Peaceful skies

[Switeck]

I actually coded up a testing OXP that removed pirates along the space-lane from the witchpoint buoy to the planet from "safer" Government systems (Confederacy to Corporate States) in Galaxy Chart 1 while the player had fewer than 100 kills AND less than 10 bounty (so you couldn't corner-the-market and be the ONLY pirate). If they went off the beaten path, Deep Space Pirates (from OXP of same name) would get them...or pirates between planet and sun were still lurking.

With just a little more work, it could be narrowed further down to only remove pirates near Lave, so new players aren't automatically screwed starting out...so long as they only went to "safe" systems AND stayed on the space-lane.

If anyone's interested in that, I can post it...but it's a messy work-in-progress as it's actually tied into a larger OXP -- Deep Space Pirates OXP to be exact.

[Agis Silverfish]

Sounds interesting, although I can't code.

That OXP could also be related to Total Patrol.oxp. There wouldn't be pirates in the lane because the Vipers patrol it more often.

[pagroove]

Difference between systems (at least in the planets texts and textures) was the Idea for Famous Planets.
But to really have different systems you would also need unique system objects and/or treasures to explore.

But I feel maybe the real exploration thingy is for a new sort of game based on the Oolite heritage but with a new engine (a sort of Oolite 2)
But that would require huge dev work.

I follow the development on Pioneer and Paragon but something tells me that the Oolite community still can make a game with better gameplay.

Back on topic:

It would be a bit boring if there are no pirates. But why would you want that?

[Pleb]

If anything the game is more exciting with MORE pirates...

[JeX]

It would be really interesting with an OXP where you NEED to get caught in Witchspace by Thargoids in certain areas of the game to explore new stations/races/cargo/missions etc. Say two or three areas per Galaxy. Fight off the 'goids and go have some fun, although it's a one hit experience.

Just saying...

[ozhank]

I've just added the cyclon raiders oxp - that certainly adds a lot of excitement, especially when they attack before you have left witchspace and have your controls back/nav system back online. With my fingers not working at 100% they are certainly a handful to ward off and prevent me from being incinerated. I haven't managed to launch my escape pod yet.

I've also got the oxp that provides extra planets and moons, which I enjoy navigating around just to enjoy the rendering of the planet.

[Commander McLane]

It would be really interesting with an OXP where you NEED to get caught in Witchspace by Thargoids in certain areas of the game to explore new stations/races/cargo/missions etc. Say two or three areas per Galaxy. Fight off the 'goids and go have some fun, although it's a one hit experience.

There's enough OXPs that enable/require you to fight in interstellar space, mission-related or otherwise.

Only looking at my own OXPs, you have the Naval reserve mission in [wiki]Anarchies OXP[/wiki], and you can make interstellar space in general more fun (= more challenging) with [wiki]Wormhole restoration OXP[/wiki].

And once you've finished [wiki]Cataclysm OXP[/wiki] (and if I ever get around to making it 1.77-ready), there is a recurring mission involving a serious fight in interstellar space indeed. And that's only my own OXPs.