Legal status plus two

[Tony Montana]

I'm quite new to this game and still going through leering - from both playing the game and reading what I can find on the Internet.
I've three questions that have been bothering me; I hope someone can answer them:

1. Legal status.
When I just started, buying narcotics would change my legal status from Clean to Offender, now it seem to jump right to Fugitive til I sell said narcotics at which point I hold Offender status.
Is this behaviour expected and what is the logic behind it? I mean why not always the same behaviour? Still on Legal status question - is there an add-on that displays legal status gradually, either bar or numbers assigned would work I think.
2. Controls.
I'm using keyboard right now, the only modification I've made was remapping defaults "d" to "k" (key_dump_cargo) and "i" to "d" (key_inject_fuel) as my left hand refuses to not press "d" in fights (too many WASD control games).
Dogfights with keyboard are not pretty, but I've managed to get to Competent rank and the only other game I remember playing where I think combat was easier (or was even required?) with Joystick was Privateer 2, so how much should I expect combat in Oolite to improve for me if I'm to get Joystick? Tried mouse, but I'm playing in window mode (work opened on other display) plus I'm useless in this game with mouse and don't really want to invest time in learning how to control flight with it.
3. Saves.
Is there a way to "divorce" Commander name from save name? Saving under "buyingnarcotics" makes a very "inconspicuous" Commander name.

[Commander McLane]

1. Legal status.
When I just started, buying narcotics would change my legal status from Clean to Offender, now it seem to jump right to Fugitive til I sell said narcotics at which point I hold Offender status.
Is this behaviour expected and what is the logic behind it? I mean why not always the same behaviour? Still on Legal status question - is there an add-on that displays legal status gradually, either bar or numbers assigned would work I think.

You get a penalty in form of a bounty for transporting illegal goods out of a main station. The default is 1 cr per each ton of slaves or firearms, and 2 cr per each ton of narcotics. Note that you get the same penalty over and over again each time you leave a main station. Therefore making a multi-jump journey with a hold full of narcotics, and docking at the main station each time, is guaranteed to keep you a fugitive. That's what sunskimming was invented for.

This is also the reason why most commanders tend to sell the three illegal commodities at once, should they have scooped one of them.

On the other hand your legal status gets lowered each time you jump to another system. In vanilla Oolite it gets halved for each jump, so once you get rid of the illegal commodities you'll be clean again not after too long. This changes if you have for instance Anarchies.oxp installed. This OXP makes it take much longer until your status decreases, but offers you some alternative ways of becoming clean again.

And no, there is no built-in numeral display of your bounty. 1-50 means offender, 51 and above is fugitive.

2. Controls.
I'm using keyboard right now, the only modification I've made was remapping defaults "d" to "k" (key_dump_cargo) and "i" to "d" (key_inject_fuel) as my left hand refuses to not press "d" in fights (too many WASD control games).
Dogfights with keyboard are not pretty, but I've managed to get to Competent rank and the only other game I remember playing where I think combat was easier (or was even required?) with Joystick was Privateer 2, so how much should I expect combat in Oolite to improve for me if I'm to get Joystick? Tried mouse, but I'm playing in window mode (work opened on other display) plus I'm useless in this game with mouse and don't really want to invest time in learning how to control flight with it.

I can't help you with this one. I have never used anything but my keyboard (well, various keyboards on various computers) to play Elite or Oolite since 1985.

But there are many players who prefer joystick, and there are many recommendations for good joysticks here on the boards. Just search a little.

3. Saves.
Is there a way to "divorce" Commander name from save name? Saving under "buyingnarcotics" makes a very "inconspicuous" Commander name.

You can manually edit the name of your save file. I think the name displayed on the load screen is the name saved inside the file (you can change that as well with a text editor, but not Notepad!), and I think it can be different from the name of the file itself.

