Why did i go to the trouble of learning to script in x3 and write this? Well i liberated a terran Tyr, but it didn't come with 30x PSP and 16x SSC to arm it, which left me with a problem. So i hunted out another Tyr that was packed with weapons and capped that, but again no weapons with the cap. Now i had two Tyr's and lacked almost 100 weapons for them, not good.
So i had a choice of boarding/destroying every terran capital ship i could find for the next week, or cosying up to the terrans and buying up their product. I went for option B but discovered only one forge in their entire territory, and feeding that resources for 100 weapons would be at least a week again.
Suddenly scripting in an ability the HQ ought to have anyway seemed a more reasonable way to equip my Tyrs, so i present...
Ware Blueprint Manager 2.1
Description
Headquarters using this upgrade can create blueprints of almost any ware including weapons, equipment, stations, and some software. This service comes at a price, reverse engineering a ware will cost at least 10 million credits. Additionally blueprints no longer needed can be destroyed.
Older headquarters may require an upgrade to support this service. Headquarter upgrading is provided when necessary, for a one-time fee. Due to the intensive nature of upgrading such a large structure, repeated requests will be met with an escalating fee.
As well as providing ware blueprint support, the HQ upgrade can improve production times, and/or reduce resource requirements.
Usage
This is the main menu for WBM, it can only be acessed through the station commands menu of a headquarters structure:
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Add Blueprint...
This command lets you reverse engineer a ware into a blueprint for your HQ. You'll be presented with a list of wares currently in your HQ to choose from. Although blueprints are created instantly, the service costs between 10 and 50 million credits, depending on the complexity of the ware. For example most weapons are quite cheap, but most stations are very expensive. One of the ware will be consumed from your HQ in the process.
Remove Blueprint...
This command lets you remove a blueprint from your headquarters. You will not be refunded. As with adding blueprints, you'll be prompted for confirmation.
Transfer Ship Extension...
Using this command lets you transfer a ship extension from a docked ship to your HQ. The specialist technicians that perform the service charge a fee of at least one million credits.
Upgrade Headquarters
This service will upgrade your HQ if it doesn't currently support blueprints other than for ships. It requires dismantling your current HQ and upgrading it off-site before delivering it back to it's current sector. There is a fee, initially 15 million credits for the upgrade, but the fee increases rapidly should you keep requesting the service, as a single upgrade should suffice.
All wares, credits, and blueprints currently in your HQ will be placed in storage during the upgrade, and returned upon request. All docked ships will be undocked to prevent damage while the HQ is dismantled.
you will be prompted for confirmation before the HQ upgrade request is processed:
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A message will be sent to the owner when the upgraded HQ has been delivered to the sector.
Restore HQ contents
If you recently upgraded your headquarters, then a different command will be present in the WBM menu of the upgraded HQ, once built. This command requests the return of all wares, credits, and blueprints stored from before the upgrade procedure:
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Download and Installation
This addon installs using Plugin Manager Lite. Due to the nature of HQs abilities, times, and costs being set at the moment the HQ is built, this script comes in several flavours, only install one of them.
Unless you have an existing HQ mod installed, then upgrading your HQ should be your first action in-game before blueprinting any wares. I'd recommend the 10% upgrade download if you're unsure which version to select.
Ware Blueprint Manager 2.1 (upgraded 10% production time)
This version upgrades your HQ to support ware blueprints and reduces production times to 10% of their original. cost and resources are unchanged.
Ware Blueprint Manager 2.1 (upgraded default times and costs)
This version upgrades your HQ with ware blueprint support. Production time, cost, and resources are all unchanged.
Ware Blueprint Manager 2.1 (upgraded 10% time, 50% resources)
This version upgrades the HQ to support ware blueprints, reduces production times to 10%, reduces resource requirements to 50%, but keeps costs unchanged.
Ware Blueprint Manager 2.1 (compatible with other HQ mods)
Use this version if you currently have another player HQ mod installed. If ware blueprints fail to appear in your HQ, see the F.A.Q. on updating the HQ mod. You'll only need to use the in-game Upgrade HQ service when the player HQ mod you're using is ever updated.
Upgrading
Upgrading requires you exit the game, uninstall your previous version of WBM, then install the new version.
If you wish to change flavour of WBM, that is to say change your HQ attributes, you should follow the same procedure as above, then upgrade your HQ in-game using the WBM menu. However, be warned that each time you upgrade HQ with WBM the cost will escalate.
Uninstall
Uninstall at any time using Plugin Manager Lite, no save required.
F.A.Q.
Q. So in short, what does this script do?
A. It lets you blueprint and produce any ware in your player HQ. Creating blueprints uses a custom menu, but production is handled in the Adjust Parameters menu of your HQ, just the same as producing ships.
Q. But i built my HQ already, and i know you can't change it once it's built?
A. That's right, so this script provides a way to rebuild your HQ whilst preserving it's contents.
Q. Will i lose all the rare ship blueprints that i've collected when i upgrade my HQ?
A. No, the upgrade will put your current blueprints into storage and let you restore them later.
Q. I edited my own HQ.xml file to increase the pitiful storage capacity of the default HQ, does that mean i need the mod compatibility version of WBM?
A. No you should use one of the upgrade versions, as all of them increase the HQ storage capacity to 50 million units.
Q. I also customised other areas of my own hq.xml, and i'd like to keep those changes, are you sure i should install an upgrade version of WBM?
A. You should, but first make a backup of your custom hq.xml, then install an upgrade version of WBM and edit the installed hq.xml to suit, before using the Upgrade Headquarters command in-game.
Q. I blueprinted some wares but they don't appear in the Adjust Parameters menu of my headquarters?
A. You need to upgrade your headquarters before any blueprinted wares are available for production.
Q. I upgraded my headquarters but there's still no production entry for the wares i've blueprinted?
A. Roll back to savegame before the upgrade, and exit game. Ensure your installed version of WBM is an upgrade version (ie. not the mod compatibility install).
Q. But i am using a HQ mod so i downloaded the compatibility version, yet my blueprinted wares don't appear for production in my HQ?
A. The author of your HQ addon needs to add ware blueprint support to hq.xml, namely in the <production> section and ideally in the <resources> section too. The specific changes can be found by downloading the vanilla upgrade version of WBM and comparing the contained hq.xml to the default X3TC 2.5 version.
Q. Is this script available in my language?
A. There are no translations at present, but if anyone would like to, thanks.
Q. What does the list of blueprints in the main WBM menu actually do?
A. Nothing as yet, it's more for a fast way to check what blueprints you have, rather than scroll the often massive list of products and resources in the adjust parameters menu of the HQ.
Compatibility and game resources
So far as i'm aware, there aren't any incompatibilities with existing scripts according to xai corp's resource register.
If you use a mod or fake patch that alters the HQ, download the plain WBM without the HQ mod included.
Code: Select all
T-file:
8983 ......... Ware Blueprint Manager by Myshkin
text-page:
8983 ......... Ware Blueprint Manager by Myshkin
<t id="1143">WBM_MENU</t> : Ware Blueprint Manager
Credit and thanks
LV - excellent tutorial on scripting for the X engine - http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=218654
Apricotslice - Huge appreciation for your Apricot PHQ v3 mod, comparing this to the vanilla hq.xml let me figure out what was needed for ware blueprint support in the HQ. - http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=226623
Future versions
RE times for wares
While it's not possible so far as i know, to have RE times in the same way as a ship would, it would be possible to RE wares seperately in the WBM window with a status update area to track REs. I'm not sure if anyone wants this though?