newbie questions

[Cody]

Safety-catch? It's dangerous out there! Go fully-armed and ready to fire at all times - and never run out of fuel!

[ralph_hh]

Doesn't help though, if you add a danger by killing yourself with an accidentially released Q-bomb...

That damn Gecko, so hard to hit and running away every second hit. Bastard. Get him a missile, that's what I do. Yea! ... Oh, whow, look at that missile, finally scored a hit with a missile first time in a century. Look, what a nice blue explosion... Ehmmm why is this one so big? Hell, it's still getting bigger. Wait a second, where is that Q-Bomb that was there a minute ago? Have I...? Oh, F*** <press 'I' with all your might and pray>

Well, at least that added some excitement to a boring trip to an otherwise peacefull planet.

[Cody]

Doesn't help though, if you add a danger by killing yourself with an accidentially released Q-bomb...

<chortles> If you cannot handle the ordnance, don't carry it! Missiles are best used for defensive purposes anyway.

[Yah-Ta-Hey]

If you must throw things out into space... use energy bombs... they won't kill you

[Cody]

On the subject of conserving fuel, have you discovered hitching a free hyperspace ride yet?

[ffutures]

I know I originally suggested the Safety Catch OXP, but in the end I stopped using Q-bombs, they're just a bit too wholesale and they don't leave any lootable debris behind. Spend the money on ECM-hardened missiles instead, much better value. Or get the Energy Bomb OXP and play it like the original Elite - kaboom and lots of fun debris!

[ffutures]

Yes, I know, how to cycle through, but if there is only one left, that may have no effect
I used that bomb once, and it seemed, my kill count did not increase. I watched it closely as I was close to "competent" promotion.
I'll install that safety catch, seems a wise idea. Thank's for that!

Were you stealthed at the moment of detonation? I don't think you get credit if you are.

[cim]

The Q-bomb kills do not count as kills, do they?

Anything hit by the original sphere will be credited to your kill count (and if applicable legal status). Anything hit by cascade spheres will be posthumously credited to the count of the pilot of the ship at the centre of that sphere.

[Tricky]

The Q-bomb kills do not count as kills, do they?

Anything hit by the original sphere will be credited to your kill count (and if applicable legal status). Anything hit by cascade spheres will be posthumously credited to the count of the pilot of the ship at the centre of that sphere.

That's a nice and thoughtful gesture.

[ralph_hh]

LOL!

I wasn't stealth at that moment, I was almost competent, so far away from any cloaking device. The ECM hardened missiles... Well, I seem not to archieve a kill by that, only scare ships away, mabe the explode in the end, far away out of sight, I don't know. Scaring anything away is ... useless. If anything becomes far too tricky, a single opponent scared does not help. That's where the injectors come in greatly.
I ended up so far, using only the laser, no more bombs/ missiles.

[Diziet Sma]

The ECM hardened missiles... Well, I seem not to archieve a kill by that, only scare ships away, mabe the explode in the end, far away out of sight, I don't know. Scaring anything away is ... useless. If anything becomes far too tricky, a single opponent scared does not help.

Kills with missiles are rare, but can happen.. and even out of scanner range, you'll get the kill message on-screen if you do. I've had it happen even after I'd already docked!

I'd very much disagree with you that scaring ships away with a hardhead is "useless", though, and especially when things are "far too tricky". When the odds are four-to-one against you and the opposition are skilful pilots, being able to force a couple of opponents to break off and spend a couple of minutes playing dodge-the-missile, giving you the chance to concentrate on the others, can mean the difference between dying, or being able to kill them all. Most seasoned Commanders agree that this is, in fact, a missile's primary role.

[Fatleaf]

Also very early on when starting a new commander before you can afford an ECM you can use the cheap missiles to force an opponent to use his ECM and destroy his own missile they have fired at you.

[Smivs]

Also very early on when starting a new commander before you can afford an ECM you can use the cheap missiles to force an opponent to use his ECM and destroy his own missile they have fired at you.

Of course this may not help if he's fired a hardhead at you. In this case, use shift-'t' to target the nearest incoming missile and lob a standard missile at it, or learn to shoot them down with your aft laser.
Missiles are expensive and using them can often cost more than the profit you make on that run, so view them as a last resort weapon. I normally only carry two missiles, one standard and one hardhead. The first is to deal with problematic hardheads, the second to scare-off problematic opponents.This is cost effective.

[ralph_hh]

Here comes stupid me again. More than 1000 kills, still more than a million questions...

There are so many nice OPX ships in the wiki. How do I get them? Installing the OXP an then? Do they appear in the buyable ship list? (at the moment ignoring the fact that I'm half a million credits short for a pitviper..)

Second one: Why ist the Pitviper MKII not listed in the Wiki ships list? And why are both pitviper versions not listed in the OXP list?
I have to go through Google all the time and find it in the expansion forum.

[Diziet Sma]

Here comes stupid me again. More than 1000 kills, still more than a million questions...

Questions are good.. if you don't ask, you won't know.

There are so many nice OPX ships in the wiki. How do I get them? Installing the OXP an then? Do they appear in the buyable ship list? (at the moment ignoring the fact that I'm half a million credits short for a pitviper..)

Yes, you just install them like any other OXP/Z. Whether or not they then appear for sale depends on the ship in question.. some are for atmosphere/eye candy, etc.. In other words, they are intended as NPC-only, so you won't be able to buy them without some tweaking. (And it may not be practical anyway - for instance, I've made a player version of a behemoth.. it's kind of fun, but not much use, as you can't dock it) Others may only be for sale at a certain tech-level and above, or may be set to have a low chance of being offered for sale, as they're supposed to be rare. Some have more than one variation, and you may have to search for a while to find a station selling the variant you want. The more expensive and rare Pitviper SE 'Beast' that I fly being a case in point.

Second one: Why ist the Pitviper MKII not listed in the Wiki ships list? And why are both pitviper versions not listed in the OXP list?

Basically because the Wiki is maintained by volunteers, who make changes as/when they are able to or are in the mood, and most OXP entries are maintained by the OXP authors themselves. Captain Beatnik (Pitvipers) isn't a wiki-wizard himself, and so needs to rely on others to make/maintain his pages. So far, nobody has gotten around to the MkII. I'll put it on my to-do list.