Questions here: an inquiry thread! [Updated Sep 15th, 2014]

[LehGogh]

Wait... I thought you couldn't create new systems, period.

Well, I'm pretty sure that you can make new systems...
Let me get back to you on that.

Nope. They don't work at all. Both creating systemBlueprints with a custom type, as well as adding custom system tags to shipBlueprint systemLists, have no effect.

I tried making a systemBlueprint of the oxygen <type>. After that, I opened up MTE CCP and replaced the oxygen system in there with my oxygen system.

Did you know that crew members can suffocate and die while in the ship selection screen?

[stylesrj]

I tried making a systemBlueprint of the oxygen <type>. After that, I opened up MTE CCP and replaced the oxygen system in there with my oxygen system.

Did it show up on the ship or did it not exist entirely, leaving no oxygen on the ship?

Did you know that crew members can suffocate and die while in the ship selection screen?

I think there was a ship a while back called the "Asylum" where it was the gimmick - you had to be quick with customisation (If you're using CE, even more difficult) or else you'd crash the game once the crew started dropping off and you tried to change their portrait.

[5thHorseman]

Did you know that crew members can suffocate and die while in the ship selection screen?

There was a ship made a long time ago that had no O2 to start and you had to run your guys to the medbay right at the start. Then you spent the whole first few sectors running to the pilot room to hit the hyperdrive button, and then running either back to the medbay or to the teleporter to invade the enemy ship. It was really hard and really fun. IIRC it was called the Mantis Type C (this was before there was actually a Mantis type C)

Another fun thing is to set your hull to 0 points, and then launch your ship. Good times.

[Storyteller]

ok, so not even cosmetic changes to ship interior then, based on systems. What about cargo and augmentations? Could I make a 'cargo run' mod, in a sector where you buy and sell various cargo from on beacon to another and must fend off space pirates?

Could I build augmentations needed for different events?

and lastly, can I make it so you can go back to an earlier sector?

[stylesrj]

ok, so not even cosmetic changes to ship interior then, based on systems. What about cargo and augmentations? Could I make a 'cargo run' mod, in a sector where you buy and sell various cargo from on beacon to another and must fend off space pirates?

See Captain's Edition on how it could be done. Seriously, Sleeper Service has done an excellent job with the game mechanics in organising cargo runs.

Could I build augmentations needed for different events?

Ditto. Custom augments that do nothing but add blue options is possible. They just can't do anything else.

and lastly, can I make it so you can go back to an earlier sector?

No, but you can make it so that you stay in the same "Sector Group" through the use of Crystal sectors. See FTL: Infinite and Captain's Edition Infinite for details.
But in those ones, you can reach the end of Sector 1 and then go through a hidden gate that takes you to the Hidden Sector, but the difficulty will still be Sector 1.

-----------------

What I could also suggest is that if you're planning on a Cargo Run mod by any perchance, is that you turn the Drone Bay into a Cargo Hold and make cargo into Drones that you can sell at stores (and script events so that they do different things). The Drones don't do anything on their own so it's best not to launch them and waste the parts (or turn them into crew drones that resemble crates).

[5thHorseman]

ok, so not even cosmetic changes to ship interior then, based on systems.

You CAN do cosmetic changes to rooms with no systems in them, though. Room images can be bigger than their rooms and spread out into rooms to the right and below them on the screen.

I've not played with it much, but it's on my list of changes for my Asteroid ship I'd like to do. I'd like to add little struts and girders haphazardly in hallways to imply the ship's maybe not quite so structurally sound.

[Storyteller]

well, I think I will start with a simple ship mod.. a 'freelancer' with custom colors and design, I will look into the ship building tools and start on artwork.

[kartoFlane]

ok, so not even cosmetic changes to ship interior then, based on systems.

You CAN do cosmetic changes to rooms with no systems in them, though. Room images can be bigger than their rooms and spread out into rooms to the right and below them on the screen.

There's a problem with this, though: when you have no vision of the room (eg. destroyed/no sensors), then the interior image disappears, even if it extends to rooms where you do have vision.

I tried making a systemBlueprint of the oxygen <type>. After that, I opened up MTE CCP and replaced the oxygen system in there with my oxygen system.

You can make systemBlueprints that use the predefined system types. What you can't do, is have a systemBlueprint use a custom system type.

[5thHorseman]

There's a problem with this, though: when you have no vision of the room (eg. destroyed/no sensors), then the interior image disappears, even if it extends to rooms where you do have vision.

Ew. And I assume the opposite as well. You go in your room and suddenly you can see some stuff in the other rooms.

Oh well.

[TaxiService]

I've got an inquiry!
When you select your ship before starting a game, your crew's names are picked at random from a list, right? I wonder if one could somehow define a default starting name for each crewmember, like "Bob" or "John". This would allow us to make references to things, like calling some guys "Han", "Chewie" and "Lando" by default. It's a trivial thing, but there's no harm in trying anyway!

There's always a way to do this with events, but i think avoiding starting beacon modifications would be better for compatibility.
I hoped (against hope) that a name= argument in the ship blueprint's <crewCount> tag would do the trick but, alas, it didn't work.
So now, does anyone knows if this has been done or attempted already? I've got some more things to try (namelist tricks? duplicate races?? new sexes???), but any hints would be great!