Not sure if this fits in with the theme, but I would like to see(once you have added new settlement creation) the ability to start the sim with just alpha base. once you have created enough oxygen/hydrogen/methane etc you would then be able to create a new Habitat or settlement elsewhere within rover distance and supply the initial chemicals from alpha. A few of the pioneers from alpha would move to the new settlement and keep it operational until a supply shipment arrives with green crew to populate the new Hab. This way you could build up from scratch.
granted it becomes less of a sim as more user input would be required to get the bases to the correct levels, but I think a little more input would be a good idea.
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We're planning on adding new settlement construction in the near future (probably in version 2.86).
Since settlers will also have the ability to expand their existing settlements, we'll have to decide what their reasons would be for constructing a new settlement. A couple I can think of right off hand would be: access to a mineral rich location for mining, and setting up a trading post between distant settlements. There might also be a social division at a settlement, with a splinter group wanting to start their own settlement.
Of course the user should be able to manually direct the construction of new settlements as well.
Configuring the simulation to start with just the Alpha Base is possible already with the current version of the Mars Simulation Project. You just need to edit the settlements.xml text file in the conf folder. Be sure to make a backup copy of the file before you edit it so you can always go back to the original if you have troubles.
Near the bottom of the settlements.xml file there is a section called "<initial-settlement-list>" that includes all the settlements the simulation begins with. You can delete, or comment out all the settlements other than Alpha Base. (Note: comments in XML start with "<!--" and end with "-->") Then you can start a new simulation in the program and it should load the settlement information from the config file. Feel free to play around with the config files, but be sure to make back up copies in case there's a problem and the simulation can't load them.
If you come up with some interesting settlement configurations, we'd love to see them. If you're having trouble with a config file not loading into a simulation properly and you can't figure it out, feel free to send the file(s) to me and I'll try to help with it.
Not sure if this fits in with the theme, but I would like to see(once you have added new settlement creation) the ability to start the sim with just alpha base. once you have created enough oxygen/hydrogen/methane etc you would then be able to create a new Habitat or settlement elsewhere within rover distance and supply the initial chemicals from alpha. A few of the pioneers from alpha would move to the new settlement and keep it operational until a supply shipment arrives with green crew to populate the new Hab. This way you could build up from scratch.
granted it becomes less of a sim as more user input would be required to get the bases to the correct levels, but I think a little more input would be a good idea.
We're planning on adding new settlement construction in the near future (probably in version 2.86).
Since settlers will also have the ability to expand their existing settlements, we'll have to decide what their reasons would be for constructing a new settlement. A couple I can think of right off hand would be: access to a mineral rich location for mining, and setting up a trading post between distant settlements. There might also be a social division at a settlement, with a splinter group wanting to start their own settlement.
Of course the user should be able to manually direct the construction of new settlements as well.
Configuring the simulation to start with just the Alpha Base is possible already with the current version of the Mars Simulation Project. You just need to edit the settlements.xml text file in the conf folder. Be sure to make a backup copy of the file before you edit it so you can always go back to the original if you have troubles.
Near the bottom of the settlements.xml file there is a section called "<initial-settlement-list>" that includes all the settlements the simulation begins with. You can delete, or comment out all the settlements other than Alpha Base. (Note: comments in XML start with "<!--" and end with "-->") Then you can start a new simulation in the program and it should load the settlement information from the config file. Feel free to play around with the config files, but be sure to make back up copies in case there's a problem and the simulation can't load them.
If you come up with some interesting settlement configurations, we'd love to see them. If you're having trouble with a config file not loading into a simulation properly and you can't figure it out, feel free to send the file(s) to me and I'll try to help with it.
Take care,
Scott Davis
Mars Simulation Project
http://mars-sim.sf.net
scud1@users.sourceforge.net