Adept wrote:
One key feature missing from the game editor is a truce setting for x-days or hours.
This would (in my mind) provide the following:
Mines and photons unavailable for purchase.
Cannot claim another's planets (unless located in FedSpace.)
Can only blow personal or corp planets.
Deployed limpits do not activate. *
Deploy offensive fighters not an option (only defensive or toll.)
Class 0 ports cannot be attacked.
Colonists cannot be jettisoned.
Fighters unavailable for purchase.
Cannot attack another player.
* Enable/disable setting for cannot purchase fighters.
* Enable/disable setting for cannot purchase limpits.
An hourly countdown message will be sent out on FedSpace by server, starting after time left setting has been reached. Followed by a a 5-minutes, 1-minutes, and truce expired message.
The TWGS will add to the title of the game in the menu area a notation, e.g., (Truce Active: x-days/hours Remaining)
One of the reasons that this has never been done, I suspect, is that different sysops have different definitions of a truce; and it is impossible to truly prevent truce violations. For instance, one trick is to remove a fig from under someone who is coloing while they are afk, preventing them from grabbing colos for (sometimes) an extended period of time. "Oops!" Or to blow a single planet in fedspace (by "accident") to nail someone e-warp coloing. Or accidentally leave your IG on and have your script "break" and drop you in an MSL, trapping someone there.
You get the idea. There are so many untoward behaviors that can be used in a truce that it's impossible to prevent them all without crippling game play.
I do like the idea of maybe preventing some basic things like attacking other players, fotons, etc. But jetting colos, for instance? That makes it harder to go red; thus you are potentially disabling red players from cashing. How is that a good thing in a truce?