Partial Witch Space Jumps Using Spare Drive

An area for discussing new ideas and additions to Oolite.

Moderators: winston, another_commander

User avatar
mandoman
---- E L I T E ----
---- E L I T E ----
Posts: 1385
Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2011 3:17 pm

Partial Witch Space Jumps Using Spare Drive

Post by mandoman »

I took on a contract to haul a load of computers, and a passenger to two different systems that weren't that far apart. It looked like I could do it in very few jumps, except the third jump, or what I thought would be the third jump, was a 7.2 jump, so I had to turn around and find a much longer route. It would be great if we could set a system, that is just a hair out of jump reach, in the Jump Coordinate Computer, jump out to the 7.0 point, and then use the spare Witch drive to make the extra 1, or 2 distance. Is that possible?
Mandotech Industries Wiki Page.

http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/User:Mandoman
User avatar
Disembodied
Jedi Spam Assassin
Jedi Spam Assassin
Posts: 6885
Joined: Thu Jul 12, 2007 10:54 pm
Location: Carter's Snort

Re: Partial Witch Space Jumps Using Spare Drive

Post by Disembodied »

I don't think so ... you need a destination system for the wormhole. You can't just jump to an empty location. A better solution would be to buy an [wiki]Advanced Navigational Array[/wiki], and plan your route in advance. ;)
User avatar
Cmdr James
Commodore
Commodore
Posts: 1357
Joined: Tue Jun 05, 2007 10:43 pm
Location: Berlin

Re: Partial Witch Space Jumps Using Spare Drive

Post by Cmdr James »

I would see that as a bug. To me the 7LY limit is an interesting quirk of the game that makes things like trade routes viable... work arounds for longer jumps, and indeed extra fuel pods and similar things that may allow longer jumps in my mind detract from this. YMMV since I am a luddite.
User avatar
mandoman
---- E L I T E ----
---- E L I T E ----
Posts: 1385
Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2011 3:17 pm

Re: Partial Witch Space Jumps Using Spare Drive

Post by mandoman »

Disembodied wrote:
I don't think so ... you need a destination system for the wormhole. You can't just jump to an empty location. A better solution would be to buy an [wiki]Advanced Navigational Array[/wiki], and plan your route in advance. ;)
Yeah, I didn't state that correctly. I meant that the system that is .1 or .2 past a full tank would be the target system, and the spare jump pod would be that extra push to get there. If it isn't possible, then it isn't. I just thought it would be a nice thing for such small misses.
Mandotech Industries Wiki Page.

http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/User:Mandoman
User avatar
maaarcooose
---- E L I T E ----
---- E L I T E ----
Posts: 397
Joined: Sun May 29, 2011 9:36 pm
Location: Devon, UK
Contact:

Re: Partial Witch Space Jumps Using Spare Drive

Post by maaarcooose »

How about jumping to as close as possible and then using the torus drive to get you the last bit?

I'm sure I remember when playing elite on my bbc back in the day that I could use the torus drive to go from one planet to another that was fairly close.
Took a little while, but it worked.

I do remember that the other planet was visible as a small dot on the viewscreen, so locating and jumping to it was possible.
Does OOlite do this if you are in a system with another very close by?

!m!
Trading computers and writing stuff....
Website: http://www.theramist.co.uk/
OOliteInfo: http://www.theramist.co.uk/ooliteinfo/oo.php
User avatar
Disembodied
Jedi Spam Assassin
Jedi Spam Assassin
Posts: 6885
Joined: Thu Jul 12, 2007 10:54 pm
Location: Carter's Snort

Re: Partial Witch Space Jumps Using Spare Drive

Post by Disembodied »

maaarcooose wrote:
I'm sure I remember when playing elite on my bbc back in the day that I could use the torus drive to go from one planet to another that was fairly close.
Took a little while, but it worked.

I do remember that the other planet was visible as a small dot on the viewscreen, so locating and jumping to it was possible.
Does OOlite do this if you are in a system with another very close by?

