Cheers Soldak nation!

[Zato]

Still playing the game randomly, thanks.

[joku]

What happened to the video?

[Zato]

Cheers and happy cruising, all hail Ming!

[Tuidjy]

It's a shame, I enjoyed your pieces.

But yeah, there isn't much happening about Drox. I was hoping that Soldak would continue developing it, but if it happens, it will be in the distant future.

Nevertheless, I keep coming back to it, and try new things. There is a lot of game, it's just that apart from the challenges you make up yourself, there is little to draw you forward.

What is really sad is that in the years I've been playing the game, I have seen many people who are willing to create content for Drox. But unless quests and starting sector conditions are open for moding, there is little to be done except for slightly improving balance.

[Shadow]

Originally Posted by Tuidjy

But unless quests and starting sector conditions are open for moding, there is little to be done except for slightly improving balance.

Quests and starting sector conditions can be modded quite a bit.

[Tuidjy]

Shadow, how likely is it that you add an extra button, that says [Generate Story Sector] and calls a script or executable to set up the next sector?

By set up, I mean set the size, the races, the number (not necessarily the same for all) of starting planets, the starting relations, the starting levels, etc?

[Zato]

Originally Posted by Tuidjy

It's a shame, I enjoyed your pieces.

Nevertheless, I keep coming back to it, and try new things. There is a lot of game, it's just that apart from the challenges you make up yourself, there is little to draw you forward.

Thanks T! It's still one of the only games I play with any consistency. I don't really have a firm grasp of how much more it can be upgraded. Have a good time with access to the art, sound, and random modding.

Planned on figuring out a way to mod ship skins on MacOSX, but haven't had time to research and put in a learning dent.

[Shadow]

Originally Posted by Tuidjy

Shadow, how likely is it that you add an extra button, that says [Generate Story Sector] and calls a script or executable to set up the next sector?

By set up, I mean set the size, the races, the number (not necessarily the same for all) of starting planets, the starting relations, the starting levels, etc?

That's basically how the challenge stuff works. You can definitely mod new challenges, although choosing a mod challenge world might be tricky.

[Tuidjy]

To really have an interesting story, the 'challenge' sectors must be generated on the fly, based on the player's actions in the previous sector. So pre-designed sectors are not quite what I was hoping for.

As I have mentioned in other threads, I run a program of mine when I play Drox. It gives me sector summaries, and keeps a few more statistics than easily available from inside Drox.

Example sector summary:

ID_Race_name___________Origin_________________Fate ____________________Approval
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
00_Drox_Operatives_____Came_to_fix_the_gate.__Unit ed_the_sector_and_left.
19_Lithosoid___________Native_to_the_sector.__Stil l_alive.__________________+4
12_Genetic_Soldier_____Native_to_the_sector.__Stil l_alive.__________________+3
05_Mutant______________Native_to_the_sector.__Stil l_alive.__________________+3
01_Human_______________Native_to_the_sector.__Kill ed_by_38_before_win.______+1
06_Talon_______________Enslaved_a_12_planet.__Kill ed_by_02_before_win.______+0
34_Hezog_______________Native_to_the_sector.__Kill ed_by_02_before_win.______-1
15_Overlord____________Native_to_the_sector.__Kill ed_by_12_before_win.______-2
09_Legion______________Enslaved_a_12_planet.__Kill ed_by_12_before_win.______-2
38_Zarlok______________Native_to_the_sector.__Kill ed_by_00_before_win.______-3
02_Ape_________________Native_to_the_sector.__Died _before_win.______________-3



Example statistics


___________________________________Planets_______P lanets
__________________________________Destroyed______L ost_to______Approval_for_Drox
Race_name_____________Survival____Race_Rate___Race _Drox_NPCs__Min_Max_Avg._Tot.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scavenger_____________3/3__100%____36__2.77_____13___0___4_____3___4___3.3 ___10
Ultimate_Weapon_______2/2__100%____15__7.50______2___0___6_____3___3___3.0 ____6
Genetic_Soldier_______2/2__100%_____2__0.67______3___0__10_____1___3___2.0 ____4
Genetic_______________1/1__100%_____1__0.33______3___0___3_____4___4___4.0 ____4
Lithosoid_____________2/3___66%____10__0.50_____20___0__13____-1___4___1.3____4
Shadow________________2/3___66%_____7__1.00______7___0___7____-2___3___1.0____3
Reaper________________1/1__100%_____4__1.00______4___0___1_____3___3___3.0 ____3
Clone_________________1/1__100%_____0____________0___0___2_____2___2___2.0 ____2
Asexual_______________1/1__100%_____0____________0___0___0_____2___2___2.0 ____2
Nexium________________1/1__100%_____0____________0___0___0_____2___2___2.0 ____2
Human_________________0/1____0%_____3__0.38______8___0___0_____1___1___1.0 ____1
Utopian_______________1/1__100%_____2__0.40______5___0___8_____1___1___1.0 ____1
Mutant________________1/2___50%_____3__0.19_____16___2___4____-3___3___0.0____0
Cortex________________0/1____0%_____0____________1___0___0_____0___0___0.0 ____0
Infection_____________1/2___50%_____2__1.00______2___0___5____-3___3___0.0____0
Drakk_Cortex_Hybrid___1/2___50%_____7__1.40______5___0___2____-1___0__-0.5___-1
Talon_________________1/4___25%_____6__1.50______4___3___0____-3___1__-0.5___-2
Cyborg________________0/1____0%_____5__0.25_____20___3___2____-2__-2__-2.0___-2
Ape___________________0/1____0%_____6__2.00______3___6___6____-3__-3__-3.0___-3
Fringe________________0/1____0%_____1__0.33______3___0___5____-3__-3__-3.0___-3
Cortex_Brunt_Hybrid___1/2___50%_____7__0.39_____18___1___0____-3___0__-1.5___-3
Overlord______________0/2____0%_____2___oo_______0___2___0____-2__-2__-2.0___-4
Barbarian_____________0/2____0%_____2__0.29______7___3___2____-2__-2__-2.0___-4
Rizak_________________0/2____0%_____7__0.88______8__10___6____-3__-1__-2.0___-4
Zarlok________________0/2____0%____23__4.60______5__23___0____-3__-2__-2.5___-5
Morath________________1/3___33%_____7__1.40______5__11___6____-3__-1__-2.0___-6
Hezog_________________0/4____0%_____9__1.13______8___9___6____-3__-1__-1.8___-7
Legion________________0/4____0%_____7__1.75______4___4___1____-3__-2__-2.3___-9

With this, it would be possible to actually generate sectors that further a story, try to guess the player's intentions, and throw wrenches and bones at him.

But for that, I need to not only to be able to set the sector's parameters, but also get control before a new sector is generated, so that I can take what happened in the last one into account.

Aaaanyway... this is just an idea I had when I realized that Drox II wasn't happening any time soon. I may look into taking it one step further, if

- my 'sector generator' overwrites a specific challenge sector every time Drox exits
- I remember to exit Drox right before finishing a sector
- I never play anything but that specific sector, which will be different every time

I may actually be able to throw together a story mod with what we have. Hmm... would that violate my oath to never again work for the gaming industry, I wonder?