Furscape MUCK

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====== Introduction ======
To borrow a phrase from an older, long-gone version of Furscape's website, "Space is the ADVANCED system in Furscape."
 
Players wishing to design and build their own spaceship will need to read this page and the [[Spaceship Upgrades]] page before requesting a ship.  They will need the following:
  * Documentation for the ship's design and intended use.
  * Sufficient funds to purchase all modules required to outfit said ship.

If building a ship that is larger than the minimum spaceworthy size (OOCly referred to as 'class-one'), the following question must be taken into consideration: "Who is going to help crew my ship?"  Ships larger than the minimum size require multiple **players** (not characters!) to participate in operating the ship.
 
This is the latest version of the ship building manual. It is likely to evolve to include FAQ and fixes as players run into questions or problems while following these instructions. If you follow these instructions and something does not seem to work, please contact Karinne, Zobeid, or Hagalaz by **page #mail**.


====== Creating the Ship Object ====== 

Spaceship construction should ideally be done in or near an existing spaceport, and in an area that does not belong to a W3 or higher wizard.  Most spaceports have hangers which are a convenient place to work.

The beginning command is "makevehicle".  This automatically creates a basic, generic vehicle with a vehicle object, an interior room, and a parent room.  This type of vehicle cannot travel in space, but it can be converted to a spaceship when it's ready for approval.

You should lock the newly-created vehicle so other players can't move it:

''**@lock vehicle=me&!me**''

You should also register the vehicle so you can easily address commands to it:

''**@reg #me vehicle=MyVehicle**''

Then you can rename it to something more appropriate.  For example:

''**@name vehicle=Brazen Serpent**''

===== Describe the Ship Object =====

Now that we know nobody is going to run away with our object, it should be given a description. Remember to write accurately what the vehicle looks like in terms of size, entrance locations, design style, etc. Planetary, corporate or group logo is also to be mentioned in the description.

''**lsedit $MyVehObject=desc** ''
   *<multi-line description of your choice, may include MPI and ansi color>
   *hit <ENTER> at end of each paragraph.
   *type .help for the list editor help hints.
 
 
**.end**

''**@desc $MyVehObject={eval:{list:desc,this}}**'' 

You may set further details on your ship object, such as a scent, some patterns for MPI pronoun substitution, etc. Anyway, when you **look** at a sample ship object, you should now look something like: 

**Brazen Serpent(#555V)**

with a description of the ship appearing after the name of the ship.

===== Set up LITE properties on ship object =====

Set up your vehicle preferences on the spaceship. This is done by assigning values to a list of properties in the **_vprefs/**  directory in your object properties. All are optional, if left empty in most cases the LITE programs will insert a default.

For example, to set your Powerup and Powerdown messages, use:
 
''**@SET $MyVehObject = _vprefs/Powerup:trembles as the generators come online.**''
  
''**@SET $MyVehObject = _vprefs/Powerdown:gently powers down. Its lights dim, and then it becomes quiet.**'' 
 
Other vehicle preferences include:

**_vprefs/Type**  = What your ship is supposed to be, eg 'Long Range Scout', 'Luna Trader', etc.

The following are used when a ship acts as a carrier:

**_vprefs/CarrierIn_su**  = Set here the message sent to a ship landing to your vehicle bay.

**_vprefs/CarrierIn_osu**  = Set here what ships around you see when a ship lands to your vehicle bay

**_vprefs/CarrierIn_odr**  = Set here what is seen in your vehicle bay when a ship is incoming

For an up to date list, you should type ''**@view $props/vprefs**''

For the moment, we are done with the vehicle object. 

===== Move to the Ship's Parent Room =====
 
To enter your ship:

''**enter $myvehicle**''

To find the dbref number of your ship's parent room:

''**examine here**''

The very top line should list the parent room.  You should see something similar to:

**Inside Zobeid's Vehicle(#7945RJ)  Owner: Zobeid  Parent: Zobeid's Vehicle Parent(#7950RJ)**

What you want is the number at the end.  In this case: **#7950**

We'll register it much as before:

''**@reg #me #7950=MyVehRooms**''

You can go there using @teleport, or @tel for short:

''**@tel me=$MyVehRooms**''

Because actions inherit down the environment, and all the rooms in your ship are either directly or indirectly going to be below this one, any action you create on this object will be available from every room in your vehicle. This makes it the ideal place to install your home-made MPI commands from. If you have none, you may skip this step.

