumb aggressive that you wonder how they could develop space travel
using Ancient derived technology
perhaps something like a slave race overtaking their masters shop?
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Post by Silverain »

Hmm,

Or how about an 'unofficial ad'... something like the pacifier splash screen?

Or even a mix - some descriptions 'official', others anecdotes, even quotes from forum members?
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Post by CoffeeBot »

Actually, that's a pretty cool idea. It would be hard to keep the forum threads on task, though, unless someone was actively deleting non-applicable posts.

This could actually be a really cool addition to the Mulitplayer, with the idea that you could actively post "reviews" when you're in the shop, like newegg and amazon.

Of course, in doing that, you're helping everyone to fly the exact same ship, with the exact same loadout. Well, that's going to happen anyway, but, this makes it happen faster ;)

Still a good idea, though.
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Units and Weapons in Wiki

Post by eddit »

In terms of adding Units and Weapon details into the wiki, I've been working on adding the basic pages into the wiki so that the experts can add images and descriptions. There's a couple of weapon and units that I've added while playing with the format, for example Overdrive level 1.

I've made some templates for purchasing and statistics information. If you use the templates then it's easier to change the appearance as you only have to change one page.

If you add an unit and it doesn't have a current image in CVS, make sure that you put {{reqcargoimage}} on the page. Then the page will be added to this page so that everone can check up on whats needed in CVS.
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Post by CubOfJudahsLion »

Weren't the Uln the ones that grew on the ashes of a dead civilization (TWHON/Ancestor?) and scavenged the many derelicts at hand, miraculously learning something in the process?
Nimrod
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Post by Nimrod »

eddit: The templates look interesting. One of these days I'll poke around to learn a little bit more about how to use them. Never took part in a Wikibook so far.

coffeebot: You think everybody will be flying around in the same ship? I don't because diversity is just one fun part of the game. Me for example I just love customizing my ship. I'd love to see more possibilities to customize my ship. It really depends on your playing style. example: If I want to play a trader I would like to be able to mount some heavy rear facing artillery in order to be able to run and fight at the same time.

gun amazon: I had in mind something like

"Kltek beam: Yeah, great thing. Roast a Luddite in a minute, but only if you have the reactor and autotracker otherwise pretty hard to aim"

CubOfJudahsLion: That's an interesting piece of info. Fits what I patched together so far. I have something in mind like a bogus scientific review of current publications about the ulns.

Here is what I have so far:

The Uln

Few is known about the Uln. They are a xenophobic, aggressive race. Their high aggressiveness does not correlate with their technological level.There are theories suggesting that the Uln were a slave species which overtook somehow their masters planet/system/economy.

Several expeditions toward the home planet have been unsucessful, the members of the expedition slaughtered by the Uln. The Terran Academy of Sciences therefore refrains from further expeditions.

From the information gathered so far it seems highly probable that the Ulns were originally a slave race dominated by another race called the Ancients. Somehow they managed to free themselves from their former master and overtook their cultures. They have been cannibalizing the technology of this species and using it without fully understanding it. Investigations conducted on Uln wreckage show that the user obviously have lost or never had the technological capabilities of developing space travel. In Uln vessel complex systems of an obvious high level of civilization can be found side by side with simplified versions of the same device which were obviously produced by someone with a lower technical qualification. This suggests a parasite culture which is only capable of copying existing model but which is not able to develop technological progress by itself. Their xenophobic aggressive behaviour might be an attempt of avoiding renewed slavery. Their philosophical or religious beliefs are totally unknown.

still needs something rephrasing etc but the important thing so far is this somehow contradicting something important in the VS universe?
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Post by jackS »

Nimrod wrote: the important thing so far is this somehow contradicting something important in the VS universe?
Yes.
Nimrod wrote: The Uln

Few is known about the Uln. They are a xenophobic, aggressive race. Their high aggressiveness does not correlate with their technological level.There are theories suggesting that the Uln were a slave species which overtook somehow their masters planet/system/economy.

Several expeditions toward the home planet have been unsucessful, the members of the expedition slaughtered by the Uln. The Terran Academy of Sciences therefore refrains from further expeditions.

From the information gathered so far it seems highly probable that the Ulns were originally a slave race dominated by another race called the Ancients. Somehow they managed to free themselves from their former master and overtook their cultures. They have been cannibalizing the technology of this species and using it without fully understanding it. Investigations conducted on Uln wreckage show that the user obviously have lost or never had the technological capabilities of developing space travel. In Uln vessel complex systems of an obvious high level of civilization can be found side by side with simplified versions of the same device which were obviously produced by someone with a lower technical qualification. This suggests a parasite culture which is only capable of copying existing model but which is not able to develop technological progress by itself. Their xenophobic aggressive behaviour might be an attempt of avoiding renewed slavery. Their philosophical or religious beliefs are totally unknown.
The Uln were not a slave race. They are the descendants of "lab-monkey" analogues (although they really don't appreciate being told that).

They are far less xenophobic than feudal, boorish, uncouth, and generally considered blatantly obnoxious by other sophonts. Assuming a group is found that is willing to tolerate their company, the Uln are more than willing to associate with other species - besides, other species are where all the moolah is ;-)

The Uln homeworld is the most studied planet in known space, with archaeologists from all other species in near permanent residence, the hefty fees collected from said being a prime income for the Sul-Gatwa government.

Even on the Uln homeworld, precious little of the technolgy built by the Ancients is in working order. However, merely knowing that profound technological progress is possible has had a marked influence on the technological advancement of their society in a manner desynchronized with many of the cultural "advances" seen in the other technologically advanced species. Cultural advances are, of course, subjective things - but there is general agreement that the Uln are remarkably "uncivilized," at least in terms of civility, for a species in their position.

On religion, from http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/forum ... php?t=2075 :
"Uln:
Growing up amidst the ruins of an exceptionally powerful and ancient culture on a planet where life was artificially introduced gave the Uln the idea that they were the children of failed gods. Convincing them that they are much more likely the descendants of lab-monkey-analogs from a long destroyed outpost hasn't gotten very far. What passes for organization in Uln religion involves seasonal festivals that mostly serve to reinforce the doctrinal line that being born Uln is a wonderful thing, relative standard of living to the other species be damned. "


My apologies for not responding to this thread earlier, I've just returned to my normal haunts after spending four months working for HP Labs, and have therefore been rather beset by RL time sinks.
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Post by Nimrod »

Finally something to work on.
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