Project Orbiter Colonizer Project Development

craigh

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Juanelm,
Fantastic idea!

I was thinking along similar lines a while back but without the skill-set to pull it off...

A couple questions and maybe thoughts:

As one is acting as the CEO with presumably the ability to get in and do the work (fly/drive), how does the flight management work?

Does it also act as an AUTOPILOT, automated launch, and all the flight controls up to docking and landing? If one has multiple ships on missions and deliveries, that may be handy.

Would materials delivery from mines to colony bases be automated in a similar fashion? Or do the materials magically show up at the closest colony? Possibly a combination of both? I can see the "player" wanting to periodically drive or do the flight.

Bases: A thought.
Deliver a factory unit. It is programmable to build operator specified components with a short list of fundamental parts available early in the "game" . Maybe solar panels, basic habitation modules, warehouse modules, and life support modules being first. As the game matures, new power plants, more complex manufacturing, and living habitation becomes available to expand the base.

Down the road, how about incorporating existing MFD's like AeroBrake to facilitate gas mining.

Looking forward!

Craigh
 

Shinrar

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Juanelm,
Fantastic idea!

I was thinking along similar lines a while back but without the skill-set to pull it off...

A couple questions and maybe thoughts:

As one is acting as the CEO with presumably the ability to get in and do the work (fly/drive), how does the flight management work?

Does it also act as an AUTOPILOT, automated launch, and all the flight controls up to docking and landing? If one has multiple ships on missions and deliveries, that may be handy.

Would materials delivery from mines to colony bases be automated in a similar fashion? Or do the materials magically show up at the closest colony? Possibly a combination of both? I can see the "player" wanting to periodically drive or do the flight.

Bases: A thought.
Deliver a factory unit. It is programmable to build operator specified components with a short list of fundamental parts available early in the "game" . Maybe solar panels, basic habitation modules, warehouse modules, and life support modules being first. As the game matures, new power plants, more complex manufacturing, and living habitation becomes available to expand the base.

Down the road, how about incorporating existing MFD's like AeroBrake to facilitate gas mining.

Looking forward!

Craigh

Woot. Some thoughts on your thoughts, because I like them :)

Firstly - I think if the "Factory/Colony" is on the same planet as the "mine", a magically showing up won't be needed. After all - you can get UCGO Cars on Autopilot to truck them around very easily. Only problem is, they of course stop moving on time acceleration - which means you can't "fast forward" though a few years of minimal mining operations and suddenly cash in and expand. You'd have to wait for the raw material to be transported to the processing facility... We'll see how it all works, I suppose, when it's released :)

Though - perhaps you're speaking more of; mine something in space (asteroid?), and transport it back to the earth/closest colony?

I like the gas mining idea, though It would be an... Interesting challenge to say the least to collect mined gases (I'm picturing a "harvester" in an elipical orbit dropping into the upper atmosphere of a gas giant, "collecting" material with each pass, with a booster to counter the orbit decay with each pass... Seems very difficult to pull off, however). Intercepting the orbit of the miner, collecting, and departing.
 

Juanelm

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Update:

Sorry guys, I didn't expect to be so busy these days. It now seems I will not have much time to work on the addon for the following two or three weeks. Don't worry, I won't stop development; I'll continue as soon as I have the time. The modellers are doing a great job, we have awesome looking Hab module and Miner!

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As for your questions/comments:

JackJL:

:lol: That sounds fun. In theory you could set up other bases with cargoes around them and steal them...

craigh:

When you change focus to the base using the F3 menu, a dialog will pop up which lets you manage all the aspects of the base. In that case you would be acting as the CEO. To fly the vessels you would change your focus to a vessel (you are now acting as a pilot), or you can change your focus to any UmMu you hire.

Although the addon will not have autopilot feature, it could be achieved using other addons. Maybe you could also use the UCGO car autopilots to make things more automated. You can use any addon you like in conjunction with this one. To mine cargo you have to:
1) Set up a Miner on top of an ore deposit. You do this by bringing and unpacking a number of cargoes near the deposit. An UmMu of class "Technitian" has to be present to be able to deploy it.
2) Buy an empty ore container at your base, load it into a vessel, and fly the container to the Miner.
3) Fill the container with the Miner, and fly it back to your base. There you can unload it from the vessel, and use a UCGO car or UMMU to bring the cargo to the cargo loading area in the base.
4) Switch focus to the base, and under the "Cargo" tab, hit a button to store the cargo. The ore is added to your reserves.

I think the main point of the addon is to fly these types of missions, but maybe it would be possible to automate some of them using autopilot addons.

The way you describe the bases is exactly what I'm aiming for. :thumbup:

Shinrar:

Interesting comments!

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Feel free to continue the awesome discussions, questions, and comments! I'll keep an eye on the thread, and will let you know as soon as I get back to work.
 

Zachstar

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This is one ambitious project! Tho in my opinion we do need more Orbiter simulated economic development. I mean it is the future of space after all.

If at all possible I would like to 2nd the Gas collection idea. Collecting gasses from the outer solar system for fuel and other gasses in my opinion is a major future industry as well as asteroid mining.
 

JackJL

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Here's a little update on the modelling front, I've been doing the crew habitat and warehouse for the colony base which are now pretty much finished! The habitat will be able to house ~30 people and the warehouse ~50 UCGO cargoes. Both of these have airlocks - a crew one on the hab and a UCGO cargo one on the warehouse.

Here are a few screenshots from orbiter, I've just sat these down on Europa, not integrated into the proper add-on code.

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The crew airlock
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The cargo airlock is just big enough to cycle one cargo at a time, the conveyor belts ensure fully automatic loading and unloading!
 

Juanelm

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Good job JackJL!

Keep the inputs coming, I'm taking them into account.
 

Jamesep3

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Looks like we are getting there is there more that could be made?:hmm:
 

Juanelm

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I restarted work on the project today. I'll keep you guys updated on the progress.
 

Juanelm

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Cool.:cool: How much longer do you think it will take?

I'm really busy now and don't have much time to work on the addon, so it could take about a month or two.
 

Jamesep3

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Thats ok I have you seen my UCGO project, just asking. If you would like some base modules I would help if you want.:tiphat:
 

Juanelm

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Thats ok I have you seen my UCGO project, just asking. If you would like some base modules I would help if you want.:tiphat:

Great, I'll let you know.
 
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