Dude, Where's the ships

Can't get ships to appear in a system

Okay, so, I'm trying to write a TC of rather generous proportions. But a lot of the developers out there suggest starting small (like plug packs) and work up to the TC level. Fine.

I found myself potting asteroids one day and decided to create: Nova 'Roids!

Just an asteroid type game using the engine. And so far, it's taught me a lot.

However, In both endevours, I'm having the very same issue. ships don't appear in any system I create.

The asteroids game is a bit of a TC itself since I wanted to use different systems as the various "levels" of the game. So I created a fairly simplistic spiral starmap. The first level is the easy, asteroids-only, type. The second level is the "save" system with a place to land. Next system is a bit harder, etc.

Thing is, I decided to have "aliens" shooting at the rocks (like in the original game) but I can't get them to appear. I tried placing Krypt, (using my own ship and dude, but the default shan) and the darn things won't appear.

I looked at some of the Krypt systems in the main game. I split everything into 25 percent pieces (rather than one at 100%) everything looks exactly the same. Yet, I can't get any ships to appear.

Side Note: I discovered the 'char' resource that set up the initial character. Such a little trivial thing does so much. I'm thinking I might be missing something similar (like a desc perhaps?).

Just a guess: The each system has an "Average Ships" value. Did you remember to set that above '0'?

This post has been edited by Eugene Chin : 08 August 2010 - 03:57 AM

QUOTE (Eugene Chin @ Aug 8 2010, 01:56 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just a guess: The each system has an "Average Ships" value. Did you remember to set that above '0'?

Yup, though I'll admit it was one of the things I missed for quite some time.

Alright, since my first guess didn't pan out, and since the source of the issue isn't apparent from the description, I'll run down the list of possibilities:

Systems Resource:
• Average Ships set above Zero - You just said you'd set this.
• Dude Types points to the right Dude
• Dude Probability for that Dude Type is set above zero

- You said you set one of these to a series of 25%'s, but I wasn't clear if it was the system's 'dude' probabilities or the dude's 'ship' probabilities.

Dudes Resource:
• Dude points to the RID of the ship
• Related Ship Probability is above zero - Again, setting this to a series of 25%'s is a good way to do it.

Ships Resource:
• Ship AppearOn NCB should be clear, or
• Ship AppearOn NCB should be valid: i.e. it is something that is set by a mission or the char resource
• Ship RID is valid (Between 128 and 895)

Shans Resource:
• Shan data is valid - If the shan is copied, it should be valid.
• Shan RID matches Ship RID

If that list doesn't help you clear up the problem, you may need to give more details.