Arrowstar
Probenaut
- Joined
- May 23, 2008
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Howdy, folks.
I'm pleased to announce that most of the internal systems for Astra Space have been finished the remaining items are primarily niceties. There is one glaring exception to this, which I would like to get public input on. That is this: Astra Space will have a system that allows ad hoc groups of pilots to work together to complete assignments, goals, what have you. This is going to be the "contract system" and the idea is focused on getting pilots to work together on projects, versus the same old fly from point A to point B on a 'cargo run'. The leaders of these ad hoc groups will be able to select contracts for their groups of pilots to carry out.
Here's what I want to know from the community: in a system like this, would you prefer that 'contracts' are generated by the system and simply selected, or would you prefer to be able to write your own( simply RPing that they came from another source)? The immediate tradeoff is this: having the system do it will take longer to develop and be more limited. Having a person write the contract instead will require more thought by the person, but will be just about limitless in possibilities and 'missions' or 'assignments' or whatever you'd like to call them. Keep in mind that each pilot would have to fly 'in series', passing off the SCN file from pilot to pilot via the contract system, as OMP isn't viable at the moment.
The idea here is to give Orbiter pilots some purpose, allow them to work together towards something. Orbiter being what it is, I've always felt that goals have been lacking for people who have mastered orbital mechanics, or at least the various MFDs.
Some of the other features that have been implemented:
EDIT: Pilot interface screenshot tour:
I'm pleased to announce that most of the internal systems for Astra Space have been finished the remaining items are primarily niceties. There is one glaring exception to this, which I would like to get public input on. That is this: Astra Space will have a system that allows ad hoc groups of pilots to work together to complete assignments, goals, what have you. This is going to be the "contract system" and the idea is focused on getting pilots to work together on projects, versus the same old fly from point A to point B on a 'cargo run'. The leaders of these ad hoc groups will be able to select contracts for their groups of pilots to carry out.
Here's what I want to know from the community: in a system like this, would you prefer that 'contracts' are generated by the system and simply selected, or would you prefer to be able to write your own( simply RPing that they came from another source)? The immediate tradeoff is this: having the system do it will take longer to develop and be more limited. Having a person write the contract instead will require more thought by the person, but will be just about limitless in possibilities and 'missions' or 'assignments' or whatever you'd like to call them. Keep in mind that each pilot would have to fly 'in series', passing off the SCN file from pilot to pilot via the contract system, as OMP isn't viable at the moment.
The idea here is to give Orbiter pilots some purpose, allow them to work together towards something. Orbiter being what it is, I've always felt that goals have been lacking for people who have mastered orbital mechanics, or at least the various MFDs.
Some of the other features that have been implemented:
- The Employee store is now fully functional, and users can purchase vessels, space station components, consumables, and more.
- Flight Groups have been implemeneted. Flight Groups are ad hoc teams of pilots that are simple to create and allow pilots to organize themselves as they see fit. Flight Groups allow pilots to work together to achieve goals that would not otherwise be possible. Leaders of Flight Groups have the ability to manage just about every aspect of their membership and other such settings.
- Vessels are now subject to more 'real-world' constraints, such as requiring fuel to be purchased for each flight, maintanence crews to process the vehicle after each mission, and loss of vehicle situations actually resulting in the user losing his/her vessel (based on the honor system, sadly). Successfully completing assignments means you get paid, as well.
- The ability to manage your personal 'fleet' of vehicles and space stations, including customization both visually and textually.
- And numerous other little items that are too small to be mentioned here but I feel add to the experience.
EDIT: Pilot interface screenshot tour:
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