Hidden sectors and locateships

This was an idea posted on Mantis that a few people mentioned they liked so I thought i’d post it here for discussion:

Currently, the code allows players to locate ships in a hidden sector, either oocly or icly by using known ship names or systematic or random strings. Besides locating ships in hidden systems, it is also possible to locate ooc ships, such as ships in the immortal shipyard or ambiguous ships, like the Republic Outpost ships from last tl.

It would make sense that if a starsystem is hidden, that it would also not be connected to the main shipyard database. Think of it as a private lan that is not connected to the internet.

The code below will return the locateship error message if a ship meets any of the following criteria:

* The ship is in a hidden sector
* The ship is on a planet in a hidden sector
* The ship is in a ship, platform etc in a hidden sector

The exceptions are ships you own, ships your clan owns or public ships. This is because it stands to reason that these ships would call home, even when on a landing pad not linked to the main shipyard database. Members of the governing clan of the planet in the starsystem can also locate all ships in the system, planet or in ships, platforms etc, since it would stand to reason they would have access to the local shipyard database.

All ships in a hidden starsystem can be located as soon as they leave the hidden system, but would not be locatable once they return to the hidden system. It would make more sense if the last record from the main shipyard database was returned instead, but I\’ll leave that as an exercise for the reader.

I like it. Also, put in my nebulae idea and make it work with those!

I think it’s a really solid idea. shutupandtakemymoney.jpg

That exceptions paragraph does not make much sense to me. Let me get this straight: If a ship is in a hidden sector, the only way you will be able to locate its presence is if you are the owner, or are in the clan that the ship belongs to?

Aside from that, I had already asked for a fix for this on mantis a while ago. More specifically, locating a ship by its class name. Such a skill has been abused a lot recently. This coding that protects ships in hidden sectors would be an excellent addition to that. I really think that locating ships you’ve never seen before and would not know the name of otherwise is a really stupid thing. Especially when you change the registry of the ship’s name, something that should throw trackers and pursuers alike off your tail.
https://legendsofthejedi.com/bugs/view.php?id=2119

Are we supporting hidden sectors here? THe imms said at the end of last timeline “no more hidden sectors”…

I wouldn’t be a fan of this at all. It just serves to make hidden sectors even more ridiculous. Also, looking up a ship by shipclass should be perfectly fine. It’s happened to me where people have done that when I was on the run and if they have the resources to do it I’d say fine. It only ruins a skill and a feat. If you can ping a ship and they are able to just change the name that feat is suddenly useless. A basic thing anyone can do shouldn’t be more powerful than a skill or a feat.

Well, if the clan that is in the hidden sector is doing more than sitting in it twiddling their thumbs because they don’t want to lose their massive stockpile of ships/get their forcers permed, it’s fine. Some clans have to have to have hidden sectors to survive (IE Rebel Alliances and crime clans).

Alevious: It wouldn’t make the skill/feat useless. If you’re not getting a reading on the ship you’re looking for, it’s either blown up or in the sector. That still leaves you the ability to see if someone is mucking around in your territory. Locating by shipclass is kind of janky because if someone builds a new ship, you shouldn’t automatically be able to find it by just going “locatesh “shipclass ‘”.

Hidden sectors aren’t ridiculous, either. The Rebels hid in very remote places and were basically unreachable until one of the Empire’s spies/torturers figured out the location. Which is basically how it is now, in a very loose sort of way: You get a spy in, get navcharts and then lead them there, or you find someone, torture a shipname out of them that has the charts.

I wasn’t saying hidden sector would ruin it, I was saying not being able to look up a ship by ship-class

I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree on that, because I don’t think it’s right that people can just find freshly named ships without having to do the legwork for it.

gyndi i havn’t been using these forums for you to CONTINUOUSLY MAKE SNIDE REMARKS ABOUT ME. FUCKING QUIT IT.

I don’t recall mentioning you at all, Bai. Relax. You are not the Sun, my comments don’t revolve around you. I’m sure you did do that, but there have been others that do it, too.

just like you didn’t make snide comments about me in the other thread too. ok dick.

You know, a system like this combined with stuff like, say, my nebula idea, could make charted sectors obsolete. For big upstarts like the RA and when the Sith are still hiding, I’d probably still issue one for security’s sake, but dropping a station in an obscured area would be a whole lot easier than building a planet/clan base and giving it out.

What is your nebula idea?