Oolite Bulletins

I just started playing today (well, a bit yesterday, badly, and then more today, less badly). So obviously I'm just doing the absolutely most n00b stuff imaginable. And discovering that trying to trade with a feudal world (or maybe it was the firearms I was carrying...?) results in a death spiral of fines.

arquebus wrote: ↑Tue Nov 02, 2021 1:40 am

I just started playing today (well, a bit yesterday, badly, and then more today, less badly). So obviously I'm just doing the absolutely most n00b stuff imaginable. And discovering that trying to trade with a feudal world (or maybe it was the firearms I was carrying...?) results in a death spiral of fines.

It will have been the firearms, I suspect. As a fervent feudalist, I trade with them all the time, and have yet to be fined... just threatened by the pirates. No issues with the police.

Since I'm an Elite Trader (G.E.T Brother, currently Master Trader), I of course focus on trade. Usually, when starting a new commander - always with FE Ships Player - I first sell all missiles and the laser, then exchange my initial Cobra III FE for another 'standard customer model/clone', finally selling its laser and anything pylon-mounted. These moves at Lave set me up with nearly 1000 cr for buying goods, before I light out onto Spaceway 1.

By the time I reach Qutiri, there are enough credits for a Large Cargo Bay. From there I head to a good milk-run (first, Zarence-->Isence, and a little later the triple Xexedi->Laenin->Lerelace beat). After ten or so back-and-forths on one or both of these runs, I soon amass enough cash to start fitting 10 or 20-ton Goods Containers. And after that, the sky's the limit.

With the additions, my Cobra III ends up with a total cargo capacity of 110 or 150 TC, depending whether I went for the 10 ton cannisters or the 20 ton ones.

First, I run _a lot_ of OXPs... some of them change the game mechanics (like the variation of HardWay I run, modified to make everybody, NPCs inclusive, need fuel for everything), others add whole new careers (like Towbar, that adds salvaging derelicts, and EscortDeck, that adds *usable* derelicts that you can save to Hyperspace Hangar and use as your escorts, or switch into them and use as your player ship - with some tweaking of datakeys and shipyard entries, of course!)

That said, I usually start with broken Adder (this last commander, with transport miner start), stay in Lave earning money by asteroid mining (in the miner transport start -I'm planning to tweak New Lasers so its JK-1 mining laser is available at Lave, that would enable the broken Adder start to go miner too) and trading on non-TC cargo (like gold, platinum, gem stones, medicine, luxuries, quirium crystals, the Adder doesn't have the cargo space to make trade in TC goods wothwhile) in the planet-sun lane (that means Kyota stations, Rock Hermits and Deep Space Dredgers) since I can't even find the planet-witchpoint lane without ASC or Telescope, and can't risk the lanes to the other planets (and their stations) without injectors, till I can buy Telescope, ECM and Large Cargo Bay (my other must-haves, Fuel Scoops, Fuel Injectors, ACP, Barrel Roll Governor, Wormhole Scanner and STE, are not available at Lave), then I get into the first wormhole I can find and deal with whatever system it leads to...

I have been using Here Be Dragons in this last commander and I'm liking the exploration game a lot.

I avoid combat till I can beef-up my ship's defense a bit (shield capacitors or shield booster), after that I'm *very* selective about when to run and when to fight, since equipment awarded to NPCs are functional in my Ooniverse: shield boosters, shield capacitors, energy units and grids, shield cycler... some NPCs get *really though*.

I don't usually buy ships but collect usable derelicts, working slowly up the ship's mass (tweaked EscortDeck to move towed usable derelcits to Hyperspace Hangar instead of allowing Towbar to salvage them, that allows me to get usable derelicts with 160% of my ship's mass) as opportunity presents itself (my current ROE: they must engage me first, no hunting - though baiting is ok).

I keep trading in valuables and mining, but I tow the derelicts and grab the escape pods I find (or that I create) till I get enough cash, then I only tow the usable ones.

After a while, it gets boring and I start a new commander with some variation of OXPs (must try Stranger World and phkb's Ship Configuration), or go play other games.

I have tried hunting (combat gets boring after a while), parcel contracts (too stressful, time *really* matters in that gameplay, no gawking around/exploring the systems in your way). If I ever get a big enough ship for it before getting bored, I will try cargo contracts.

