Struggling with a game play issue.

[luminous]

I loved Elite, and I love oolite, but there is something bugging me about the combat system. In the old days I remember combat being a continuous thing with lots of shooting at the enemy. However, in oolite, its more along the lines of:
1) Carefully aim and blast enemy to bits
2) Wait for laser to cool down, keep waiting for laser to cool down, wait some more, pick up some cargo
3) Blast another ship to bits
4) Wait for laser to cool down, keep waiting for laser to cool down, wait some more, pick up some cargo
and repeat.....

Its the period of time where I am just sitting around waiting for my laser to cool down to start shooting again that is starting to be a bit dull. So I am wondering what can be done without breaking the game.

I have already swapped from a military laser to a beam laser. This allows me to shoot for longer in battles, giving me a bit more to do. However, it still takes ages to cool down....

Would it be possible to have separate weapon temperatures for each laser fitted to the ship? So you could fire front laser, and then swing around to the rear view and start shooting with that? I don't think that would break the game as you will not be able to chase something while shooting from the rear of your ship. It could add an extra dimension to the game instead of just flying around dodging a few laser volleys while waiting for your front laser to cool.

What do people think?
How easy would this be to do, cos I would certainly like to give it a go on my install of oolite.

[Cody]

Each laser mount has its own cooler... overheat the fore laser, then switch to the port laser, and it will be cold... etc.

[Thargoid]

And don't just press and hold the fire button until you overheat. Short, sharp bursts of well-aimed laser will keep the kill-rate up without cooking the laser too much.

[Smivs]

Wot they said
And you'll find that used this way Mil lasers are fine, and far more effective than the Beam.
It's a bit like the WW II Spitfire. They only had 12 seconds worth of ammo in the guns. So every shot must count, as Thargoid suggested. Short sharp and very accurate bursts.
Good hunting.

[luminous]

Hmm, ok, laser temps are different in different views.....not sure how I missed that one ...lol

As for the accurate shooting thing, I feel that I am doing this already. Maybe things are just dying too quickly with military lasers, beams may give me more of a challenge

[Cody]

Try the [wiki]ToughGuys[/wiki] oxp.

[luminous]

Try the [wiki]ToughGuys[/wiki] oxp.

Awesome, I will be giving this a go

So far the only real "normal" challenge I have come across was when I decided to pirate a Python, which just happened to have 4 Imperial Couriers as escort. They hurt me quite a bit. Just after that engagement my Thargoid Wars OXP kicked in presenting what appeared to be a single damaged Thargiod....only to produce another 6 fully fit ones right on top of me, just after I had exhausted my witch fuel

That was the first and only time I have ever needed an energy bomb to escape.

[Cody]

Smivs is currently testing a new version of Tough Guys… I think that there will be three levels.
Level two can be very ‘interesting’… as for level three… mierda!

[Fatleaf]

Or you could give a ship with turrets a whirl then you can always have something to shoot with.
http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Caduceus
http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Vortex_OXP
http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Kirin

Here are a few.

[Commander McLane]

As for the accurate shooting thing, I feel that I am doing this already. Maybe things are just dying too quickly with military lasers, beams may give me more of a challenge

But then, pray, tell me why you continue to fire at something which is already dead until your laser is in the red zone??? If things die quickly, take your finger off the trigger as soon as the thing has died (for which there are both visual and audio indicators in the game).

If you first aim accurately and then don't waste your fire by not releasing the trigger, you should be able to kill about three normal Oolite pirates before your laser enters the red temperature zone for the first time. So if it's a group of three, you're done. Only if there are more enemies than three, you need to turn around and continue with your rear laser, which kills another two to three (because of the switching you may lose some accuracy until you're getting used to the switched controls).

[luminous]

As for the accurate shooting thing, I feel that I am doing this already. Maybe things are just dying too quickly with military lasers, beams may give me more of a challenge

But then, pray, tell me why you continue to fire at something which is already dead until your laser is in the red zone??? If things die quickly, take your finger off the trigger as soon as the thing has died (for which there are both visual and audio indicators in the game).

If you first aim accurately and then don't waste your fire by not releasing the trigger, you should be able to kill about three normal Oolite pirates before your laser enters the red temperature zone for the first time. So if it's a group of three, you're done. Only if there are more enemies than three, you need to turn around and continue with your rear laser, which kills another two to three (because of the switching you may lose some accuracy until you're getting used to the switched controls).

Hmm, must be missing more than I thought then. Pythons take the whole heat bar at close range to knock down. So when I am getting attacked by a couple of Pythons, an Asp, Tiger and a Mamba things tend to get hot quickly. I take the mamba first and they pop nicely, but as for the rest they tend to take nearly the whole bar to take down.

[Cody]

Try not to hold the trigger down… think of the laser as a single-shot weapon. In a close-quarters dogfight, there is an optimum single-shot rate of fire that can inflict precise and heavy damage, whilst keeping the laser in the yellow. It’s not easy… I myself am a little too fond of red-lining the gun, especially in the heat of combat… but it will work.

[Disembodied]

There is a bit of variation between pirates as well: some are better-equipped than others, and can sometimes take more pounding than you might otherwise expect. I tend to hit the brakes as soon as I get masslocked, identify the weakest troublemakers – Mambas, Sidewinders and the like – and take them out at long range. Depending on what's left you can either close in on them, or flip over and give them a dose of your rear laser before turning back to finish them off with your (by now cool) front weapon.

I've also found that, since switching to Killer Wolf's Dynamic HUD, although I know there's no actual difference, the larger-sized laser temperature bar seems to cool down faster than before, because it's easier to see it moving. Psychologically it's a great boost.

[luminous]

Nice ideas, will give them all a try. Since I am playing on keyboard my tactics to date have been to inject so that I can get around on their six. Then make them fill the whole laser sight and let rip. Works pretty well, its just that there are some fat ships out there that can absorb a massive amount of damage.

Tough guys has made things a lot better. The extra damage they can deal makes me want to move around more to avoid their fire, which in turn means my laser has more time to cool. No longer am I left floating around in space while in combat picking up cargo for something to do until my laser cools

[uua90]

I have a habit of running the lasers red on a routine basis-- and that's at close range. I'm a purist who refuses to use anything but the keyboard...