Endless Sky: Ursa Polaris

Most recent release: 2019july17
What do most players want (and sometimes create a plugin to accomplish) when they complete the existing plot?

A PLACE THAT HAS ALL THE OUTFITS!
MORE GUNS!
MORE PLOT!
SOMEWHERE FOR ALL THESE CREDITS TO GO!

How to install this (or any other) plugin

Step 1: Give this guide a Thumbs Up Rating (so others can more easily find as much fun as you're about to), and add it to your Steam Favourites (to keep up to date with development).

Step 2: Download the Ursa Polaris plugin[github.com]

Step 3*: On your computer, deposit the entire unzipped "Ursa Polaris-master" folder here;

• Linux: ~/.local/share/endless-sky/plugins/
  
• Windows: ~\AppData\Roaming\endless-sky\plugins\
  
• Mac OS X*: ~/Library/ApplicationSupport/endless-sky/plugins

(most plugins are distributed as a .zip file, which you should download and unzip here)
Step 4: Restart Endless Sky, if it was already open, and create a new Pilot Character, complete the first mission offered by James, and then the Free Worlds plot (or create a snapshot of a pilot that already has.)

Step 5: Visit the Space Port on Hestia in the Talita system.


Step 6: Make Snapshots of your character often. iIt's easy to fail a mission without realizing it, and there's no way to try again if you do.

Step 7: Keep coming back to check the Version History in this guide (and the link in Step 2) for updates, and comment with bugs, praise, slagging, suggestions, or general trolling.

* Some Mac (and Windows) users have trouble locating the above folder because by default, the Finder (Windows) hides /Library (\AppData) so that people who don't know what they're doing don't accidentally mess anything critical up.

to change this on Mac OS X;

• open a new Finder window, click on the house with your username at the left.
  
• secondary click (control+left click, or right click, two fingers press (or tap if you enabled)) in the space below the 'Public' folder
  
• select 'Show View Options' from the drop-down menu.
  
• in the window that appears, check 'Show Library Folder'
  
• navigate the path in Step 3
• feel free to create an alias of the endless-sky folder for your desktop (or wherever), and make /Library invisible again, if you prefer.

for Windows

• Browse to your main drive where Windows resides, e.g. C:
  
• Go to the folder C:\Users
  
• Dig deeper into the folder with your username. If you don’t know your username, you should see it when you log on or out of your PC.
  
• Next, use the View tab at the very top and tick the option
  
• navigate the path in Step 3
  
• feel free to create a shortcut to the endless-sky directory for your desktop (or wherever), and make \AppData invisible again, if you prefer.

http://www.windows10themes.net/guides/how-to-view-the-appdata-folder-in-windows-10/

now seriously, too many of you have been skipping step one, and there's no really good reason for it - this plugin installation guide is tops (you'll not find more comprehensive instructions anywhere, and the plugin itself has recieved only positive reviews) - THUMBS UP, PLEASE!.

About Ursa Polaris and the creator

Ursa Polaris; This plugin contains missions for your pilot to create a centrally located outfitter space station that stocks outfits from across the galaxy, and unlock all outfits made available through the Free Worlds plot, regardless of your arc choices (which will almost always preclude you from at least one). It additionally offers a few new end-game outfits with interesting balance points (that are quite effective). In all seriousness, though - balance was my primary focus - this is not a cheat mod, and an outfitter with all the outfits should cost what it does (or possibly more. this may change in the near future, as economic balances are applied within E.S.)

To start accessing this content in-game, simply finish the Free Worlds Plot, then visit Hestia's Spaceport.


creator; like most players, when i completed the free worlds plot, i amassed a large fleet (analyzing outfits and buying and building custom ships, 20 at a time, parking and unparking throughout the galaxy), dominated systems, and plundered the korath and quarg.

i played through the plot over and over, to experience every plot twist and conversation fragment. then i started reading the existing mission and event coding, checking the wiki, and reading everything i could from the author of endless sky.

with a week and a half left in 2015, nearly four months after starting the game for the first time, i started writing a story arc, coding missions and events, and creating sprites.

