Support different Initial Settlements

[bevans2000]

The creation of the SettlementBuilder as part #355 has isolated the logic to create new Settlements at the simulation start. This could now be extended to allow the different initial settlements to be saved as a local XML file and then used again. This would add a new command line argument -initial that selects a different initial Settlement set.
The existing Config Editor would be extended with the ability to save load different configurations.
With the reworking of the CrewConfig it could also be possible to allow multiple Crews to be used where each one is assigned to a different Settlement.

[bevans2000]

@mokun did you previously mention something about defining the settlements externally? An old discussion?

[mokun]

Don't know why roster is null, which is that's why it can't getName().

[bevans2000]

I've found the problem. It is because the crew.xml is no longer copied out to the xml sub-directory. So this only shows itself if a new build number is used and the xml folder is rebuilt. I'll sort it out.

[mokun]

Hmm. In the past, the alpha crew is defined in crew.xml and this file is with all others xml files. Unfortunately, the beta crew is user-defined and so beta_crew.xml is somewhere else where user can easily find instead. Do you like this arrangement?

[bevans2000]

No the configuration is fine. I am going to rename the crew.xml to crew_alpha.xml, basically make it generic to support multiple crews in the future. I would like to have the ability to assign different crews to different Settlements in the initial configuration. So I wanted to make this change anyway; just brought it forward to fix this issue.
The concept of a bundled XML is now clearer with the change I'm doing.
I'll have it sorted later.

[bevans2000]

Should be fixed now 97036bc

[bevans2000]

@mokun What do you think about having the concept of a "scenario" that bootstraps the initial Simulation? This would contain a set of initial Settlements, potentially new specialised Reporting Authorities and special defined crews. The work I've been doing on #363 on improving the flexibility of ReportingAuthority has made me realise we no longer need to have the Sponsors as a fixed enum ReportingAuthorityType.
Also Crews should be assigned to Initial Settlements with the support for multiple crews in a single scenario.
So in theory we could provide a mixture of default scenarios, e.g. the current default of one Settlement per RA, only on RA but with multiple Settlements.
A user could use a modified SiteEditor to create their own Scenarios and save them. Obviously scenario selection woul dbe via command line arguments or the console stat-up screen.

[mokun]

contain a set of initial Settlements, potentially new specialised Reporting Authorities and special defined crew

Sure. To add on top of that, we can put together a Scenario Editor, where it will let us developers or players customize certain things such as country, agency, bonus points, etc.

They can create their own storyline and set goals and achievement.

[mokun]

@larsnaesbye, I know you have the breath of experiences working on other open source projects.

Anything in particular you have in mind you would like chime in when it comes to setting up the idea of scenarios ?

[bevans2000]

Exactly. I think it would be quite good. I might create a project of Git issues so we can approach it in a gradual fashion.

[larsnaesbye]

I don't have anything that directly relates to this, no.
But it seems to me that in the gaming communities modding is a big part of why some games stay relevant for people. And also the opportunity to craft scenarios and distribute them to others.