What is 'Oolite-y' ?

[pagroove]

Some OXP stations could be cool. Like my Superhub

Or the RSS way stations and con stores and such.

Actually an chance to inject the Elite Universe with some stations out of the Ooniverse

- Liners > So far ED got large ships but they are either military or freighters.
- Griff Boa
- Space Bars

Some of our cool equipment OXP's could make the transition

I agree with: Fuel injectors, Q-bomb.
Captain Hesperus and the Dubious Profit .

etc etc

[Diziet Sma]

Hesperus in E:D.. I'd pay to see that!

[pagroove]

Hesperus in E:D.. I'd pay to see that!

Still floating around in an 'patched up' Python.

[Commander McLane]

I needed some time to think about this, partly because you're actually asking two questions in one:

What do you consider to be most fundamentally 'Oolite-y'. … Crucially, what makes Oolite, Oolite?

and

What would you like to inject into the official fabric of the Elite universe and make it stick forever?

For me, those are not exactly the same question. The second one can easily be answered with naming a lot of OXP material, and the answers go more and more into that direction. (For full disclosure: I am guilty of this myself, because I earned the right via Kickstarter to specify a station for inclusion into Drew's novel, and I chose a Salvage Gang. )

But the first question isn't so easily answered. The more I thought about it, the more of a philosophical question has it become for me. And on a fundamental level, for me the answer has already everything to do with Oolite's relation to the official fabric of the Elite universe. It actually is the way how Oolite deals with positioning itself in that fabric.

So, the things that are most fundamentally 'Oolite-y', that make Oolite, Oolite, are:

• Being faithful to Elite, while at the same time carefully expanding it.
• Adhering to a unified timeline with both Elite and the Frontier games, while at the same time playing with it (and actually creating it in the first place).
• Designing everything with the official Elite fabric in mind, while at the same time not letting itself get choked by it.

In short: the wonderful balance, by which Oolite respects the heritage of Elite, and allows itself to really own this heritage, which includes taking control of it by developing it further, is what (a) makes Oolite a true and worthy successor to Elite, and (b) makes it Oolite. That's the most fundamental thing I can come up with.

And I certainly hope to see this spirit in E:D as well.

[Cody]

... what do you consider to be the essential themes of Oolite, as apposed to Elite...

Freedom of choice: whether to interact... or not, whether to enter the fray on another's behalf and possibly make a difference... or to just go about one's business.

As a certain character in the Oolite Saga said: 'Elite is not a kill-count, Elite is a state of mind!'

[Commander McLane]

... what do you consider to be the essential themes of Oolite, as apposed to Elite...

Oh yes, I forgot about that:

The non-player-centeredness. The strong impression that you're but an insignificant part in a universe that neither needs you nor specifically cares about you, that exists and is full of action, with or without you (and the nagging feeling that—as it should be in any "real" universe—most of the action does happen without you).

[Cody]

As for actual in-game entities (which I'm fond of visiting, both in-game and in fiction): those so excellently-named rock hermits.

[Ranthe]

For me, the key theme of Oolite is the whole "the universe is happening around you" concept that others have already described in this thread, as well as the ability to add (or not add, as the case may be) additional gameplay and/or ambience to what becomes your own flavour of the game. Especially when the additional OXP elements are fleshing out details of what is merely hinted at in the core "vanilla" game - for example, the various Your Ad Here billboards referencing Riedquat cuisine and drinks, "food blender wars" and the various ship and weaponry companies advertising their wares.

The spirit of Oolite can be summed up in the following functions/OXPs:
* Cargo Contracts
* The ability to buy and operate vessels other than the Cobra Mk II
* Random Shipnames OXP - if there was only one ambience OXP one could install in Oolite, this would be it. Seeing the NPC ships that are mass-locking or attacking you as something other than random objects thrown at you by a heartless CPU, speculating about the history behind that anonymous Anaconda pilot flying "Easy Pickings III" (like, what happened to Easy Pickings I and II?) and noting that the fellow flying an Asp at you with the name "Mad Dog of Erlage" is probably not making a social call

[Wolfwood]

For me, it is very difficult to what sets Oolite off from Elite (or the Frontier games) insofar as the universe is concerned. Everything that is in Oolite is in some ways there in either Elite or Frontier already. Perhaps the best thing you might say is the OXPs from the gameplay point of view, but then including a reference to that in fiction might be a bit cheesy.

"Friendliest place on this side of Riedquat" is certainly a nod that can be made to Oolite's direction, but it is difficult to see anything else that you might do. Unless you want to name drop some ship OXPs -mention a "rusty cobra" for sale somewhere, for example, or even some actual OXP ship. The latter might get kicked out relatively easily by Frontier, however, as they are pretty strict about what fits in with the fiction of Elite 4 and what doesn't.

