New to the forum.

[Blood-Red-Skies]

Hi all

Just arrived and saying hello.

I was cruising the interweb and was absolutely delighted to find Elite/Oolite still in existance! It was all the rage way back when computers ran on coal and water and VGA screens consisted of strategically placed strips of coloured plastic film, remember? lol

I've located the Wiki and OXP lists and learned how to add them to the game. I must say I am blown away by the diversity and richness of the content available. I would like to take this opportunity to add my voice to the clamour and thank all those dev-types for the hard work and dedication put into all this cool new stuff to play with. I feel like a kid in a free toy store and just don't know where to start!!!

Ok. That said, here's my plan.

In days of Yore I was somewhat the ruthless bounty hunter and achieved Elite status on the original game and am hoping I can revisit those heady days of glory. I'm currently dotting around in the Cobbie MkIII with just the basic kit down near Onrira strafing feudal crims and grabbing loot. I'm looking to upgrade and invite yawl to suggest your idea as to the best BH ship for the purpose. I'm thinking fast, 4+ missile and 30/40t cargo.

I'm still using the standard game and also invite ideas as to OXPs to enhance emmersion, content and graphics. Any suggestions are gratefully recieved. I'm running the latest version so I assume just about all the latest OXPs run on it. Are there any 'must-haves' and the like?

Death to Ming!

[JazHaz]

Check out my Recommended OXPs List on the Wiki.

Oh and welcome to the friendliest board this side of Riedquat!™

[Cody]

Are there any 'must-haves' and the like?

Hi and welcome aboard! That is an often-asked question, and there is no definitive reply - everyone has their own ideas (see JH's post above). For my part: BGS, Povray Planets, Griff's Shipset, and Random Ship Names are a few of my must-haves. I'm too lazy atm to provide links, but they're easily findable.

As for which ship - the Cowell & MgRath Cobra Mk III is the best ship out there!

[Blood-Red-Skies]

WOW! a reply arriving faster than a Trumble eats a jellybaby! lol

Thanks Jazhat. I'm now exploring your list and it looks really comprehensive. I'm going to add most of them right away. I think I'm gonna have a day off tomorrow, I can feel an all-nighter coming on!

Cody. I've just found the super cobbie.
http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/SuperCobra
Any thoughts on that?

[Cody]

Cody. I've just found the super cobbie.
http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/SuperCobra Any thoughts on that?

<chortles> Yeah - it's too super! I am somewhat of a purist though (except when it comes to eye-candy).

[Blood-Red-Skies]

[/quote]<chortles> Yeah - it's too super! I am somewhat of a purist though (except when it comes to eye-candy).[/quote]

Ha ha! I was almost thinking the same thing. I'll need to gain serious space wonga in order to try it out though. It's time to go find some piratical pythons methinks.

[Yah-Ta-Hey]

Cody:<chortles> Yeah - it's too super! I am somewhat of a purist though (except when it comes to eye-candy).

this is from a contrabandista who wears a sombrero that is worn ,tattered, has a bullethole in it from a slick chickl who caught him flat footed.. who get ratassed drunk on eviljuice, and... smokes really foul smelling colitas But when you get into trouble.. no better man to have your six. <raising lance in salute>

[Norby]

Hi and welcome Blood-Red-Skies!

You are a veteran hunter so I suggest to raise the level of the enemies over the standard (very low) level.
- CustomShields OXP add shields to the NPCs (without this has not any).
- [wiki]ShipVersion[/wiki] add equipments to the NPCs, else you must install strong OXP ships to get similarly equipped ships as you after the very first part of the game.
- You can choose harder starts in [wiki]Start_Choices[/wiki] OXP.
- More tips in the Oolite hard mode thread.

[Mauiby de Fug]

In my first game, I upgraded to a SuperCobra, and then to a Caduceus. And yes, they are fun to fly. But they do swing the advantage towards the player in many cases. A less powerful upgrade might be  the Cobby XT by CaptSolo. 'Tis slightly better than a standard Cobby 3, but doesn't take its stats radically higher than the core ships...

[Diziet Sma]

G'day, Blood-Red-Skies, and welcome aboard!

In days of Yore I was somewhat the ruthless bounty hunter
...
I'm looking to upgrade and invite yawl to suggest your idea as to the best BH ship for the purpose.

Ahh.. a bounty hunter eh? A commander after my own heart.. (But watch out for Cody.. he has a bit of a thing about bounty-hunters.. )

In that case, you'll definitely want to install the Random Hits OXP, which will provide you with endless BH missions.

The best BH ship? Personally, I think that has to be the Pitviper SE. There is also now a Pitviper MkII, but I have to admit I haven't really tried it out yet. Look to the left, and you'll see my avatar, which is a Pitviper SE MkI with a custom paintjob (easy to do yourself, thanks to its' creator, Captain Beatnik).

To quote Captain Beatnik, "What the Boa II is to the trader, the Pitviper is to the bounty-hunter."

It's powerful, without being uber.. Fast, responsive, handles like a natural-born killer, only has two laser mounts, but mounts 9 missile pylons and has 9 TC of storage space (upgradeable to 12TC) for scooping escape pods. (or carrying raw materials for a Missile Machine) And tough as nails.. even ramming is an option, if you're careful. The three sharp, forcefield-reinforced hulls make wicked can-openers..

If you take one for a test-drive, you just may become hooked.. I did. Before then, nothing tempted me away from my Cobby.. A Pitviper is damn-near the perfect killing-machine.

The biggest danger with it is the weird sense of invulnerability you get while flying it.. that's far from the truth of course, but it really does give the feeling that you're aboard a space-borne Main Battle Tank.

[Disembodied]

I say you've got to go a long way to beat the Wolf Mk II ... also available fully Griffified, too! Fast (0.38LM), powerful (6 energy banks), 4 missiles, 20TC cargo, narrow profile - it falls just on the right side of über for me.

[Cody]

But watch out for Cody.. he has a bit of a thing about bounty-hunters...

<chortles merrily>

Y'all can guess what my main occupation in E: D will be (though I will be playing solo) - but if I found that my in-game interest/hobby was feasible in E: D, that might just tempt me into the multi-player game. I think that may be a nice subversive role that would shake-up the heroic bounty-hunters there!

[Blood-Red-Skies]

Thanks for the ideas spacers.

I've loaded a ream of oxps to enhance the gameplay and am keeping it fairly 'purist' while my space wonga equals the number of atoms in a cubic metre of unoccupied space lane. I thought I was getting close to being able to up my lasers until I accidentally mashed an escape pod earning offender status. Upon docking I got fined just exactly the number of oopennies I had in my froggy bank! Oh, the trials of the hunter never change! lol It looks like it's gonna be a fair old while before I can change ship.

I've added random hits oxp to give more spice to the lanes and get my aim back into working order. Thanks for the suggestion Diziet Sma. I might even give anarchies.oxp a go once I've built up my equipment and defences. Things are looking even better than I remembered elite to be, if that's actually possible!!!

If you pass a cobbie in gal1 sounding like the wheels are falling off, trailing a bit of smoke, looking for all the ooniverse like easy money leave it alone coz it's only me fishing. If you do react it'll be the last time you'll be sitting in that particular chair and soon to be sitting in my cozy passenger quarters with a badass for company!

Death to Ming!