EDIT: forgot to include Fuel Scoops in my must-haves... it's *absolutely* indispensable if you run HardWay!

dybal wrote: ↑Fri Oct 21, 2022 6:59 pm

First, I run _a lot_ of OXPs... some of them change the game mechanics (like the variation of HardWay I run, modified to make everybody, NPCs inclusive, need fuel for everything), others add whole new careers (like Towbar, that adds salvaging derelicts, and EscortDeck, that adds *usable* derelicts that you can save to Hyperspace Hangar and use as your escorts, or switch into them and use as your player ship - with some tweaking of datakeys and shipyard entries, of course!)

That said, I usually start with broken Adder (this last commander, with transport miner start), stay in Lave earning money by asteroid mining (in the miner transport start -I'm planning to tweak New Lasers so its JK-1 mining laser is available at Lave, that would enable the broken Adder start to go miner too) and trading on non-TC cargo (like gold, platinum, gem stones, medicine, luxuries, quirium crystals, the Adder doesn't have the cargo space to make trade in TC goods worthwhile) in the planet-sun lane (that means Kyota stations, Rock Hermits and Deep Space Dredgers) since I can't even find the planet-witchpoint lane without ASC or Telescope, and can't risk the lanes to the other planets (and their stations) without injectors, till I can buy Telescope, ECM and Large Cargo Bay (my other must-haves, Fuel Injectors, ACP, Barrel Roll Governor, Wormhole Scanner and STE, are not available at Lave), then I get into the first wormhole I can find and deal with whatever system it leads to...

I have been using Here Be Dragons in this last commander and I'm liking the exploration game a lot.

I avoid combat till I can beef-up my ship's defense a bit (shield capacitors or shield booster), after that I'm *very* selective about when to run and when to fight, since equipment awarded to NPCs are functional in my Ooniverse: shield boosters, shield capacitors, energy units and grids, shield cycler... some NPCs get *really though*.

I don't usually buy ships but collect usable derelicts, working slowly up the ship's mass (tweaked EscortDeck to move towed usable derelicts to Hyperspace Hangar instead of allowing Towbar to salvage them, that allows me to get usable derelicts with 160% of my ship's mass) as opportunity presents itself (my current ROE: they must engage me first, no hunting - though baiting is ok).

I keep trading in valuables and mining, but I tow the derelicts and grab the escape pods I find (or that I create) till I get enough cash, then I only tow the usable ones.

After a while, it gets boring and I start a new commander with some variation of OXPs (must try Stranger World and phkb's Ship Configuration), or go play other games.

I have tried hunting (combat gets boring after a while), parcel contracts (too stressful, time *really* matters in that gameplay, no gawking around/exploring the systems in your way). If I ever get a big enough ship for it before getting bored, I will try cargo contracts.

Interesting - thanks for the detail!

Any chance of posting your version of Hard Way? And how do the fuel limitations change NPC tactics - or does it really need to be programmed into their AI's?

I tried broken Adder a fortnight ago (no money, no fuel etc), and died because my ship had no fuel and I had Hard Way operating! I suppose I should use Oocheat to give the ship a tank of fuel.

Would there be any chance of your adding some tips for using/setting shield cycler to the wiki page? Part of the reason I've never touched it is that it looks too complex...

And, this might be of interest: Exploration

Hope you are surviving the thrills and joys of the election!

I came across Oolite a few years ago and play on and off. Start with Jameson, trade for a while, get the capability to survive a few firefights and tried a bit of all sorts - bounty hunting, missions, cargo runs, passenger runs, etc. Picked up a collection of OXPs that add more variety and activity within the context of the original game framework. Part way through, tried ship design and switched from Cobra MkIII to my own creation (nicer than MkIII, but capabilities still within the bounds of the original set of ships).

Generally less interested in "exploration" for exploration's sake. Tend to take on challenges of various forms - sometimes straight combat, sometimes missions, sometimes trade related such as doing a galaxy corner-to-corner cargo run against the clock while taking on as many other cargo/passenger contracts/etc along the way as possible. And switch galaxies occasionally for a change of scenery.

Now picking the game up again after a long-ish break. Plan to look into more of the OXPs and game variations. Some thoughts about tidying up my ship designs to be fit to upload, may try other experiments.

zennest wrote: ↑Sat Apr 01, 2023 3:55 pm

... corner-to-corner cargo run against the clock while taking on as many other cargo/passenger contracts/etc along the way as possible.

The seventh octant has the best of those, especially for parcel contracts. And welcome aboard!

I played (tried to play) Elite as a kid. I couldn't figure out docking.