There is only limited freedom in how this particular room should be described - use the following:

''**@desc $MyVehRooms=Builder: <your name>, Co-builders: <anyone else helping you>, Reason for building: <what the ship is for>, <enter any other comments you like to mention as related to the ship construction here>**''
 
===== Start making the actual interior rooms for your ship =====

Begin creating real rooms now for your ship. (If you know how, you can also use additional layers of sub-parentrooms for seperate parts of the ship, which will not affect ship operation in any way. For novice builders however, we will work with the simpler concept of having all further rooms directly under **$MyVehRooms**.)

Here is a guideline for how many interior rooms are considered appropriate for different size classes of ship:

^Class ^ Size (m) ^ #rooms ^ Suitable civilian ship type examples ^
| 1    | 60-100   | 2-5    | Scouts, couriers, other private transport |
| 2    | 100-300  | 4-12   | "Free Trader"-style transports, passenger liners |
| 3    | 300-600  | 10-18  | "Subsidized Merchant"-style transports (group-owned) |
| 4    | 600-1000 | 15-25  | Supertanker, Long distance passenger liner |
| 5    |1000-1500 | 30-40  | Restricted to major organizations with Headwizard approval. |
| L    | Any      | Any    | Planets, Space stations, etc. |

Please note the additional requirements for spaceships of various size classes. These are cumulative, so whatever is required for a size 1 is also required for size 2, and so forth:
 
Class 1 
   *Complete and thorough description on the vehicle object (//spellcheck please!//). 
   *Complete and thorough description on any rooms inside the vehicle (//spellcheck please!//). 
   *Minimum number of rooms is two, in which case one room must be a dedicated airlock, and the other a combination of control room and crew space in one. 
   *Anything additional that the staffer handling the request considers vital to the nature of the ship that has been requested may be added to the list of requirements on a case-by-case basis.
 
Class 2
  *Requires minimal crew of 1 supporting the request that is not also crew to another ship
  *@succ, @osucc and @odrop on all exits
  *Must have equivalent of identifyable crew space. Crew stations may double as other parts of the ship if necessary to keep to realistic room distribution.
 
Class 3
   *Requires minimal crew of 3 supporting the request that is not also crew to another ship
   *Must have equivalent of Crew Cabins or Bunk Room with lockers
   *Must have equivalent of Auxiliary Bridge ( or distributed controls anyway for alien ships that do not adhere to the philosophy of having a central location )
   *Must have equivalent of Engine Room
   *Must have equivalent of First Aid Station
   *Must have equivalent of Galley
   *Must have 'decoration' on board, meaning mpi or @succ/@osucc'ed exits that allow RP related actions in appropriate rooms. This way, by the time a player can own a Class 3 ship, they should also be at least capable of building a decent interesting muck area.
 
Class 4
   *Requires minimal crew of 5 supporting the request that is not also crew to another ship
   *At least one Headwiz must approve the creation of a Class 4
   *Must have equivalent of Mess Hall
   *Must have equivalent of Fully Equipped Medical Bay
   *Must have equivalent of actual IC storerooms for larger gear
   *Must have equivalent of multiple entry hatches
 
Class 5
   *Must be created in the course of a long running TP, which is handled together with our RP staffers.
   *Headwiz majority vote is required for approval of any Class 5
 
===== Example room - the Bridge =====

Since most ships will have a bridge at least, we will create that as an example of how to add a room to your ship. Feel free to replace "Bridge" with anything you feel is appropriate. Remember, you should still be standing in the room you created in 

''**@dig Bridge = here**''
 
**Look** at the room. You will see that your room has appeared in the room contents with you.  Now go there.
 
''**@TEL me = <Bridge room dbref#>**'' ( Where dbref#. is the reference number shown next to the new room)
 
Make sure there are no properties on your room. While standing inside, type:

''**EXAMINE here=/**''
 
There should be nothing there. If there is anything there, remove it and repeat.
 

