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I just gave that spacegame a shot, and it took a little bit for me to get a handle of the controls. Once I figured it out, I could fly right up to one of the stations (or spawning points) and make a turn to narrowly avoid it without incident. Instinctively I wanted to use the mouse to turn, but once I reminded myself to use A and D it wasn't that big of a struggle at all. Definitely gave me vibes of Battlestar Galactica or Babylon 5, maybe even the expanded universe of Robotech.
As for what Tig's place would look like, I had to laugh as what came to mind was Space Stop 5 near the end of Spaceballs. An all in one stop with fuel stations, plenty of parking, and a greasy spoon diner, which could easily be a bar. grill, and entertainment location all in one.
It's good to see you again. As always it's good to see you when you stop by. Things here are okay, they could be better but these days I like to try to think of the things that I have instead of what I don't. Not that I am one of those "I am high on life" kinds of people, just learning to appreciate the things in life that are afforded to me. Still working, so that's good. Still healthy, which is fantastic given we're seeing a second (some say third) wave come through our region.
How have things been for you? Hope that you are well.
my state, SA, has been relatively COVID free since about... Feb? We shut state borders relatively early
I've been questioning myself a bit, I guess, I realised I'm pansexual, been in antidepressants for a bit too, finally making IRL friends, well I have for the past year.
Mum uh, she tested positive for bowel cancer, but I have high hopes that it's going to be okay
I may be more active in the coming bit, I'm learning digital art and may try worldbuilding a little, I'd love to have a sci-fi near future nation, or something fallout esque. The NSTracker tool I think it's called? Is the reason I've come to check up every so often, this is such a beautiful, wholesome, niche community, ily peeps
Signed ya girl, Kalte
Assorro, The sheika, and Atlantigria
Yeah the whole COVID mess here in the States has been a mixture of complicating and frustrating. Frustrating because, surprising as it may be, people are actually claiming that the virologists who have dedicated their lives to the study of viruses and other microscopic health threats don't know what they are doing. You have people using the changes in guidelines we've had throughout as evidence that science isn't reliable, when that's what make science reliable is the fact that it does change based upon fact. A year ago if you would have told me we'd be one of the worse off in regards to infected I would not have believed it, but here we are.
Those are quite a few developments to take place in a year, not unheard of. Sounds like good news all around, except the news about your Mother. That's not the greatest news, but if they detected it early enough then chances are pretty good she may be able to get through it. Definitely crossing my fingers here.
Ah, I love worldbuilding. It's a wonderful creative outlet. When I first started on NationStates I was focusing on an advanced civilization that embraced both science and magic, which that shifted to a present day society with a history of not only breaking away but destroying the empire that had ruled over them. That in turn moved to a near-future society that was just reaching out to the solar system while dealing with domestic issues like a civil war. Now, the Federation is reaching out to the stars using gunboat diplomacy; exploratory vessels can often be mistaken for warships but have both civil and military chains of command on board. The limits to what you can create are your imagination.
I'm not the only one that was blindsided right? I completely forgot it was Halloween. Guess that's it for us this year, no way we can recover. Brainsss.
Oi, I didn't realize that it had already kicked off. Someday I'll be able to have a day off when this apocalypse hits, until then the borders are now secure. I'll be on again later for a short duration to work on curing, and then again this evening to see about finishing the job. Good luck all.
I was researching a cure but it seems I was forced into a Zombie Empire.
Sigh
Same thing happened here. I guess they thought we were getting too good the last few years and had to throw us a curveball.
Well folks, Sheika is out of the running. I went to see if I could send Cure Missiles and the only super weapon available is "horde", and I'm not going to do that to anybody. I don't think 2020 was really the year for this; so much going on, so many of us dealing with personal issues in one form or another. Here's to hoping for a better year...of course some of that depends on the next few days, so there's that. Good luck all.
It was tougher this year to say the least. As I said a few days ago, I think they got tired of us being good at it.
