Project Orbiter Colonizer Project Development

Juanelm

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What is Orbiter Colonizer?

The Orbiter Colonizer Project seeks to create a complete experience of living and evolving in other planets and in space. It plans to do this through the creation of an Orbiter Colonizer Base which will use the full potential of Danstehp's UCGO and UMMU, as well as other popular Orbiter addons, and an Orbiter Colonizer Mine, which will be used to gather resources for the base.

The current planned features are:

Orbiter Colonizer Base

*When it gains focus, it brings up a Base Control Panel, used to manage all aspects of the base
*Hangar: Retrieve and deploy vessels or vehicles from the base hangar.
*Crew: EVA your crew, recruit new members for a cost. Different types of crew members with different abilities:
->Captains: pilot vessels and vehicles
->Workers: decrease manufacturing time
->Scientists: decrease research time.
*Factory: Manufacture new vessels or vehicles. Each vessel has its own resource and research requirements. Construction projects require a specified amount of time to be completed. Which vessels can be constructed and what requirements are configurable through the configuration file.
*Research: perform research on different areas (such as propulsion, materials, etc.) in order to unlock new vehicles. Research requires time and money.
*Base Upgrades: Increase crew capacity, resource capacity, build a runway or a control tower, build a launching pad, among other things
*Cargo: Deploy and retrieve cargo containers. Buy new cargo containers or other cargo types.
*Refinery: Refine the ore obtained from a Orbiter Colonizer Mine in order to produce various types of resources necessary for production

Orbiter Colonizer Mine

*The mine starts as an ore deposit. Each ore deposit has its own concentration of resources and total amount of ore. A scientist can use an “ore test kit” to determine these values.
*An engineer can unpack three UCGO cargos to establish a mine at the ore deposit. The mine refills ore containers. The mine becomes depleted when all the ore has been used.
*Ore deposits with different resource concentrations and ore quantities can be placed at different locations in the solar system in order to incentivize the colonization of new places.
*One of the resources found in the ore is an extremely valuable element, which can be sold for a profit, which can then be used to pay the crew.

What is the current stage of development?

I’ve been working on this for about a week now. Features like the hangar, factory, research, crew, and mine have been completed. There is still a lot of work to be done. I want the help of the Orbiter community to take this project to the next level. This is what we currently need:

1) Ideas! What features would you like to see?
2) An experienced modeler. I have an idea of what the base and the mine should look like, but don’t have the time to make them myself.
 
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jedidia

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This sounds pretty much like something I had in mind to do with Orbiter Galaxy later on (well, one of the features, anyway). Maybe you could think about using the extended planetary properties that Orbiter Galaxy provides in your plans (like, atmosphere composition, water and ice covering, temperature range etc.) A detailed Geological model is also planed for a later stage of orbiter galaxy, so if we do this clever we can arrange for the parameters to be compatible. Done correctly, this colonizer could immidiately be fully compatible and make use of all features of planets created by orbiter galaxy, which would make for some fun planet exploring, base building and colonizing in different environments. Just a suggestion, though.
 

MeDiCS

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It looks like some kind of OrbiterRPG. Interesting, and may bring Orbiter to a new gameplay level, but it's too ambitious. Either way, if you plan to make it OSS, I can help.
 

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I like this idea! A lot. When I'm not at work, I'll throw up some ideas I had for a similar (yet not as comprehensive!) project- I'm not an experienced modeler, so that's the extent of what I can offer that you need it seems...

Either way - I look forward to this with great anticipation!
 

Kaito

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I am in no way an experienced modeler, but I could probably do some smaller scale models. Let me know what you're looking for and I could try to whip something up as a "demonstration"
 

Juanelm

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This sounds pretty much like something I had in mind to do with Orbiter Galaxy later on (well, one of the features, anyway). Maybe you could think about using the extended planetary properties that Orbiter Galaxy provides in your plans (like, atmosphere composition, water and ice covering, temperature range etc.) A detailed Geological model is also planed for a later stage of orbiter galaxy, so if we do this clever we can arrange for the parameters to be compatible. Done correctly, this colonizer could immidiately be fully compatible and make use of all features of planets created by orbiter galaxy, which would make for some fun planet exploring, base building and colonizing in different environments. Just a suggestion, though.

That sounds pretty good. Maybe I can later work on a version with extended features, to interact with Orbiter Galaxy, as you say. I'll keep that in mind, we'll have to wait for the projects to mature more though.

Katio, do you think you could make the cargo meshes and textures? We need an "ore cargo", and an "ore test kit". The ore cargo should be a full sized cargo, and the ore test kit should look somewhat like the UCGO flag kit, but it should say "Ore test kit" or something like that.
 

Woo482

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I might be able to contribute some meshes :thumbup: just tell me what you're looking for and I'll see what I can do
 

Juanelm

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Update:

I'm sick, so I have a lot of time to work on the project. Currently the code is about 2,000 lines, and the following features are working:

Crew management
Fleet management
Vehicle fleet management
Cargo management
Research
Factory
Mine module is complete

Maybe woo482 and Kaito will be working on the meshes.

Thanks for the posts showing interest, they keep me motivated.
 