!m!
Don't take my word for it by any means – as far as I know most of the activity inside a computer could be the work of pixies – but I don't think there's any real, direct relationship between the large-scale map and flying about in the individual systems: when you're in one system, that's the entire universe as far as the game is concerned. I don't think the other systems actually exist "out there" simultaneously.
User avatar
Thargoid
Thargoid
Thargoid
Posts: 5528
Joined: Thu Jun 12, 2008 6:55 pm

Re: Partial Witch Space Jumps Using Spare Drive

Post by Thargoid »

maaarcooose wrote:
Does OOlite do this if you are in a system with another very close by?
No. The only way to get between systems (even when they are on top of one another) is by witchspace jump.

The 7ly limit is one of those few things that are hard-coded in and make up the foundation of the game.
User avatar
maaarcooose
---- E L I T E ----
---- E L I T E ----
Posts: 397
Joined: Sun May 29, 2011 9:36 pm
Location: Devon, UK
Contact:

Re: Partial Witch Space Jumps Using Spare Drive

Post by maaarcooose »

Thargoid wrote:
maaarcooose wrote:
Does OOlite do this if you are in a system with another very close by?
No. The only way to get between systems (even when they are on top of one another) is by witchspace jump.

The 7ly limit is one of those few things that are hard-coded in and make up the foundation of the game.
Interesting, I might have to drag out an emulated version and have a go at torusing to another system.

!m!
Trading computers and writing stuff....
Website: http://www.theramist.co.uk/
OOliteInfo: http://www.theramist.co.uk/ooliteinfo/oo.php
User avatar
Commander McLane
---- E L I T E ----
---- E L I T E ----
Posts: 9520
Joined: Thu Dec 14, 2006 9:08 am
Location: a Hacker Outpost in a moderately remote area
Contact:

Re: Partial Witch Space Jumps Using Spare Drive

Post by Commander McLane »

maaarcooose wrote:
Thargoid wrote:
maaarcooose wrote:
Does OOlite do this if you are in a system with another very close by?
No. The only way to get between systems (even when they are on top of one another) is by witchspace jump.

The 7ly limit is one of those few things that are hard-coded in and make up the foundation of the game.
Interesting, I might have to drag out an emulated version and have a go at torusing to another system.
There are tales told on this board indicating that this was indeed possible in 8-bit Elite (I think DaddyHoggy wrote about it once). You could head into the right direction and then leave your computer running for the night. However, Oolite's inner workings are different. They don't allow for connections between systems. Technically, only one system (the one you're currently in) exists at all. Jumping means to completely destroy that system and creating another one from scratch. So there are never two different systems existing at any one time. Therefore you can't fly between them.
User avatar
SandJ
---- E L I T E ----
---- E L I T E ----
Posts: 1048
Joined: Fri Nov 26, 2010 9:08 pm
Location: Help! I'm stranded down here on Earth!

Re: Partial Witch Space Jumps Using Spare Drive

Post by SandJ »

mandoman wrote:
I meant that the system that is .1 or .2 past a full tank would be the target system, and the spare jump pod would be that extra push to get there. If it isn't possible, then it isn't. I just thought it would be a nice thing for such small misses.
A small miss of 1,000,000,000,000 to 2,000,000,000,000 kilometres :wink:

Wouldn't the range then be 7.2 LY instead of 7.0 LY, and the desire would be for jumps to allow for near misses of, say 7.4 LY, and so on?

I think the 7.0 light year jump drive limit is one of the immutable laws of the Elite polyverses along with overheating lasers.
Flying a Cobra Mk I Cobbie 3 with nothing but Explorers Club.OXP and a beam laser 4 proper lasers for company :D
Dropbox referral link 2GB of free space online + 500 Mb for the referral: good for securing work-in-progress.
User avatar
SandJ
---- E L I T E ----
---- E L I T E ----
Posts: 1048
Joined: Fri Nov 26, 2010 9:08 pm
Location: Help! I'm stranded down here on Earth!

Re: Partial Witch Space Jumps Using Spare Drive

Post by SandJ »

Commander McLane wrote:
There are tales told on this board indicating that this was indeed possible in 8-bit Elite (I think DaddyHoggy wrote about it once). You could head into the right direction and then leave your computer running for the night.
Certainly not on the Spectrum version. I left that running over a weekend; it never left the system.

