What expansion packs would people recommend?

[Lord Raffles]

Hi!

New to Ooolite, but a veteran of Archimedes Elite.

Been browsing through the OXP list last night - so much to choose from!

What expansions would people recommend? I gather certain OXPs will conflict with others - I'd presume mission orientated ones do not?

What I'm looking for are the bog standard "MUST HAVE" OXPs that are most commonly used by Oolite veterans.

Thanks!

[Disembodied]

Hi, Lord Raffles, welcome to the forum! Friendliest place this side of Riedquat, or your money back ...

Yours is a common question, but I'm afraid the standard answer is, "there is no one bog-standard 'must-have' list". Everyone's taste, and system specifications, varies. Here, though, is my own personal standard reply:

It's best to start off with a few and see what you like - see what makes your universe suit you better - and experiment. My personal recommendations for non-game-changing OXPs to start with would be

Random Ship Names
Background Set (you'll need Cabal Common Library too)
and for sheer beauty either Griff's core ships (if you've got a reasonably powerful system) or the Griff's No Shaders shipset if you are on an older or smaller computer.

Then there are OXPs which change the game mechanics - some more subtly than others:

Escort Formations makes only a small change to the mechanics, but it can be crucial; and it makes the game feel a lot more alive, I think.

UPS Courier adds some lower-level missions from time to time.

Things like New Cargoes makes trading a lot more interesting, and adds a big new dimension to the game - but there's potential for large profits and large losses, as well as making mistakes with permits and ending up with a criminal record by accident if you don't keep a close eye on what you're doing. But still, it's a great addition to the game, I think.

To make combat trickier, and more satisfying, once you've got a few goodies on your ship, try something like Skilled NPCs.

Then just try things out as you see fit. The best advice is, don't add too many all at once. Test them, see what you think makes sense in your idea of how the ooniverse works. If you don't think they fit, bin them - or tweak them so they do, if you want to.

[Smivs]

Hi Lord Raffles, and welcome.
Yes lots to choose from and no consensus here as to which are 'essential' as Disembodied says - it depends on personal choice and computer spec and all sorts of things. For instance I only use RandomShipNames and Escort Formations from the ones listed by Disembodied.
Start with eye-candy only. That way you get a much nicer-looking Ooniverse but don't break the basic game. Add OXPs in slowly one by one so you get a chance to get used to them and find out what they all do.
So check out the shipsets and retextures and also the planets - I use System Redux but there are others - Povray Planets is very nice but a bit of a resource-hog.
Best advice thought is to take your time, try a few different ones to see what you like, and get to know the basic game before adding any of the 'game-changing' OXPs.
Enjoy!

[Diziet Sma]

G'day, and welcome aboard, Lord Raffles!

All I'll add to the above is that fortunately, actual conflicts are fairly rare.. naturally, adding multiple HUDs or "replacement ship sets" for instance, will cause problems, but for the most part, everything works together pretty well.. many of us have several hundred OXPs installed with no drama. In the case of the few exceptions, such clashes are usually noted in the readme file or the discussion thread relating to that OXP.

[Smivs]

...adding multiple ... "replacement ship sets" for instance, will cause problems...

Much as I dislike disagreeing with Dizzie most of the shipsets are designed to work with each other. They are available as 'addition' or 'replacement' sets. If you only want to replace the default ships use the 'replace' version of your favourite set. Otherwise choose the 'addition' set. This way you can use two or three shipsets together, with or without the default set.

[Lord Raffles]

Thank you all for the spirited welcome!

A quick question:

Background Set (you'll need Cabal Common Library too)
and for sheer beauty either

As a complete novice, is there a way to retain the Background Set but remove the the jump sequence? It seems to make my computer lag quite a bit.

What do I need to do?

[Cody]

... is there a way to retain the Background Set but remove the the jump sequence? It seems to make my computer lag quite a bit.

Svengali will hopefully be along soon with an answer to that. Which gfx card are you using, and are its drivers up-to-date?

Oh... welcome aboard.

[Svengali]

... is there a way to retain the Background Set but remove the the jump sequence? It seems to make my computer lag quite a bit.

Svengali will hopefully be along soon with an answer to that. Which gfx card are you using, and are its drivers up-to-date?

Yes, it will be interesting to know the system specs.

Anyway, to get rid of the effect
a) Configure BGS via [wiki]OXPConfig[/wiki]. This is the recommended way if OXPConfig is installed.
b) Or you can edit the script properties (see [wiki]BGS_Doc[/wiki] for details) if OXPConfig is not used or if you haven't stored BGS settings there.
c) A alternative way is to use BGS-C + BGS-I instead if your box can't handle the full version. You will lose the extras (effects, engine sounds, timed countdown, aegis chatter, etc.) and the whole handling is done through Oolite itself.

[Diziet Sma]

...adding multiple ... "replacement ship sets" for instance, will cause problems...

Much as I dislike disagreeing with Dizzie most of the shipsets are designed to work with each other. They are available as 'addition' or 'replacement' sets. If you only want to replace the default ships use the 'replace' version of your favourite set. Otherwise choose the 'addition' set. This way you can use two or three shipsets together, with or without the default set.

Well, that was why I said 'multiple "replacement" sets'..

I should probably have been clearer..

[Geraldine]

What expansions would people recommend? I gather certain OXPs will conflict with others - I'd presume mission orientated ones do not?

What I'm looking for are the bog standard "MUST HAVE" OXPs that are most commonly used by Oolite veterans.

Thanks!

This is a question that comes up alot isn't it? May I make a suggestion? Would it be possible to rank the most popular (as in total downloaded) OXPs on the Wiki? Something like a top 10. That might help new Ooliters get started before diving in to the rest of the big OXP list. Now I am not saying that just because a certain OXP is downloaded more that it is better than any other as one person's favourite might well differ from someone else's. Instead, it would just serve as a rough guide to what everyone else has installed.

What do you think folks?

[Diziet Sma]

There's probably no easy way to collate the information, given that the OXPs are scattered across dozens of individual download sites.. and some have been around a lot longer than others, which would tend to skew the numbers somewhat..

The best idea might be to simply perma-link to Seventh's OXP rating site, where people can vote for and rate their favourites.

[CommRLock78]

This is a question that comes up alot isn't it? May I make a suggestion? Would it be possible to rank the most popular (as in total downloaded) OXPs on the Wiki? Something like a top 10. That might help new Ooliters get started before diving in to the rest of the big OXP list. Now I am not saying that just because a certain OXP is downloaded more that it is better than any other as one person's favourite might well differ from someone else's. Instead, it would just serve as a rough guide to what everyone else has installed.

What do you think folks?

I'm just saying this without checking the wiki first - but why not just have the standard recommendations right there on the OXP list? (i.e. start with eyecandy then move on the game-changing expansions).

[Svengali]

Maybe we should aim for better informed users instead e.g. by showing icons for requirements, clashes or impact on other OXPs, supported Oolite versions, etc.

[Diziet Sma]

Interesting idea..

[Svengali]

Interesting idea..

Yes, I'd think if it's done via Semantic Media Wiki templates it can also be used to find OXPs based on system specs or to show required OXPs / dependencies. SMW is really a powerful tool.