I like to start from scratch and go as long as I can without getting killed.

Years ago, I started with an early version of Oolite and had a great time running long passenger missions, until the game got upgraded and I got killed all the time. I quit, and then I couldn't figure out which version I had been playing that I liked.

I like to dogfight, but it has to be reasonable difficulty. I only attack if I've been attacked, or if they are outlaws. It feels really great to fight a couple guys for a while with your energy low, and to win. It's not very interesting (IMO) to always get blown away before you can sneeze. It seems like there ought to be a middle ground between "invincible" and "toast". LOL

One thing that could be really improved is if you could read the messages "Help! etc." They go by too quick. Leave them up longer, or make them easy to retrieve.

Kargon Kovon III wrote: ↑Sun May 28, 2023 5:06 am

One thing that could be really improved is if you could read the messages "Help! etc." They go by too quick. Leave them up longer, or make them easy to retrieve.

Holding down ¬ on some keyboards (~ on others) will re-display the most recent messages.

It also causes Oolite to mark on the scanner the last ship to hail you (lines radiate from around its lollipop, just as they did when it originally hailed you).


This does not work for console messages sadly, when you miss them they are gone.

Is this something which could be fixed in the new version of Oolite? Made OXP-able, maybe?

Doesn't the comms MFD have these features?

One of the conceits of Oolite is that technology you would expect to be built-in to even the most budget rustbucket space ship is stuff you have to buy and install.

arquebus wrote: ↑Sun May 28, 2023 6:25 pm

Doesn't the comms MFD have these features?

One of the conceits of Oolite is that technology you would expect to be built-in to even the most budget rustbucket space ship is stuff you have to buy and install.

The CommsLogMFD does indeed replay all the recent messages (25Kb memory), rather than the last screen-full. But not the console messages, sadly. And you need to buy it (250₢). And you need to know how to manage MFDs! But I think you can also access all the old messages once you have docked on the F4 screen (Communications Log under the Logs Heading) - without buying the MFD.

I used to be Elite ranked back in appr. 86 or 88 on the PC version, got a cloaking device and an anti-ECM device and at some point the title archangel plus probably some other stuff I don't recall. Just found Oolite little more than a week ago on Youtube (Thanks, arquebus!) and like it a lot! Still dealing with some hickups of some of the expansion packs (spend a lot of money on the cargo space refit just to find out that the add. space vanished - probably after buying some other stuff (at least that is what some googling told me) - and it looks like I need to sell my 20to cargo pod before every savegame - else the add. cargo space is gone after reload). In the old days I used to always dock manually since the docking computer was kind of to slow and now enjoy the ILS, which even works with the Witchdrive.

Right now I am still in my tradeing phase but will hopefully soon switch to exploration and a little more hunting. Got me a used joystick for christmas just for this after I have sold my old one a couple of years back since I thougth I will not need it again - How could I have been so wrong.

Thanks for all the work all of you have (and still do) put into Oolite!
I guess I need to look up some old boxes for the good old original print of "The Dark Wheel"...

John Doe II wrote: ↑Fri Dec 29, 2023 2:45 am

Still dealing with some hiccups of some of the expansion packs (spend a lot of money on the cargo space refit just to find out that the add. space vanished - probably after buying some other stuff (at least that is what some googling told me) - and it looks like I need to sell my 20th cargo pod before every savegame - else the add. cargo space is gone after reload).

Welcome to the friendliest Bulletin Board this side of Riedquat!


The above sounds wrong to me. The regular vanilla-game cargo space refit merely adds 15TC to your regular cargo hold, and involves none of these complexities.

So it sounds as though some OXPs must be involved. But even then, the extra cargo space should persist! There are a couple of oxps which take up a little of the extra cargo space: Repairbots, for example, which take up a mere 2TC of the newly expanded 35TC on a Cobra Mk. 3.

Are you using Hypercargo OXP? (can lose extra cargo if you lose all your energy)
Or Ship Configuration OXP (where the extra cargo space can easily get gobbled up by more/better types of equipment)?


And... do you miss being an archangel?


Dark Wheel cover re-used as Game Box cover.

Edited to fix link

My oolite playing style for many years is to build up a combat capable ship, working as a towbar salvager, and using trade as a supplemental income as I look for fights in the anarchies and dangerous systems. I enjoy having many weapon options from the oxp's and eventually would like to settle down with a rock hermit via hermitage, when funds become available. The DTT ships are my favorite especially the War Lance.