(And quite right too - a light year is a very loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong way.)
Flying a Cobra Mk I Cobbie 3 with nothing but Explorers Club.OXP and a beam laser 4 proper lasers for company :D
Dropbox referral link 2GB of free space online + 500 Mb for the referral: good for securing work-in-progress.
User avatar
mandoman
---- E L I T E ----
---- E L I T E ----
Posts: 1385
Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2011 3:17 pm

Re: Partial Witch Space Jumps Using Spare Drive

Post by mandoman »

..............sigh......like I said, if it isn't possible, it isn't possible. That was the reason why I asked the question to begin with. I already knew that you can't get from one system, to another without using a Witchspace jump. I guess I was thinking that if the spare Witchspace pod would work when you are dragged into normal space by Thargoids, why couldn't it work to help make a 7.2 jump for a cargo run, but I got the answer. Too bad, though. :(
Mandotech Industries Wiki Page.

http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/User:Mandoman
User avatar
Disembodied
Jedi Spam Assassin
Jedi Spam Assassin
Posts: 6885
Joined: Thu Jul 12, 2007 10:54 pm
Location: Carter's Snort

Re: Partial Witch Space Jumps Using Spare Drive

Post by Disembodied »

Commander McLane wrote:
There are tales told on this board indicating that this was indeed possible in 8-bit Elite (I think DaddyHoggy wrote about it once). You could head into the right direction and then leave your computer running for the night. However, Oolite's inner workings are different. They don't allow for connections between systems. Technically, only one system (the one you're currently in) exists at all. Jumping means to completely destroy that system and creating another one from scratch. So there are never two different systems existing at any one time. Therefore you can't fly between them.
I find this incredibly hard to believe ... not that for a moment am I accusing people of lying, but this would imply that somehow B&B had managed to cram a full-size, actual, real, 3-D layout of all 256 stars in each galaxy into 32K along with everything else. It beggars belief, surely? Unless it's all part of the magic Fibonacci seed, but even then surely there's a limit to what it can hold ... I think maybe it's more likely that people have misremembered, that the immersion of the game has leaked into their minds and created a false memory ... I could be wrong but if so then why would Oolite be different in this respect?
User avatar
cim
Quite Grand Sub-Admiral
Quite Grand Sub-Admiral
Posts: 4072
Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2011 6:19 pm

Re: Partial Witch Space Jumps Using Spare Drive

Post by cim »

SandJ wrote:
Commander McLane wrote:
There are tales told on this board indicating that this was indeed possible in 8-bit Elite (I think DaddyHoggy wrote about it once). You could head into the right direction and then leave your computer running for the night.
Certainly not on the Spectrum version. I left that running over a weekend; it never left the system.

(And quite right too - a light year is a very loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong way.)
At a very rough guess, systems separated by 0.0LY (call it 0.01LY before rounding) would actually be about 600,000 Oolite km apart, if we use sun-planet distance to get the scale factor (by far the most generous method). A fast ship on torus drive would make that journey in about half a day of real-time, I think.

The second-most generous method would use planetary radius to get the scale factor, and would place adjacent systems about 3*10^8 Okm apart, or about a real-time year at torus speed.
User avatar
mandoman
---- E L I T E ----
---- E L I T E ----
Posts: 1385
Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2011 3:17 pm

Re: Partial Witch Space Jumps Using Spare Drive

Post by mandoman »

This is an interesting conversation, though it doesn't really seem to be addressing the original request. I was told, most definitely, quite a while back, that it wasn't possible to make it to another system apart from Witchspace, simply because no other system exists in the game while you are in any given system. Only one system at a time can exist, period. I do find it hard to believe that a script can't be made that would plot a jump to a system just beyond 7.0, taking the mountable jump pod, made to help those that drop out of Witchspace suddenly, into account to use as a spring board to reach the system they plotted. The very fact that they can drop out of Witchspace in between systems suggests that such points ARE within a programmable parameter, and therefore could be done. I can not force the issue, though, as I don't have the talent/ability/whatever it takes to write such a script. The answer to my request is, if I'm not mistaken, "NO". It was just a question.
Mandotech Industries Wiki Page.

http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/User:Mandoman
Post Reply