FreeOrion

I guess this is a minor thing, but is accretion disc a field or a special? I guess it can be both, but it seems a bit confusing.

• It's listed twice in the pedia, both in specials and in fields.
• It doesn't show up as a special in the Obects screen or on the planets themselves.
• In the supply meter it's referred to as "Special" Accretion Disc

Overall, this is something of an oddball entity (as far as i know... are there other things that are similar that i haven't run into?).

It behaves more like a "system special" than a normal planetary special, and doesn't really behave like any of the other fields afaik.

It's also pretty easy to overlook at the moment, since it doesn't show up as a planetary special, which can be annoying. Thoughts?

I would say it is similar to those field types such as the molecular cloud in that it affects all objects within its sphere of influence.

So the accretion disc would be one except it is only large enough to fit one system in it.

Hyperant wrote:I would say it is similar to those field types such as the molecular cloud in that it affects all objects within its sphere of influence.

So the accretion disc would be one except it is only large enough to fit one system in it.

That's sort of like saying a point is just a very small circle, which i suppose it is, but there's a reason they call it degenerate.

The disc is one of three system specials, and will show up in Objects as long as you set the filters to show systems, although I'm going to check tomorrow as I think I can see some on my map that aren't there.
https://github.com/freeorion/freeorion/ ... C.focs.txt

But, it generates a field effect not actually sure if it needs to but Sloth is a way better scripter than I'll ever be so there were probably reasons. So it's both a special and a field, so should appear in both.

MatGB wrote: and will show up in Objects as long as you set the filters to show systems

Oh, nice, i hadn't thought to do that, i usually leave mine on planets or occasionally switch it to fleets. Thanks for the response.

alleryn wrote:It's also pretty easy to overlook at the moment, since it doesn't show up as a planetary special, which can be annoying. Thoughts?

I also have found it easy to overlook. I think I've been burned by it often enough that I now am sufficiently diligent in checking for it, but I still find its limited display compared to its significance to be conceptually annoying. I think I would be far happier with a slightly different approach, which instead had the special, when at the system level, only create the field (if really necessary) and apply planetary-level copies of itself to any planet within the system that didn't already have the planetary level special, and then at the planet level have it create the supply malus. That way it wouldn't be so easy to overlook the malus when outposting a planet.

MatGB wrote:not actually sure if it needs to but Sloth is a way better scripter than I'll ever be so there were probably reasons. So it's both a special and a field, so should appear in both.

I will tentatively guess that he found it necessary to get the graphic to apply properly. It seems to me like the only other thing the field aspect could be accomplishing is simply making the thing locatable by searching for fields, which may have been a conceptual desire for Sloth by I but wouldn't see much point to it myself. (Side note: I encourage all scripters to add explanatory comments to their scripts for any aspect that may not be clear to later readers.)

Dilvish wrote: I think I would be far happier with a slightly different approach, which instead had the special, when at the system level, only create the field (if really necessary) and apply planetary-level copies of itself to any planet within the system that didn't already have the planetary level special, and then at the planet level have it create the supply malus

This approach has my vote.

Another approach could be to display an icon for system-wide specials, like we have for planetary specials. That icon could be shown on the bar with the system summaries.

Vezzra wrote:Another approach could be to display an icon for system-wide specials, like we have for planetary specials. That icon could be shown on the bar with the system summaries.

Even if changed to add specials to each planet, would still like a way to display specials on objects other than planets.

dbenage-cx wrote:Even if changed to add specials to each planet, would still like a way to display specials on objects other than planets.

Seconded.

Vezzra wrote: ↑Sun Nov 26, 2017 5:47 pm

dbenage-cx wrote:Even if changed to add specials to each planet, would still like a way to display specials on objects other than planets.

Seconded.

Is that difficult to implement ?
I really believe that Derelicts would be much more fun is they could be spotted from afar, and used strategically, rather than just be random boni.

LienRag wrote: ↑Wed Jul 19, 2023 5:12 pm Is that difficult to implement ?

just needs an implementor and a designer/graphics person