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Shinrar

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Update:

I'm sick, so I have a lot of time to work on the project. Currently the code is about 2,000 lines, and the following features are working:

Crew management
Fleet management
Vehicle fleet management
Cargo management
Research
Factory
Mine module is complete

Maybe woo482 and Kaito will be working on the meshes.

Thanks for the posts showing interest, they keep me motivated.

Hope you feel better soon - even if such good wishes may delay the project. :p Glad to see some good use coming out of illness, however.

Glad to hear so much growth happened in such a short amount of time, as well! Defiantly some exciting news. :p
 

Juanelm

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Thanks for the comments, I'm feeling better now. Here's an update:

I have been coding nonstop. Now the trading tab, and the finances tabs are working. Based on some ideas Shinrar gave me I have added a twist to the addon, that makes it more game-like. This is the idea:

You are the CEO of a company that is mining a very expensive resource from the moon and other planets. Your goal is to maximize profits. Your company makes a profit by mining ore on other planets, bringing it to your home base, refining it to extract valuable resoruce, and selling it. Since you must pay a salary to all the crew you hire, you are constantly losing money. If you loose all your money, you go bankrupt- game over. If you manage well your company, you will make profits, and you can track your progress using the "productivity index" value (money earned/time spent) to compare your progress to other players.

I would like to hear your thoughts on this. Do you want the addon game like, or more open ended?

I'm also thinking of making two types of bases: a "home base", which will be located in a populated planet (such as Earth). This base has full functionality (selling resources, recruiting crew, doing research, storing ships, vehicles and cargo, building ships, vehicles and cargo, refining ore). Bases located in other planets will be "colony bases", which have limited functionality. When unpacked, their only functionality is to hold a crew. With time and money you can expand the functionality to have features like a hangar, a warehouse, a refinery or even a factory. Selling resources will only be possible from the home base, so you must bring your resources there to be able to sell them. Also you can only hire crew in the home base, so you have to transport your crew to all your colonies.

Kaito and woo482 are working on the meshes and progress looks good. There are still alot of meshes to be made, so more modelers are welcome.
 
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krashkart

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I like the idea of running mining operations. Sounds like it would be a nice diversion from station building. :thumbup:



EDIT

Would it be possible at some point for us to author Lua expansions?
 
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JackJL

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This is great - I love the idea of simulating a company with it's own small fleet of ships and miners.

I think an open ended game style would be best with the ability to make new colony bases all across the solar system.

Another thought: What about mining fuel (Hydrogen and Oxygen from ice on the moon or mars etc.)?

This could use the same mining code etc as the mineral mining and it would add another economic angle. You could buy fuel at the earth base (or order it shipped to a colony base at extra cost). So if you mined fuel you would reduce your costs. Fuel could be transferred between non docked vessels (like a base and a landed ship) with computerex's fuel transfer MFD or some custom method - can do it pure UCGO with the DGIV

Anyway, keep up the good work :thumbup: Thanks
 

Juanelm

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this sounds all like a lot of fun to me! :thumbup:

Awesome :)

Would it be possible at some point for us to author Lua expansions?

In what way would you like to use the scripting?

Another thought: What about mining fuel (Hydrogen and Oxygen from ice on the moon or mars etc.)?

This could use the same mining code etc as the mineral mining and it would add another economic angle. You could buy fuel at the earth base (or order it shipped to a colony base at extra cost). So if you mined fuel you would reduce your costs. Fuel could be transferred between non docked vessels (like a base and a landed ship) with computerex's fuel transfer MFD or some custom method - can do it pure UCGO with the DGIV

Anyway, keep up the good work :thumbup: Thanks

These are planned features. The "colony bases" will need water as one of their resources, and you need to mine it from ice deposits. I'm still thinking how the fuel thing will work. I'm aiming for something very much like what you said, but I'll have to see what I can do.

---------- Post added 07-19-10 at 01:15 AM ---------- Previous post was 07-18-10 at 02:03 PM ----------

Hey guys. All the basic functionality is done. I'm now working on the details, which take time. I'm really aiming to finish this addon this month (within the following two weeks). But I need the help of the community. We have two modelers working, but we need more. There are about 10 different meshes to make. If anyone has experience making models, and would like to volunteer, that would be awesome.
 

Shinrar

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Hey guys. All the basic functionality is done. I'm now working on the details, which take time. I'm really aiming to finish this addon this month (within the following two weeks). But I need the help of the community. We have two modelers working, but we need more. There are about 10 different meshes to make. If anyone has experience making models, and would like to volunteer, that would be awesome.

How difficult would you rate the models that have to be done? I've got no experience, but I'd be willing to learn, and I think Kaito would be willing to teach me a couple of basics... But if they're all things that would require more then 2-4 weeks to develop the skills to do "right", then I obviously wouldn't be much help >.<
 

eyu100

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Hey guys. All the basic functionality is done. I'm now working on the details, which take time. I'm really aiming to finish this addon this month (within the following two weeks). But I need the help of the community. We have two modelers working, but we need more. There are about 10 different meshes to make. If anyone has experience making models, and would like to volunteer, that would be awesome.

Awesome. :hail::probe:
 

JackJL

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As a fun addition to this - will you be able to steal other company's cargos? (Presumably they would be set up in the scenario)

If so then as well as a company simulator it is also a piracy simulator! Garrrr!:woohoo:

Also I wonder what effect a UCGO nuke will have on a base (the humanity!)
 
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