CIGARS in Oolite

[Ganelon]

No, no, we aren't talking about tobacco products. CIGARS is an easy to remember acronym for some steps on the pre-flight checklist for airplanes. It stands for Controls, Instruments, Gas, Attitude, Run-up, and Safety.

While most of this will usually be in order in Oolite, or are things an experienced player will have checked almost by reflex, it may be useful (adapted a little) for new players or those who like having a little preflight routine for the game in their head.

When trying new OXPs or when you've just bought a new ship, it might be a good idea, especially if it is something you make a part of your usual routine.

Controls: An airplane would check this on the ground, but in Oolite it can be checked in the few seconds right after you launch. Basically you want to check your pitch, yaw and roll controls with whatever you use as a controller. "Nod your head, look both ways and waggle your wings". In other words, move up and down a little, left and right a little, and make sure your roll works right both ways. It only takes a few seconds and on the off-chance something is not working right, it's a LOT nicer to find out when you're near a nice safe station than right after you've jumped to the next system and are out by the witchpoint and low on fuel.

Instruments: A quick glance is enough to tell if your scanner and the other displays are working right. Not usually a concern unless you've just loaded a new HUD OXP or something like that. If it's a new HUD, then you'd be taking a second to familiarize yourself with where all the info is displaying.

Gas: You *did* remember to buy fuel, right? Fortunately we can check that before launching.

Attitude: Well, I'm sure most of us have plenty of that! But in the CIGARS check, it would amount to making sure your ship is flying straight when you aren't touching the controls. More of an issue for joystick users, since some joysticks may require a little adjustment.

Run-up: Throttle up and perhaps down, making sure it works as expected. Joystick users might also switch to "precision" if they prefer, since when you first start a session of gameplay with a joystick, the precision is toggled off and the throttle is set at 50% by default.

Safety: Part of this would be checking before you launch to make sure nothing important needs repaired or replaced. After you launch, safety might relate more to making sure you don't run into the back of a Viper or other ship ahead of you on the approach lane between the station and the marker beacon, and then getting out of that lane promptly to avoid the risk of somebody launching after you and running into your back end. Also a quick glance at the scanner to make sure no nearby ships are going hostile on you.

So that would be the CIGARS check routine, adapted a little to make sense for Oolite. I picked it up from flight simming, and realized i was sort of doing it when playing Oolite, so I thought I'd mention it as something others may or may not wish to include in their playing. Most experienced commanders would probably consider it all very obvious, but that's how preflight checks always are. They're simple lists to check mostly obvious things so one doesn't end up in trouble over something that could have been very easily fixed or avoided.

I thought that maybe for new commanders or for those of us who enjoy thinking a bit like pilots when we play, it might be a bit useful or a bit of roleplay fun that doesn't need an OXP or etc.

Once you're used to it, the whole routine takes only a few seconds while you're taking off. I personally use a joystick, so during the last two steps, I set to "precision" and throttle up and and ease back on the stick as I hit the injectors just before I'd hit the beacon/buoy. Then as soon as I see the bouy whisk past beneath my ship, I'm already clear enough to initiate my jump sequence and I'm usually gone before any ship has time to go hostile and long before they can get a shot off at me. It makes my time from launch to jump very fast, smooth and easy.

So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Hopefully the CIGARS routine will be of some small use to some folks or at least mildly interesting to learn about.

[Commander McLane]

Surely it helps with the immersion. Thanks for sharing!