Happy thanksgiving to all the America located folks
The sheika, Mechisla, and Nation1204
Happy Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating it today. For all others, I hope that you had an awesome day as well. Missed the last poll for the WA, and for the holiday I will be foregoing it this time around but it will be back to business come Monday. Take care all.
Atlantigria, Mechisla, and Nation1204
Belated happy Thanksgiving to American people. Been a busy few weeks, gettign the house ready to move into a smaller place has taken time. Was hoping to be moved by now, still might happen before Christmas but I reckon it will be January before I move into new accommodation.
The sheika, Atlantigria, Mechisla, and Nation1204
For anyone inquiring after the return of NSTracker, I currently have no motivation or ambition towards the project. There's only been a couple inquiries about the site in the past number of months, and that's insufficient demand to justify the continuance of time, money and effort towards a third-party project. My time is better spent following my own first-party ambition. I should think after fourteen years, I'd be interested in seeing what kind of site a fellow like me can produce before he's gone. I mean, nothing is forever and all things are fleeting.
Now, to Absolution.
I'm not going anywhere, and all of you will receive telegrams to the site once released. I'd love to go into the wonders of specifics I've discovered and resolved if any of you are interested. The past couple mouths have been spent researching major obstacles associated with Single Page Applications (SPA), which, this site entirely is. You lose functionality with the backward and forward browser buttons, for instance. The browser history is there and correct, but since it's an SPA, the browser has no idea what pages to actually load going forward and backward. This is being corrected now with the site itself. Yes, there's always a remedy. :)
Site security is another issue that's just been completed this past weekend. Things such as XSS attacks, where the intent is to use the application itself against the visitors of the site by posting malicious javascript to a forum post, aren't things we've had to worry about for over a decade. The same goes for SQL Injection Attacks against the database. I'm not saying there aren't other ways to do these things, but I'm a proper zealot when it comes to user input sanitization. Good luck.
A hacker needs to discover ways of getting to your login credentials for identity theft. XSS attacks did just that. The malicious javascript is mostly intended to glean visitors private cookie data where username, password, email and account id are usually stored. We do not store account data in cookies and user information is never displayed or called by the site itself within the browser. Identity theft is not happening. If someone obtains your account data, they obtained that data either from you directly, or through prying eyes, but not the site. SQL attacks against the database will not work and attempts at doing so will be recorded and dealt with. Built-in security from the ground up will bring about a big change however.
I'm still looking into it, but at the moment, users are required upon visiting the site to have a static IP address along with browser data. These things will be used to identify users from now on, though, I'm not entirely certain yet how to round it off. I mean, everyone knows IP addresses are never a good thing to identify someone specifically and browser information can be spoofed or not even sent, but isn't that because sites have never made it a demand before? A huge majority of server page requests by visitors not having a static IP address or browser information are bots and people hiding behind VPS or other proxies. Get out from behind if you want in our door. The idea is to limit almost to zero the need to wonder who is actually who on the site for the sake of moderation. I am going to be adding additional features for dynamic IP addresses once researched a little more.
This brings us to DDOS. I know, who's going to do that to me? Anyone just in it for the lolz, that's who. With me possessing that 'Oh, my stuff is being broke face'. So, build the house with security in mind. I call it being proactive for a modern climate. A fellow I work with used to do testing for Machinima, or so he claims, but he's looked at what I've built so far and tells me he can test the site on his own system against DDOS attacks. Once complete, the site will be secured against most types of attacks. I still can't believe you'd need all of this even if all you have is a single page displaying dudes creating monsters without a license. Bad things happen quite frequently. No, there's no real such thing as security in my view, but, there are numerous ways of encouraging people to seek softer targets, and I'm using them.
If you have the impression I've been thinking security, you're right. It's no longer a third-party site with an easy "search a real nation" registration. All the problems that come with being first-party suddenly come into focus. Those that desire peace... you know? By the time this season is complete, the current social framework will be in place along with security, moderation and resources. I've completed resources to the point where I've built my second Dyson Sphere. What lay ahead, is shipyards, and an undiscovered, unwritten future.
