[Release] EscortDeck v1.11 and EscortPack v1.2

[Diziet Sma]

Thanks for the new sig, Disembodied!

[Disembodied]

[Cody]

Most games have some sort of paddling-pool-and-water-wings beginning to ease you in: Oolite takes the rather more Darwinian approach of heaving you straight into the ocean, often with a brick or two in your pockets for luck.

Priceless! I can almost see that as a faux review on the Oolite front page!

[Diziet Sma]

Priceless! I can almost see that as a faux review on the Oolite front page!

And on the tvtropes.org page for Oolite..

[spud42]

having started two new commanders one on my PC and the other on my Netbook under Linux both 1.80, i have to say it's not too bad. I must admit to a lot more "running away" easier once i could afford injectors. but overall its been fun. I have completed two parcel deliveries one of which was a 12 jump trip and i only had to "press space commander " twice. Both my poor judgment in not running in the correct direction. usually if you can out run them you can torus around the planet and approach the station in safety...

[another_commander]

One more tactic that can be used and is new to 1.80 when running away is: run towards the sun. If enemies are tailing you and you position yourself between them and the sun, they get blinded by the glare and their aim becomes quite miserable. This could buy you precious seconds to aim with rear lasers or to try to quickly maneuver to a position that will let you get a firing solution on them.

[spud42]

yep did that but without the firing back as i have no rear laser yet... jumped into a system and was attacked shortly thereafter by a pack of 6 or 7 pirates and driven towards another pack about the same size.... dove for the sun and eventually they gave up.....

[Norby]

Thanks for all answers, so I think there is a room for a personal escort fleet. Here is the current stage:




I found a few space in the sides which can hold two Adders. On the other hand I decided the main ship must be at least 130t to tow this many ships (Cobra Mark III is the smallest in the core game and match with the "Large" ships in ShipVersion).

I modified the center part of the deck further to do not cover the engines. More in-game shots:

[SirArian]

[images]

You can really see the scale irregularities in those pictures...

On the other hand I decided the main ship must be at least 130t to tow this many ships

If you do set it that way, could you do a smaller version for smaller ships? I am currently flying a Hard Asp, and would love to be able to take a few Cobra 1's or Ferdie's with me for Random Hits assignments... Maybe for the smaller one it can't hold as many ships, or only be able to hold smaller ones.

[Norby]

could you do a smaller version for smaller ships? I am currently flying a Hard Asp, and would love to be able to take a few Cobra 1's or Ferdie's

I think an escort should be in a smaller class than the main ship. Ferdie and Cobra MkI has almost the same mass as an Asp, but Sidewinder is good due to about the half only.

I have another border at 30t in ShipVersion, so my thought is if your ship is between 30t and 130t then your deck can hold escorts below 30t only. This mean 3 core ships: Adder, Gecko and Sidewinder. Moreover you can hold max. 4 small escorts only without the side Adders, but still much better than alone.

[Zireael]

Most games have some sort of paddling-pool-and-water-wings beginning to ease you in: Oolite takes the rather more Darwinian approach of heaving you straight into the ocean, often with a brick or two in your pockets for luck. I don't think this is a wrong approach - just different to what a lot of people might be expecting.

The quote is amazing... as amazing as the deck!

[Cody]

Thanks for the new sig, Disembodied!

It's catching...

Right, time to change the sig so hopefully the great unwashed "out there" get it. If anyone is on contact with Disembodied, please thank him for an awesome quote.

<chortles>

[Disembodied]

It's catching...

Right, time to change the sig so hopefully the great unwashed "out there" get it. If anyone is on contact with Disembodied, please thank him for an awesome quote.

<chortles>

You know, this is exactly how Confucius got started ...

[Redspear]

Those pictures look great Norby.
Nice idea (again ).

[Norby]

The main part is ready, will be released after some fixes.
Changed:
- max. width of escorts is reduced to 70m so Krait can't fit anymore (escorts should be small),
- max. height is increased to 29m so Moray can fit,
- the deck model is less wide but longer to match better,
- new long deck for ships over 400t (Anaconda) which can hold 8 escorts.




The bottom right ship is a Nyoka from  WildShips with 550 max.speed.

The long deck of Anaconda can hold 8 escorts in rotated positions:



I started to bundle OXP escort ships into an Escort Pack OXP which can land on the deck and has nice graphics. Candidates: Bushmaster, Chameleon, Far Arm Hunter, Gnat, Hognose, Mussurana, Night Adder, Nyoka, Sidewinder Special, Sonoran, Viper Raider, Yasen-N.