[drew]

Yes, it's got to be subtle so that it passes the censors (and the sensors ) but a satisfying "A-ha" for those in the know...

Unfortunately for the Tionisla Chronicle, my book is set nowhere near that part of space. Though it might be able to swing in a broadcast from it.

Q-Bombs will no longer exist (if they ever existed), but Quirium did (officially banned by ED time) so an historical note regarding a 'Quirium Bomb' is a possibility. Fuel injectors ditto, but again could be referenced by an old-timer in the same way old racers wax-lyrical about throttle body carburettors.

Rock Hermits are a good call.

As a certain character in the Oolite Saga said: 'Elite is not a kill-count, Elite is a state of mind!'

He was a sage, though.

A shoutout to a 'Griff Design' ship should be doable. I've got plans for a Rusty old Cobra Mk3. Perhaps a iron-ass hot ship in its time, but now in its twilight days, with just enough left for one more adventure...

"Tales from the spacelanes" is a great quote - maybe an in-game journal a character could access/stumble across.

Hesperus and his ilk are out of bounds unfortunately. Other than the Thargoids there are no other known sentient races in the galaxy. The Elite descriptions of planet occupiers are being rationalised as the dominant lifeform, but not intelligent. Thus, no funky felines in the cockpit, at least, not flying a ship and wisecracking.

Selezen's timeline, all homage and respect, has been incorporated (though not without modification) into the Elite canon. The dates stand therefore:

Elite : 3125
FE2 : 3200
FFE : 3250
ED : 3300

We'd always pegged Oolite at around 3142, so this is 158 years later. Young Rebecca will be a very old lady...

Cheers,

Drew.

[Disembodied]

Hesperus and his ilk are out of bounds unfortunately. Other than the Thargoids there are no other known sentient races in the galaxy. The Elite descriptions of planet occupiers are being rationalised as the dominant lifeform, but not intelligent. Thus, no funky felines in the cockpit, at least, not flying a ship and wisecracking.

You could always have a ship's cat called Hesperus ... or even a ship, if you wanted a shout-out for the good Captain: Longfellow wrote a poem called "The Wreck of the Hesperus".

The name comes from Greek mythology, as the personification of the evening star (i.e. Venus seen at evening). And Wikipedia has just shown me something interesting about "Frege's Puzzle":

Consider the following two sentences:
(1) Hesperus is Hesperus.
(2) Hesperus is Phosphorus.

which relates to the philosophy of language and the semantics of proper names ... Actually, Frege's Puzzle sounds like a good name for, if not a ship, then something - an asteroid riddled with mineshafts, maybe? Or a fractured ice-moon, like Miranda?

[maik]

• Flying to communist systems and being bombarded by their radio transmissions or seeing the odd commissioner limousine cruising around
• Flying to anarchy systems and having pirate frigates, pirate-infested rock-hermits, hackers offering to clear my status after fighting them, shop owners accepting a bribe for clearing my status
• Radio chatter when I enter the station aegis

[Smivs]

• Flying to communist systems and being bombarded by their radio transmissions or seeing the odd commissioner limousine cruising around
• Flying to anarchy systems and having pirate frigates, pirate-infested rock-hermits, hackers offering to clear my status after fighting them, shop owners accepting a bribe for clearing my status
• Radio chatter when I enter the station aegis

Ha, none of those things are Oolite-y at all for me!

[maik]

• Flying to communist systems and being bombarded by their radio transmissions or seeing the odd commissioner limousine cruising around
• Flying to anarchy systems and having pirate frigates, pirate-infested rock-hermits, hackers offering to clear my status after fighting them, shop owners accepting a bribe for clearing my status
• Radio chatter when I enter the station aegis

Ha, none of those things are Oolite-y at all for me!

Hail to the power of create-your-own-oolite-experience!

[Switeck]

We'd always pegged Oolite at around 3142, so this is 158 years later. Young Rebecca will be a very old lady...

If you accept that hyperspace jumps take hours to do but are instantaneous from the ship and its occupants point-of-view, then very heavy space travel could allow someone to be alive centuries after they're born. A early-model Python made around 2705 might see 1,000s of hyperspace jumps, averaging about 20 hours long. The trip-to-station, docking, cargo unloading/loading, launching, and hyperspacing on to the next destination might take less than 2 hours or even 1/2 hour. Hanger queens don't make money, so a working Python will spend most of its time outside a station...at least from the universe's point of view. The Python and its crew will "see" 10 years from their perspective for every century.