[CaptSolo]

I'm quite new to this game and still going through leering - from both playing the game and reading what I can find on the Internet.
I've three questions that have been bothering me; I hope someone can answer them:

1. Legal status.
When I just started, buying narcotics would change my legal status from Clean to Offender, now it seem to jump right to Fugitive til I sell said narcotics at which point I hold Offender status.
Is this behaviour expected and what is the logic behind it? I mean why not always the same behaviour? Still on Legal status question - is there an add-on that displays legal status gradually, either bar or numbers assigned would work I think.
2. Controls.
I'm using keyboard right now, the only modification I've made was remapping defaults "d" to "k" (key_dump_cargo) and "i" to "d" (key_inject_fuel) as my left hand refuses to not press "d" in fights (too many WASD control games).
Dogfights with keyboard are not pretty, but I've managed to get to Competent rank and the only other game I remember playing where I think combat was easier (or was even required?) with Joystick was Privateer 2, so how much should I expect combat in Oolite to improve for me if I'm to get Joystick? Tried mouse, but I'm playing in window mode (work opened on other display) plus I'm useless in this game with mouse and don't really want to invest time in learning how to control flight with it.
3. Saves.
Is there a way to "divorce" Commander name from save name? Saving under "buyingnarcotics" makes a very "inconspicuous" Commander name.

Hello Tony Montana and welcome to the friendliest board this side of Riedquat and to this great game. Now to the answers to your questions:
1) Although you can buy any commodities, three will effect your legal rating: Slaves, Narcotics, and Firearms. When you trade in these items your legal rating will be effected.
2) I also use the keyboard and have since the days of "Elite", but most players use the "Attack 3" joystick. I do not know of anyone who uses the mouse to control flight,
3) Press F2 and select "Save Commander", you can change the name of your commander to whatever you wish.

[Tony Montana]

<snip>
The default is 1 cr per each ton of slaves or firearms, and 2 cr per each ton of narcotics.
<snip>
1-50 means offender, 51 and above is fugitive.

This explains discrepancy I saw: I didn’t have Extra Cargo at the beginning so 2cr x 20t = 40 penalty put me into Offender bracket at 20t cargo capacity; and with Extra Cargo now - 2cr x 35t = 70 penalty and that puts me well into Fugitive.

<snip>
And no, there is no built-in numeral display of your bounty.

I know, I was asking if there’s an OXP that does this. I saw one that deals with reputation (yours?) and perhaps will use it later, but found nothing for legal status.

You can manually edit the name of your save file. I think the name displayed on the load screen is the name saved inside the file (you can change that as well with a text editor, but not Notepad!), and I think it can be different from the name of the file itself.

Meh... not worth it then. I’d like to keep few saves around, but don’t want to edit them to keep Commander’s name constant (gotcha re Notepad, will use Notepad++).
WTB an OXP that does this.

Still want to hear from people who went from keyboard to Joystick.
Thanks.

[Thargoid]

There isn't an OXP to display the players bounty (aside from the built-in display of clean/offender/fugitive), although coding one would be very trivial to do. If you want it I'll code one up for you (or I'm sure one of the other scripters could also do it). It's not been done as for most people the c/o/f levels are sufficient.

[Capt. Murphy]

Hi,

You might be interested in my Illegal Goods Tweak OXP (link in my signature).

Builds on Oolite's default treatment of Narcs, Slaves and Firearms and introduces some interactions with Customs when docking with controlled commodities in the hold.

It doesn't give an display of exact bounty although depending on what you do with customs sometimes they tell you the figure.

[Cody]

Still want to hear from people who went from keyboard to Joystick.

Regardless of a player's skill with the keyboard, there is one major advantage to a 'stick... precision roll/pitch mode, which is not available in keyboard-only play. You can become very, very good with the keyboard only... I've done it myself with Elite Plus, but for combateer mode, the 'stick is better (I use a Logitech Attack 3).

Oh... welcome aboard.

[Capt. Murphy]

2) I also use the keyboard and have since the days of "Elite", but most players use the "Attack 3" joystick. I do not know of anyone who uses the mouse to control flight,
whatever you wish.

I'm a fly by mouse combateer. Trained playing Hardwar. I've got a stick but can't get used to it anymore. Once you've got to grips with fly by mouse it's definitely superior to keyboard only.

Adding this line to .GNUstepDefaults lets you use mouse in Windowed mode.

"mouse-control-in-windowed-mode" = YES;

[Ganelon]

Dogfights with keyboard are not pretty, but I've managed to get to Competent rank and the only other game I remember playing where I think combat was easier (or was even required?) with Joystick was Privateer 2, so how much should I expect combat in Oolite to improve for me if I'm to get Joystick?

