Bits 'n bobs

Slowdog · Post by **Slowdog** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 9:38 am

Hiya,

Awesome, stupendous, unturnoffable game - you have rekindled an addiction I thought cured when my BBC B conked out about eighteen years ago....

Marriage and rediscovering this game both happened for me this summer - not sure my wife is too impressed the by the goggle eyed space trader she has inadvertently ended up with

Just a few thoughts you may or may not like...

- Laser Coolers: What about them as a ship upgrade option? Them military lasers don't half boil over quick...
Maybe not slowing the speed they heat up but speeding the cooling process - that way you don't encourage the boss-eyed commanders amongst us to simply start hosing down and adjusting for accuracy afterwards.

- Selective dumping: Who wants food when there's gold (and platinum) in 'dem containers...

- 'B' for Beacon?: Wimpy I know, but I would quite like to see someone coming to my assistance when beset by pirates. Then I can blow 'em up for their help afterwards....

Murgh · Post by **Murgh** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 10:15 am

I like them. not sure I understand 'B for beacon' though. a Brit term?

you mean that players too should have the possibility to send a generic broadcastDistressMessage, because that does seem fair. and wimpy.

corrado33 · Post by **corrado33** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 12:09 pm

i do like both the lazer coolers and selective dumping. That was the thing i got most upset with at the beginning of the game is that you pick up food, which you don't really want, but you can't get rid of it because you would have to dump everything else first. Or, at least most of everything. It would be cool if you could go into the f5, f5 menu (f5 twice) and select what you want to be dumped, almost like a menu.

Rxke · Post by **Rxke** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 12:43 pm

Or rather in-flight: use F8 as usual, you get the same 'market' screen, and can scroll it, and dump stuff. Bonus would be you could see the current system's prices at the same time this way... Good when starting out and deciding what has to go, what not...

JensAyton · Post by **JensAyton** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 3:49 pm

You can get the current system’s (main station’s) prices that way.

Rxke · Post by **Rxke** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 3:53 pm

yes, exactly, but you can't dump the listed stuff... That'd be cool..

aegidian · Post by **aegidian** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 4:34 pm

I'm working on it: http://aegidian.tadalist.com/lists/public/7927

Slowdog · Post by **Slowdog** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 4:56 pm

Top banana...

What about the laser cooler idea...does that tickle your fancy?

aegidian · Post by **aegidian** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 5:19 pm

Slowdog wrote:
What about the laser cooler idea...does that tickle your fancy?

It's been asked for before, and I'm not sure about it.

Currently the military lasers are very powerful, and their high heating rate compensates for this in terms of avoiding over-powerful player ships. If I were to add faster cooling mil-lasers to the mix then beginning players would have a very hard time of it against a well equipped pirate armed with the non-player equivalent.

So in the interests of game-balance I probably wouldn't do it.

I entertain the idea of different weapon set-ups from time to time (launchers and the like), and I might also be moved to put the weapon damage, range and other factors into data so they (and custom weapons) can be set from property lists - but neither of those are high on my priority list at the moment.

Sorry, I hope I answered your question.

Slowdog · Post by **Slowdog** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 5:33 pm

Now I think about it you're completely right about the lasers. Being outgunned by the hordes whilst your lasers own boil over is good for the soul - who wants it all your own way, anyway....

Getting quite a few crashes with 1.5.9. One that springs to mind is fuel injecting into wormholes (to get the big boy before the escorts arrive at the other end).

Also on quite a few occasions the Rock Hermit has apparently spontaneosly combusted inot loads of fragments whilst I'm scrapping nearby but not as a result of my shooting at it - wierd huh?

Great game tho...donation or a purhase off that website - which is better for your beer fund..?

Jaybee · Post by **Jaybee** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 5:40 pm

But surely this is what life is about in Oolite. Knowing where, when, an who to pick your fights or trade with.

I'm all for something like this but also share Aegidian's concerns regarding game balance. Perhaps this could be implemented into an OXP, or what about a difficulty level option? Then players have a choice from the start.

JensAyton · Post by **JensAyton** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 6:00 pm

Slowdog wrote:
Also on quite a few occasions the Rock Hermit has apparently spontaneosly combusted inot loads of fragments whilst I'm scrapping nearby but not as a result of my shooting at it - wierd huh?

Probably being rammed by a ship.

jonnycuba · Post by **jonnycuba** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 7:21 pm

I guess a reasonable trade off would be that a laser cooler would be a big drain on shields/shield recharge or even the same for energy banks, me I would prefer to run let my energy/shields recharge then seek my revenge...

aegidian · Post by **aegidian** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 8:52 pm

Slowdog wrote:
Great game tho...donation or a purhase off that website - which is better for your beer fund..?

Donation fills my beer/ISP/book fund most efficiently.

Purchasing a doodad gets you something as a keepsake.

I'm very grateful whichever you do.

corrado33 · Post by **corrado33** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 10:28 pm

maybe the laser coolers could work more effeciently with lower grade weapons, but not do much for the militarty lasers, even though lower grade weapons don't usually overheat that much. But still, an idea. I had the same problem w/ the new update, it crashed a lot so I download the old stable version and i'm still playing that until .59 (i think it is) becomes more stable, until then i'm staying with .55 (i think)