Balance

[Bryan]

Laser Temp

In BBC B Elite from cold, I never had a opponent I could not kill.

Can I change the Laser Temp?
In Oolite.

[Thargoid]

Only by switching to a different laser, or waiting for it to cool down.

T'aint no such thing as a laser cooler in Oolite

[Smivs]

No. Laser temperature cannot be manipulated. This is deliberate to avoid any un-balancing of game-play
Of course one thing the BBC Elite didn't have was OXPs. Have you added anything to the game which might be toughening-up your opponents or introduces new (tougher?) ships.
There are no ships in standard Oolite that cannot be comfortably dealt with using lasers. If you have fore and aft lasers, switch 'ends' so one can cool while the other is in use, and of course upgrade to Military lasers ASAP if you haven't already.

[cim]

There are no ships in standard Oolite that cannot be comfortably dealt with using lasers.

Though there are a few which are capable of absorbing a full cold-to-overheated blast from a single military laser and barely surviving, if they were at full energy to start with.

[Neo]

Hi

I had very tough time dealing with a Mamba last night which seemed to be almost invulnerable to shots from my military laser.

I have also be longing for a laser cooling device for my laserguns, however, I did discover that I could switch from my front and to my rear-mounted laser and wait for the front-mounted laser to cool off, so it maybe there isn't really a need for a laser cooling device after all.

As I recall the original Elite didn't had separated laser temperatures for each of the laser mounts.

[Eric Walch]

In BBC B Elite from cold, I never had a opponent I could not kill.

I think that is still he case in Oolite. Only original ships count of cause.

Custom ships might be more difficult, but that is a choice of the ship creator to create ships that are a bigger challenge than the core ships. Creating stronger weapons than completely defeats the purpose off the addition of stronger ship that form a challenge.

[Commander Tricky]

Is it possible to destroy any of the Space Stations in the game?

[Diziet Sma]

Other than by means of certain rather extreme OXP-added missiles, no.

[Commander Tricky]

Other than by means of certain rather extreme OXP-added missiles, no.

Ta At some point I'll give one a whirl just to say I blew one up

[Smivs]

Why stop at a station when you can destroy the entire Ooniverse!

[Commander Tricky]

Why stop at a station when you can destroy the entire Ooniverse!

Thanks! Whoever wrote that OXP is my kind of genocidal psychopathic maniac

I love this game!

[Cody]

Why stop at a station when you can destroy the entire Ooniverse!

Thanks! Whoever wrote that OXP is my kind of genocidal psychopathic maniac

I love this game!

<chortles> You'll be wanting a tractor beam next... good fun, is that.

[Norby]

In BBC B Elite from cold, I never had a opponent I could not kill.

Personally I think the opposite: seems to be unreal if any piloted not extra small ship can be destroyed with one beam burst - if the flying is too risky then nobody will undock.

So I always use the CustomShields OXP to give shields to others. I was very surprised when found out that only the player has shields without this OXP.

But it is not enough when the player start to buy equipments, so I am working on a ShipVersion OXP (see in my signature) which give  Shield Boosters and all other combat related equipments to others also. I think some NPCs was enough time in an old galaxy to get many equipments and the game is more fun when sometimes must to avoid a strong enemy.

But it was not enough for me so I am working on a HardShips OXP also which put 6 side armour to all ships and offer many new defensive equipments. Using all of these now sometimes need at least a half minute to destroy an enemy.

[Smivs]

Re-inventing the wheel?
ToughGuys4 already adds shields boosters and extra energy to NPCs. They get weapons and defensive equipment upgrades as well, randomly where this is possible via scripting. Plus it adds varying levels of pilot skill.
The upgrades are commensurate with the role, so pirates are good pilots - lots of experience - but may only have modest upgrades due to lack of access to main stations. Hunters are good pilots and have well equiped ships, and traders and escorts will not all be Ace pilots, but have lots of defensive kit as they can afford it and obtain it easily.

[another_commander]

With the new abilities of the AI in version 1.77, I find it somewhat unnecessary to load up NPCs with tons of shields and boosters and whatever hardware in order to make them more challenging. Just up the average NPC accuracy to 9 or 10 and you will soon find out that even a pair of Sidewinders can become very, very lethal against the player's iron ass ship.