The sheika, Atlantigria, Freeoplis, and Nation1204
I'm glad to see you stop by, and doubly glad to see an update about the goings on that you've been up to. I definitely agree with your reasoning as far as NSTracker and your personal project, it does make a lot of sense from a creativity perspective as well as from a productivity perspective. Ever since you first mentioned the proverbial roots of your current project I've been interested, and definitely agree with approaching it was a "Those that desire peace" kind of mentality in regards to security given the reality of the world we all live in.
Once again, glad to hear from you and thank you for the update. Onward and upward, ad astra.
This year's done the same to me as it's done to most everyone I know. It's difficult to look forward to much given the circumstances, but I digress, this too shall pass.
The general consensus appears to be "addicting", just with resources alone. There are a few ideas I wish to promote as a developer I don't believe many people care about these days. It's all about advertising revenue. Is that what we're allowing companies to reduce the internet to? High-priced "everywhere" merchandizing? Screw that noise. Remember when we all believed we were going to rebuild the library of Alexandria? Where did that notion go to? Cats, anyone want to post one or two cat photos? And vitriol is a good thing these days since controversy generates crowds... who see adverts everywhere. I don't know about you, but just who the **** invited the sales scum into our networks and daily lives this way? There will be no adverts of any kind on the site.
Security as I mentioned above is another thing I seriously believe can be better controlled by not catering to just anyone out there. If you're hiding behind something or don't wish to send browser headers, no problem, you're allowed, but you won't be getting access. Protecting the interests of users is simply a much larger priority to that of catering to private individuals who do not wish to reveal themselves. Use one of the top five browsers, and everything's cool. Where exactly is the problem? I don't see one for legitimate users doing legitimate things, and that's expected to make a difference. I believe developers won't adopt this approach since it appears contrary to what advertiser interests want the most... exposure. Well, screw them. I'm much more interested in not going to the fights just to have a hockey game break out. You know?
I read an article recently speaking about the downfall of facebook. I don't believe that site will ever let loose the monopoly we've allowed it to create for itself, but there were a couple interesting points I am going to adopt into this site. Again, remember when we actually believed social media was about being social and contributing content?
The general idea is to have the players themselves promote other players into higher tiers based on their contributions rather than anything else. On it's own, it doesn't suggest a lot, but then I thought about the Choose Your Own Adventure books we have in the cafe, along with a rather brilliant suggestion by Tigs of allowing users to visit other planets and having short run-throughs to gain experience points. Her idea of allowing player stories to be added to the central theme is also brilliant, and will be happening eventually. That's a great start to something much more interesting that media fronts filled with cruel people doing cruel things for nothing more than fifteen minutes of forgettable attention. I think there's a world out there that wants a better kind of reality. Perhaps not, but we'll see.
When you register with the site, lists of unique titles and names of individuals are created for you. These people will initially be your company staff and will constantly be sending you stuff. You'll be around for that part, I promise. Once you reach interstellar/multiplayer mode, these people will become your Admirals, Captains, First Officers... I've got lists of every title within Star Trek and I'm using the generic titles, which most are, to widen the atmosphere of your reality. When you start producing ships, you'll have the same problem you have with other resources... do you have trained people for those ships, or other venues? Science, tech, energy and qualified specialists for areas such as pilots, fighter pilots, surgeons and medics, theoretical scientists, biological scientists, laboratory staff, censor staff, technicians and most importantly, waste-management. How could we ever forget about that?
Each of these individuals will have their own records for things that will affect them day by day. They will earn experience points the more they are used within their respective positions. They will get older year after year, provided nothing happens to them, and collectively this will strengthen all your areas of concern for defense, speed, stealth, experience and power over time. These fictional characters are intended to add a background dynamic to your storyline. They'll become characters you'll get to know, and there are a lot of them.