Well, I use joystick, but I wouldn't say that a joystick (or any controller) actually improves combat in Oolite. It all depends on what you get used to or what is more instinctive for you. As you see, some folks swear by keyboard or mouse, some like speedpads, and some like joysticks.

As El Viejo already mentioned, there *is* the precision mode option when using joystick. If you get a joystick that can twist to do yaw (or maybe get pedals for yaw), that can definitely open up some convenient options for more complex movement. One *can* do roll, pitch and yaw on the keyboard, but doing all three axis of attitude at once
with keys would be beyond my dexterity. LOL

No matter what controller(s) you use, they really only become an improvement to the game when you get used to using them and if you are comfortable with them. I prefer to think that it's the player that makes the game, not the controller(s). After all, no matter how fancy a controller is, it won't do much of anything without a player.

That all being said, it really boils down to what you like, what you think is fun! There's a wide range of preferences here. Some folks wouldn't dream of playing Oolite with anything but a keyboard. I'm kind of on the other extreme. I use a joystick and a speedpad (Belkin Nostromo), pedals for yaw, a throttle, and control panels. I can disconnect the keyboard to play Oolite (and usually do) so that I have room for the controllers. I don't use the mouse at all, either. Why? Because I like it what way, it's my sort of fun!

Basically though, if a different controller looks like fun or you think you may be able to use it better, then try it and see. If you maybe have any local gaming friends, one of them might have a spare stick you can borrow to see if you like it better before actually buying one. But if you think you might like it and/or do a bit better with it, by all means try it.

[Thargoid]

I know, I was asking if there’s an OXP that does this. I saw one that deals with reputation (yours?) and perhaps will use it later, but found nothing for legal status.

There is now. Download here.

Add the OXP into your addons folder (unzip it first) and then your bounty and legal status are displayed on the manifest (F5) screen.

[Cody]

Thanks Thargoid, I'll have a look at that... is the readme correct?
[quote=readme]... Then start the game up whilst holding down the shift key (until the spinning Cobra Mk III screen appears) and the stations will appear in appropriate systems.[/quote]

[Thargoid]

Thanks Thargoid, I'll have a look at that... is the readme correct?

... Then start the game up whilst holding down the shift key (until the spinning Cobra Mk III screen appears) and the stations will appear in appropriate systems.

Oops no - I just re-used the readme file from Fuel Station.

Will correct in a moment.

[Spartan]

Sweet, I had just been wondering about something like this. Mostly due to frustration, I just want to see some progress. I'm using the Anarchies OXP and as previously mentioned, it takes a while. Thanks Thargoid!

I am also a mouse commander, mostly because I seem to be having issues with my attack 3. I got used to the mouse with Freelancer, but would much prefer a joystick.

[Commander Wilmot]

I use the keyboard, too. But I have had three logitech attack three joysticks and they were good, except they wore out a little quick, I thought, though I probably got at least 5 to 8 years out of the group and they only cost 10-20 dollars. I tried the mouse touchpad on my netbook, but I couldn't get the mouse to do anything but pitch my ship up and down and fire laser.

[Tony Montana]

There is now. Download here.

Add the OXP into your addons folder (unzip it first) and then your bounty and legal status are displayed on the manifest (F5) screen.

Thanks Thargoid, that was quick, really appreciate it.
A question - I've just tried it and bounty goes down in half each jump, however killing pirates / thargoids does not seem to affect it? Was I wrong in assuming - quoting Reference Sheet: "Performing services for the GCW will repair their reputation." works dynamically? In other words - I thought I can hang in space and keep killing random enemies in order to lower bounty on me and once satisfied with legal status dock?

You might be interested in my Illegal Goods Tweak OXP (link in my signature)

will check it of course, thank you.

Regardless of a player's skill with the keyboard, there is one major advantage to a 'stick... precision roll/pitch mode, which is not available in keyboard-only play. You can become very, very good with the keyboard only... I've done it myself with Elite Plus, but for combateer mode, the 'stick is better (I use a Logitech Attack 3).

Oh... welcome aboard.

Right. Sounds like there's a hope to get better just by getting a joystick (with precision mode?).
I think Ganelon's post, in particular this:

if a different controller looks like fun or you think you may be able to use it better

pretty much sums it for me and yes, I see from replies that people use keyboard / mouse / joystick / whatever and still enjoy this game.

Thanks.