===== Describe the room =====
 
Using either **@desc** or the room-editor **editroom**, edit the appearance of this room to look like the command center of your ship - or any other part of your ship if you are making something other than a bridge.

When describing spaceship interior rooms, please remember that we don't have artificial gravity or inertial dampers on our ships!  That technology doesn't exist in our setting.  Large space stations can provide artificial gravity through rotation, but that method is not practical for most spaceships.  Your spaceship interior will be either in microgravity or under acceleration most of the time.  Interior furnishings should reflect this with hand-holds, ladders, bunks and storage where equipment can be held securely.

===== Activating ship command functions =====
 
For fun, type **navigate** or **pilot** or another obvious spaceship command. You will get a hint on how to enable the command to be used in your room. After you set the prop it told you was missing, you can run it again. Don't worry about the error message you get now, that is going to stay that way until after your ship has been approved by a member of staff.

===== Return to the Parent Room, and repeat... =====

You do not need to do anything else to this room for now. Type **exit** to return to your vehicle's parent room.

Create at least one other room. It may be a cargo room with a direct outside access hatch if you are making a small shuttle, or an actual airlock for larger vessels. Use the steps listed for creating the bridge for this, and every other room you create for your ship. While making descriptions, keep in mind that this is a realistic game. Technology that is out of reach for the levels described in muck documentation can also not be on board you ship, the 'private area' rules do not apply to rooms within ships. 

//(This also implies that unless an arrangement is made with RP staff, the inside area of a spaceship must not be rated at or upward of R in terms of violence or sexual theme. Good taste please.)//

//Also, a case I will mention explicitly because it keeps coming up for some reason, is that while they may be pleasant to have around, regulation ship features would not include a Jacuzzi. (Exceptions are permitted, but before asking a wizard, ask yourself if your ship is a luxury liner, super-expensive private yacht, or that you are perhaps installing one on the officers deck on a class 4 or 5 command carrier. If none of these conditions apply, the answer is most likely going to be 'no'.)//

===== Linking the rooms =====

Because people do not go around using OOC commands like **@tel** to get around the ship all the time, you must create //exits// between your rooms. This is easiest while you are standing in the parent room, so **@tel me = $MyVehRooms** if you are not already there. The advantage to being there is that you can need only type **look** and it will show all the reference number of the rooms in your ship, so you do not need to write them down on paper or keep them memorized all the time.

Create actions in rooms leading to other rooms:

''**@ACTION <exit name> = #<room that has this exit>,#<room the exit leads to>**''

Continue until you have linked all the rooms together the way you wanted them to be. It usually helps to have a small diagram on paper describing your ship, and have the exits numbered, so that you can do them in some logical order and decrease the risk of finding afterwards that you missed one or a few.

===== Double-check your work =====

Walk through your ship a lot, using every exit in every room to be sure they are in the right places. Also keep an eye out for consistency in your room descriptions (If one end of a hallway has red floor panels and concave walls, and the linked other end of the hallway has green panels or carpet and straight walls, you are possibly doing something wrong) Not compulsory, but while you are doing this, you may want to set **@lock**s on doors, as well as **@succ, @osucc, @fail, @ofail, @drop, @odrop** and **@desc** messages where appropriate. These features are going to make your ship a very attractive example of shipbuilding, especially if you can combine them with MPI.

//NOTE: Basic @succ, @osucc, and @odrop messages are now required in ships of size class 2 or higher!//

====== Other Options ======
 
If you want your ship to be able to act as a carrier, make sure your ship contains a room described appropriately for the type of vehicle you wish to carry there. On military ships this room may be a 'fighter launch bay', on civilian ships it is more likely to be named along lines of 'shuttle bay' or just 'vehicle bay' for those who wish to carry a mix of space, air, ground or other small vehicles.