2016 furnished some help with outfitter sprites and content found in the google group where i maintained weekly updates of my progress.

at the time of the Steam release of Ursa Polaris, the mission file had grown longer than the Free Worlds reconciliation mission set.

my aim was to create as seamless content as possible that would occur after the free worlds/republic/syndicate plotlines, even though two thirds of it is non-existent.

this plugin is supposed to be so vanilla ice cream, even the name is cold and white. it's so unobtrusive, i believe it will become a permanent resident in most plugin folders.

my dream is for this content to be polished/balanced enough to be incorporated into the 1.0 release of Endless Sky.

help is appreciated (and credited).

i am a regular in the google group, so if you post a topic there (in the General Discussion), i will probably see it. feedback is appreciated, so please leave some here or there.

i guess it's time to update this a little; i've become a Steam moderator for the Endless Sky forum (in case you hadn't noticed), and besides creating this content, i've gone on to contribute the Nest, Roost, Skein, Barb, Finch, Boxwing, X1050, Hai Engines, and Pond Strider (the last is in 0.9.3, unreleased at the time of this writing), with others supplying sprites for the Solifuge, Violin Spider, Flea, Gatling Gun, Rail Gun, and other Hai outfits (all 0.9.3) and all the Marauder ships/jobs (there weren't any before @Wrzlprnft and i got together on that project).

life has been hectic, haven't had any time for ES or UP lately...hope to find some soon...

How to get involved

if you're interested in contributing to Ursa Polaris or Endless Sky, GitHub is where that development happens. (link in Step 2 of the installation instructions)

step 1: create an account with an email you don't mind getting "spammed" with subscriptions (it's in quotes, because if you're recieving them, you've actually subscribed to a mailing list).

step 2: fork the repository you wish to contribute to.

step 3: make the changes to your fork using the in-browser text editor.

step 4: create a "pull request" asking the original author to make the proposed changes.

GitHub has some guides on their site which can be helpful, and contributing is a very rewarding experience - YOU CAN DO IT! (as long as you're somewhat inquisitive and patient)

Version History

Ursa Polaris is as stable and complete a release as i could have hoped for when i started in December (2015). Updates will be hopefully less frequent, and probably bug fixes that will be synced immediately.

re-releases of Ursa Polaris try to coincide with even numbered Endless Sky updates, when necessary.

• 17july2019
  • Added Remnants missions
    
  • Fixed some mission text errors
    
  • Removed deprecated outfits
    
  • Cleaned up some outfitter management
• 22march2017
  • New Station Sprites! (thanks for the trash M.Z.!)
    
  • Some flavour text corrections regarding pricing
• 13march2017
  • Polar Core gets active cooling
    
  • Some cost adjustments to account for Depreciation
• 11october2016
  • compatability fixes
    
  • grammar fixes
    
  • intertial damper outfit sprite (thanks again, @Wrzlprnft!)
    
  • new mass driver outfit sprite (courtesy of the original contributor)
• 4may2016 (last "Steam release")
  • grammar fixes (thanks! @Alkallid)
• 3may2016
  • compatibility (a few missions required the “automaton” attribute)
    
  • tweaks to weapons
    
  • added release date to copyright&credits
    
  • backward compatible mission/event to add android/photocells/X1050
    
  • added planned outfits to above rollout
    
  • fixed ship/ships file location bug
    
  • autofail invisible missions (rather than waiting for you to visit UPS
    for it to clear from your save)
    
  • errors.txt should be empty
• 27mar2016
  • removed extra 'tarazeddeal' label. errors.txt should be empty, excepting "piercing" attribute errors (which will resolve themselves upon 0.9.0 release). thanks for the bug report! @Derpy Horse
• 26mar2016
  • cleaned up payment missions - everything should function properly.
• 20mar2016
  • removed some error-producing syntax, workaround coding in some situations - please feedback functionality.
    
  • added piercing attribute to Mass Driver. weapon functionality will not change until the next release of Endless Sky (expected soon).
• 11mar2016
  • fixed OS26 payment, thanks for the report! @Brazen
• 7mar2016
  • fixed OS18W mission text, thanks for another bug report! @jimgalbraith
    
  • fixed ship ship sprite issue - thanks for the bug report! @CynicalOptimist
• 5mar2016
  • fixed OS15F 'to offer' condition, thanks for the bug report! @jimgalbraith
    
  • finally figured out how to clear the spaceport off Hope - backwards compatible
    
  • rebalanced Polar Core - missed a '0' in the mass damage.
• 3mar2016
  • conclusion of wormhole mission
    
  • Polar Core unlock
    
  • numerous conversation/syntax corrections - your errors.txt should shrink dramatically.
    