Are there baddies? Yes, we will have Klingons on the starboard bow, I swear it. One or two anyway. There are set to be around six different species you'll encounter initially. Each having their own interests. Some good, some even better. ;)
The sheika, Freeoplis, and Nation1204
Reading over that reminded me of the promising atmosphere that was the internet in the mid-to-late nineties. That was back before everybody was online, and although primitive by comparison it was a lot of information available. Ads? I remember when those were relegated to one or two small panels on the screen, in some cases relative to the server the site was hosted on. Now we have ads everywhere. I should have known better, but I clicked on something that was a list of facts about Joe Pesci and some behind the scenes details about him from the Home Alone films. Interesting stuff, what I was able to read. At any given point there were at least three ads on the screen, and I don't mean something small; nope, an ad in each margin of the page, with the intermittent banner add to break up the different details. Also the video adds in the lower right hand corner that no matter how many times I closed them another would pop up. Not to mention the ad that interrupted my scrolling about halfway down the page, filling the screen with something completely irrelevant to me and upon clicking the small "x" in the upper left corner I was taken back to the top of the page. Ugh!
That aside, everything's sounds like it's coming along really well and I've got no doubt in my mind it's going to be something great.
Also, got an earworm after reading that post so...
The Firm - Star Trekkin'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCARADb9asE
Always continually in awe of your talents Az... keep doing YOU... that’s all any of us has ;-)
Another update.
The functionality with the browser forward and backward button has been resolved. This is the fourth or fifth time I've attempted a Single-Page-Application just to fail due to that one issue alone. I couldn't see clear to proceed before getting past that hurdle. The security features I mentioned before have also been put in place, tested and completed. This puts me some distance ahead for the season, and it's not even Ho Ho Ho time yet.
This means I have three more hurdles to complete to have achieved the goals for the season. Framework includes all the social features we've seen on the forum, but the site has been entirely re-designed from scratch in order to clean up all existing code. Tig's Place isn't clear what it's to be on the new site. It's a hub, but how is it to be displayed and used remains the question. I mean, is it a station of some kind? A small moon? It will most likely become the central "discord-style" chat platform for all users with connections to player vs player or group vs group contests, either in ships or in poker or even storied missions. It's Quark's after all, so pretty much everything central will be located there.
Even though the registration pages have been complete for some time, I knew there'd be more going into it eventually. I made mention of how we will all have staff generated for us when we register. We won't see them at the time, they'll just be generated and stored. What I've decided to do is give each of them, depending upon their designation, initial statistics generated randomly for strength, intelligence, wisdom, dexterity, constitution and charisma. Typical d20 stuff, but, it won't be those six things alone. There aren't just pilots and fighter pilots, but surgeons, researchers, scientists, technicians, etc. All of whom will have columns concerning their jobs, their health and well-being. Devil's in the details. I figure, if we have these initial stats already in place, we can do anything with these individual characters down the road. Tig's story idea kind of launched something in me, so, everything that can have starting stats gets them. Modifiers will be included for each item, allowing everything to either become stronger or weaker dependent upon endeavors, circumstance, occurrence or whatever.
I'm also debating writing a small questionnaire for the site much like we see here in NS. I don't think it will discern political leaning however, but rather something more inline with the given nature of the genre. The fellow I work with said to me last week how it's a shame I don't have any way of providing some kind of in-game currency. You know, a sly smile was on my face before he was even done speaking. Now I'm a living deity having shown him what calculations I already have, and the full extent they can deliver. Ideas abound. It's unclear how they could be used, but we do have loads of economic variables on hand we could set up any way we choose.
Please folks, don't squeeze the Charmin, K? Thx. I now leave you in the hands of The Mighty Snagglepuss and The Indomitable Shazam.
* Looks to the nervous Attendant by his side. *
Are you certain that last part was supposed to be in there? It looks a little off if you ask me.
The sheika, Atlantigria, and Nation1204
Personally I vote for a station. Kind of a conglomeration of ships cobbled and melded together to create a working station maybe? Seems kind of fitting as a metaphor for your work, bits and pieces of knowledge and experience you've picked up on the way stitched together to create something special.
Assorro and The sheika
That is a fitting metaphor to describe it. I'm just now looking through DnD character generators on GitHub and poaching through their variable arrays. Should monsters have both first and last names? I've got a couple ideas for creating short character bios for each of our NPC's. In for a penny, in for a pound.
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