Stand-alone Designer

[Barkhorn (OP)]

I saw this idea come up in the Academy, but thought it totally deserved its own thread.

I'd love a stand-alone designer.  It'd include all the techs, and would let you design every part and build ships from said parts but without the rest of the game.

This would be great for a couple of reasons.  

First, it'd let people at least toy around with designs even if they're not on a computer with a tall enough screen to play, for example on their lap-top at work/school.

Second, it'd let people design things from scratch without needing to research every part first.  That way you'll never get done researching that new engine only to find it doesn't suit your needs.  The stand-alone designer would let you see the stats of a ship with that engine without having to research it all.

It shouldn't be hard to make, at least if there's a big compendium somewhere of all the techs and the formulas for calculating stats.  I could probably make it myself if someone can point me toward those resources.

Edit: Wow, hive-mind.  Looks like at least 3 other people had this same idea since I started typing this.

[Cheet4h]

An standalone designer would be awesome, yeah.

I'm also a programmer and would be interested in helping to create this designer. I think most of the formulas are available in the wiki somewhere and most others are buried somewhere in the 'Mechanics' forum.

[Gwyn ap Nud]

One way of doing this easily would be to ask Steve for the database password, get your values, and then put the program online.  You can't access the database itself through another program without the person running the program having the password, iirc.  So you'd have to have permission to use the information in the database outside of the database. 

Also, yayyyyy, people like my idea!

[Charlie Beeler]

Prototypers/designers do exist.  They are in the hands of people that have the database password.  They are not distributed because Steve has specified that the password and/or the database is not to be.

Perhaps Steve will decide that a stand alone extract of the systems tech table can be distributed.  That is all that is really needed from the database for such a tool.  After that the majority of the formuli are already posted in verious place throughout the forum that are need to things like engine design.

[Erik L]

If the password is embedded in code, it won't be visible unless the code is reverse engineered.

The backup/launcher I wrote uses the db password to display the list of current games.

[Barkhorn (OP)]

Well wait, if all the formulas for design exist outside the db somewhere, either on the wiki or hidden somewhere on the forum, why do I need the database password to make my own designer?

The tech-tree could be figured out by a little SM instant research.  Once I get all that written down somewhere, a stand-alone, database-free designer shouldn't take long at all to make.

Or is it a copy-right thing and Steve doesn't want us doing this kind of thing?

[Erik L]

The only reason I see needing the password is to lookup tech in the db. All the algorithms and such are in Steve's code. Any formula posted without Steve's name or confirmation from him might be off.

[Charlie Beeler]

The only reason I see needing the password is to lookup tech in the db. All the algorithms and such are in Steve's code. Any formula posted without Steve's name or confirmation from him might be off.

I will say this,  the formula I use in my spreadsheet are either ones directly from Steve's posts or ones I've confirmed with him.

Using the database tech table made the most sense since it is a single point reference for the data.  Also just using the tech discription is something not enough since it doesn't always have the relevent values.  More importantly, the tech dependencies are not always obvious.  This is especially true in the cases where a new tech requires more than pre-researched tech.