  • corrected misleading mission text for Hai outfits mission - thanks for the bug report! @jimgalbraith
    
  • re-re-balanced h.i.p. cannon (these are really tiny adjustments - you probably won't even notice)
    
  • S.A.R.C. outfit sprite (finally!) - huge thanks! @Wrzlprnft
    
  • Polar Core sprite! enormous thanks! @Wrzlprnft (plus some effort of my own)
    
  • Cloaking Device unlock missions completed! this is a micro-plot, that is *extremely* rare and expensive, and can be failed fairly easily - if you get an urgent dialog summons from James on landing, accept and make a snapshot of your pilot character. (the 'decline' button has been coded to 'defer')
    
  • actual blender-generated outfit sprites for H.I.P. Cannon, Ion Beam and Ion Beam Turret - can't thank you enough! @Wrzlprnft
    
  • thanks for the quick bugs report! @Helblindi - re-updated @ 1700h E.S.T.
• 26feb2016
  • organized images, created invisible missions to update station sprite addresses
    
  • re-balanced h.i.p. cannon
    
  • fixed asteroid ship bug - thanks for the report! @dr650sm
    
  • (much) more story text in several missions - thanks in part to @spiral03
    
  • removed misleading negative salary dialogue, and replaced with tiny salary (invisible backward compatability mission included)
• 24feb2016
  
  • missions after 'hai outfits' now trigger properly
• 23feb2016
  
  • steam launch - nearly completely stable release
• 18feb2016
  
  • pre steam-release (for anyone interested in digging into how U.P. has evolved)

Work in progress

Ursa Polaris has exceeded my original intentions, and i need time to plan the future of this project. in the meantime, i will also be focusing more on assisting the development team achieve more immediate goals for Endless Sky.

still on the "to do" list

• more mission flavour text - i am welcome to submissions of 500+ words for conversations that are only one or two lines (or contain no decline/defer option.)
  
• new mass driver projectile sprites
  
• more new outfits
  
• "net worth" balancing
  
• accepted community suggestions
  
• integrate republic and syndicate plot

How to cheat: SPOILER ALERT!

seriously, though - as a content creator who has done hundreds of hours of development, i can not tell you how to bypass tens of thousands of hours of creative effort - there is no shortcut to experiencing the hours of enjoyment that have been prepared for you.

in this case, the means is the end.

enjoy what's there, and here, (because it's all far from complete) and figure out your own shortcuts

if you insist on knowing the quickest way to be rich; open your Pilot Character file and alter the "credits" figure.
your save files can be found here;

• Linux: ~/.local/share/endless-sky/saves/
• Windows: ~\AppData\Roaming\endless-sky\saves\
• Mac OS X: ~/Library/ApplicationSupport/endless-sky/saves

(in case you didn't notice it when installing the plugin)

[Master Xy]

dope plugin

[VA1DER]

After completing the four missions to escort supplies and ships from the four human areas, is there anything more? In the comments here I see hints of other missions I don't recall doing, but I can't seem to activate them. And does this plugin only give access to human tech? When it said bring all outfits I assumed it was alien ones too.

[Hecter94]

Use Omnis
{LINK REMOVED}https://github.com/EndlessSkyCommunity/-Omnis

[Snively Dicklash]

also to the best of my knowledge localgod is working on code for the full game now and this plugin has fallen by the wayside

[siber.cat1]

Well, the beauty of being open source is anybody can pick it back up and update it again, so... we'll see if that happens

[[SG]Rivero]

I last checked this mod out in 2021 and now almost two years later there is sadly no sign of an update any time soon. Last time the github version was updated was august 2020 so sad to see this being abandoned

[muckyshoe]

Is there anymore after obtaining the P.C.?

[a_red_kitsune]

I found the pug after I got the wander quest from getting the Hai text. But now i'm lost on what to do next. Am i supposed to unlock city ships?

[WetefuQ17]

Can't wait for the syndicate and republic plot! I raly hop that you have time to finish this it is awesome!

[TheForgottenOne]

heyo! loving the extra content you've provided. came across an issue, follow the creature mission seems to be incomplete in the remnant questline.