reputations and MP

Graven · Post by **Graven** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 5:31 pm

I learned last night that you cant alter your reputation in MP, only as SP.

Can the two be brought together so that your reps follow you in and out of MP and alter within if the criteria are met?

I enjoy playing the game MP as I like the added twist of other people being there, like Romulan's dancing and untargetable yellow blip flitting about (though Id prefer if he stopped downloading pron while he plays so I can target him

).

Can it be done or is there some clear drawback I am missing?

Post by **Vice** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 6:10 pm

I can explain the reasons for it. The 'fleet' entity systems unites human players as a group in the game. In SP, the fleet system only involves NPC controlled ships and the threat system is based on that. Linking (via the trade console) lets you form a small fleet of ships to join you in combat. In MP, the fleet system supports human players, allowing you to link with others with clan ID's and with the link key (default numpad -). In order for that fleet linking system to properly effect ship-specific reputations (for the 'human' group) and to allow common AI behavior (helps keep bandwidth lean and maximize controller swapping efficiency) relative to the global reputation, the default reputations from the game's default universe are used and 'locked' in while you are in multiplayer.

Another reason for this is the player request for a 'no-penalty' environment in multiplayer. That is, players want to be able to take actions in multiplayer that they normally would not take in single player and not have their reputation penalized for it. As an example, they may have to attack ships that they were normally allied with in single player due to circumstances in multiplayer caused by helping out other human players. They want the option to do that without harming the reputation they worked so hard to achieve in single player. This lets the player do whatever actions they want in multiplayer without worrying about hurting their (hard) earned single player reputations.

Graven · Post by **Graven** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 6:23 pm

Any chance of a persistent universe mod for the server prog? I'd happily sacrifice ai wingmen for real ones if MP had greater relevance.

verbosity · Post by **verbosity** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 6:46 pm

Originally posted by Graven
Any chance of a persistent universe mod for the server prog? I'd happily sacrifice ai wingmen for real ones if MP had greater relevance.

I've been working on a clan map, it would be possible to feed this information into a universedata file (or possibly another file would be better, a new, clanrep.txt file?). If it was possible to support, there could then be a sort of 'clan rep' which would :

A. Only effect claned players

and

B. Only be in effect online

I'd never thought of this before, and I'm, not sure if it would be something that could be done (in-game that is), or even if it is a good idea ( I'm sure there would be some negative effect I've not thought of).

Post by **Vice** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 7:04 pm

Any chance of a persistent universe mod for the server prog? I'd happily sacrifice ai wingmen for real ones if MP had greater relevance.

Not in real time as that would require the exchange of around 300K-500K for even a moderate sized universe every time a new player joins, causing major delays and pausing every time a 'sync' has to take place for the latest universe data. However, it can be managed as a mod download with version checks included with the server. Since everything is aligned with whatever universe data the server uses, players could download the needed data file for whatever server they want to play on, synching their reputations for that universe and any changes the clan or server operator wants to apply.

[Edited on 1-13-2009 by Vice]

tha_rami · Post by **tha_rami** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 7:19 pm

So basically, to build a mod, you would need to write both a parser for the server chatlog for on the server, have it edit the universedata file and auto-upload it daily; that, and a launcher for the clients, that would first update universedata and then launch multiplayer.

verbosity · Post by **verbosity** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 8:04 pm

Originally posted by tha_rami
So basically, to build a mod, you would need to write both a parser for the server chatlog for on the server, have it edit the universedata file and auto-upload it daily

Well I already have that already, it could also be used to affect other changes in the servers universe.

that, and a launcher for the clients, that would first update universedata and then launch multiplayer.

Not something I could do, but I imagine that its pretty possible, Didn't lampy build a beta for a universe manager?

Personally I'd prefer a system that was seperate from the universe file. possibly a small text file that would get uploaded from the server on connection.

for instance:
1139438
1 ns
2 sw

Where the first number indicates a timestamp ( thus avoiding multiple downloads, and each line after consists of a number indicates the system or station ID ( station Id strikes me as good since, stations ID's are already in existance ) and the clan controlling the system. This file would be smaller ( possibly less than 100k).

This could be set to only update when no players were on, thus the client would only need to check on joining and avoid in game lag. This should also mean that it could be handled in-game without the need for an additional client program.

I prefer the idea that it would be a seperate file, since it would avoid any conflicts with multiple servers or servers which did not have the mod.

Graven · Post by **Graven** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 6:59 pm

Thanks for the responses. Given a choice I'd rather play ER in MP mode, especially if there is a persistent universe where actions have consequences, like they do in SP.

Post by **Vice** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 7:15 pm

The other 'consequences' still apply, including your rank, contract pay, objectives offered to you, crew loyalty/skill, equipment/ships/weapons/commodities you acquire/trade, economies, and your wealth. Only reputations are 'locked' in to protect your earned reputations for various actions while you're in multiplayer.

tha_rami · Post by **tha_rami** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 7:35 pm

Sadly, verbosity, the only way to feed data into the game is through universedata. You can always allow the application to backup the original universedata and restore it at closing the game.

verbosity · Post by **verbosity** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 1:22 am

It could be possible for me to make a mini web-app that could serve as a universe manager. It could also contain a standard universe file to enable pilots to 'return' to the standard universe easily to play SP or join another server.

It would concern me that it might limit the number of users on a server if they weren't aware of it. Also changes would effect all players instead of just the player in question ( if it were the universe file). Though I can see a lot of possibilities ( stations getting destroyed, Vonari invading new systems etc) in Legends. Updating online news ( which is also possible ) could keep players aware of the daily changes. Plus at the moment the only real data that I can reliably gather from the chatlog is PvP kills. for other information to feed in the system it would have to appear in the chatlogs.

I must have been away when the universe file was integrated into the server file, thats a very cool change imho.

I think its a great idea with lots of possibilities, and think MP should be affected in the same way as SP, but I also see that MP and SP reps should be different. I'll be putting together a fully functioning LES server together over the next few days ( hoping for it to be fully functional in the next week or so), and I'll run a test with a small universe / news file manager.

A nice experiment at least............