Table of Contents
Overview
The <PlayerSettings> element is a sub-element of <ShipClass>. It defines the properties necessary to turn a ship into a player ship class.
If a ship class has no <PlayerSettings> the engine checks any inherited bases classes. If no <PlayerSettings> element is found the ship class is not considered a player ship.
Starting Ship
The adventure determines the set of player ship classes to offer as a starting ship. The AdventureDesc element has a startingShipCriteria parameter that defines the set of player ships to include. A player ship class may influence this choice with the initialClass parameter:
initialClass= This parameter influences whether or not this ship class is offered as a starting ship class when a new adventure is started. A value of true means that the ship class is offered provided that it matches the adventure's criteria. A value of false or no value at all means that the ship class is never offered as a starting ship (a player may, however, later switch to this ship class, if appropriate).
A value of always means that the ship class is always offered regardless of the adventure criteria. Note: This value should generally only be used for debugging purposes: it is rare for a ship class to be appropriate in all adventures.
Starting Ships for The Stars of the Pilgrim
In order to be included as a starting player ship in The Stars of the Pilgrim, the ship class must do the following:
- Include the special attribute 00200000_PlayerShip
- Set initialClass to true
Example:
<ShipClass ... attributes="00200000_PlayerShip" ... > <PlayerSettings ... initialClass="true" > ... </PlayerSettings> </ShipClass>
Armor Display
The <ArmorDisplay> element is a sub-element of <PlayerSettings>; it defines the display of the ship's armor on the HUD.
If <ArmorDisplay> is omitted the engine looks for an <ArmorDisplay> element in an inherited base class. An error is returned if none is found.
Reactor Display
The <ReactorDisplay> element is a sub-element of <PlayerSettings>; it defines the display of the ship's fuel and reactor on the HUD.
If <ReactorDisplay> is omitted the engine looks for a <ReactorDisplay> element in an inherited base class. An error is returned if none is found.
Shield Display
The <ShieldDisplay> element is a sub-element of <PlayerSettings>; it defines the display of the ship's shield generator on the HUD.
shieldLevelEffect= The UNID of an effect to use to display the shield level.
If <ShieldDisplay> is omitted the engine looks for a <ShieldDisplay> element in an inherited base class. An error is returned if none is found.