To activate a room to act as a vehicle bay, stand in it and type:

''**@set here=_shipok?:yes**'' 

''**@set here=_vehbay:yes**''
 
You may have more than one room in your ship set **_shipok?:yes**, but you can only have one room set **_vehbay:yes**. If you have more, then only the //first// one encountered by the carrier system will be used.

====== Finishing Touches ======
 
===== Ship Approval =====
Your ship should now be complete in all ways but two - it still needs to be **@approved**, and once approved as a spacecraft, it needs an airlock so users can go in and out subject to the physics of space.

It is time then to contact a staffer to get that ship approved, no? But wait - not all staffers can approve ships, so here is a list of those who can:

- The heads of RP staff
- Wizzes of rank W3 and up.

In practical terms this means, at the time of this writing,

  *Tsye - RP Wizard
  *Hagalaz - Headwizard
  *unci - Headwizard
  *Zobeid - Headwizard, MUF & Site Wizard
  *Karinne - Space Wizard
  *Flame - Building Wizard

If none of these is available, leave a **page #mail** with the request for approval, and mention explicitly the dbref# of your //$myVehRooms// because the wizards do not have psychic ability to know what ship you mean.

As it can take some time to properly inspect a ship, please accept that there may be some days delay between the request being made and the ship being given approval. (Or suggestions for change, if the ship does not meet the approval criteria of completeness and theme adherance)

===== Airlocks =====

To install an airlock, go into your airlock compartment (which you should have built and described before now), and enter this:
 
''**@action Egress Hatch (OUT);egress;hatch;out;o=here,$muf/lite-airlock**'' 

''**hatch #setup**''
 
Please note, your airlock should have one exit to and from the rest of the ship.  Your airlock compartment also cannot be used as a docking port. You do not need to create an exit to get back into your ship.  We now have the global **board <shipname>** action for boarding LITE ships.  This works by matching a ship name while standing in the same room as it.
 
If you're comfortable with code (or at the very least, can copy and paste), you can create a secure airlock to keep the riff-raff out of your ship by following the instructions [[secure airlocks|here]].
 
===== Docking Ports =====

To install a docking port, go into an appropriate room of your ship (but not the airlock compartment) and enter this:

''**@action Docking Port (DP);dp=here,$muf/lite-dock**'' 

''**dp**''
 
===== Communications =====

As a final touch, you may want to set up a communications set on your ship so you can talk with other spaceships.  For instructions, just enter this:

''**@view $muf/commset**''

===== Cargo Bays =====
Cargo bays serve as a useful point on your ship from which you can do things like receive, install, uninstall, and offload items.
 
//Main article: [[spaceship_operations#buying_and_reloading_munitions|Reloading Munitions]]//
 
//Main article: [[spaceship upgrades]]//
 
==== Setup ====
To set up the cargo bay to receive physical objects, enter the following:
 
''**@set here=_Loadingbay:Allow**''
 
''**@set here=_install:Allow**''
 
''**@set here=_ammoload:Allow**''
 
==== Use ====
 
Most spaceports will have a repair yard, and in these repair yards are mecha designed to handle physical cargo components such as LITE modules and munitions crates. You can use these mecha to ''**get**'' physical objects and load them on your ship by typing the following:
 
''**load <crate/component/etc...> onto <shipname>**''
 
You will see something similar to this:
 
''**CLM unit II loads <crate> onto the <shipname>**''
 
You can unload physical objects by typing the following:
 
''**unload <crate/component/etc...>**''
 
You will see something similar to this:
 
''**Loading arms push <crate> out of the cargo bay and deposit it outside the ship.**''
 
 
====== Phase Three: PROFIT! ======
The next step is to proceed directly to the [[spaceship upgrades]] page and install modules.  If you are not planning to install weapons modules, you must install empty cargohold modules to take up all available space.  You may NOT build a ship that is described as a warship or as having combat capability without the corresponding weapons modules installed.
 
Now you should have a fully functional spaceship!