Saved Game Files

WeylandYutani · Post by **WeylandYutani** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 4:17 pm

I agree with Drew and have been working on a database of ship characteristics looking for patterns hoping to concoct a simple formula to avoid uberness, even if only for my own personal use. In light of the fact that there is no reference for mass, I have used volume figures that I derived from accurate models in a professional 3D CAE program and assume that all of the ships have a similar average density.

A Cobra mkIII displaces 79040m^3. It has a cargo capacity (normal) of 4600m^3 leaving 74440m^3 for equipment.

A Worm displaces 6613m^3. It has a cargo capacity of 460m^3 leaving 6163m^3 for for equpiment. Presumably though it is much lower priced than a Cobra and it has the ability to make planetfall which may require some equipment that the Cobra does not have.

A good comparison of Elite native ships is the Cobra mkIII and the Python.

A standard Python displaces 97333m^3. It has a cargo capacity of 23000m^3 leaving 74733m^3 for equipment (very similar to the equipment space of the Cobra mkIII)

So equipment-wise the Cobra clearly trades some points from it's energy rating to gain more top speed. Actually it trades about 195 points of energy for .150 in top speed. Factoring out the 30% increase in size of the Python though the Python trades .09 in top speed for 195 points of energy.

The price also increases 25% for the 30% larger Python.

The difference in manuevrability is very minimal on these two ships. One thing that is interesting to note is that the Python is twice a long as it is wide, giving it a longer moment of intertia in pitch than the Cobra which it much wider than it is long. The stats reflect this to some degree the Python has a lower pitch rating.

Quantifying any of this though is very difficult, especially considering most OXP writers may lack the tools for calculating an accurate volume for their new craft.

Another comparison to see how things hold up is in the big cargo movers.

The Anaconda displaces 219966m^3 and has a cargo capacity of 172500m^3 leaving just 47466m^3 for equipment.

The Boa displaces 118686m^3 and has a cargo capacity of 27850m^3 leaving 89936m^3 for equipment.

So the Anaconda is 85% larger but leaves only 53% as much space for equipment. The result is a ship that has a 58% slower top speed, pitches 40% and rolls 27% as well as the Boa, and has a similar energy rating.

The price goes up about 44% for the 85% increase in size.

The numbers don't work out quite so neatly on this one...

Anyway, it's a start. I think that volume - cargo volume and then a point system for the remaining volume is the most rational way to start defining uberness - if people are so inclined.

drew · Post by **drew** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 6:25 pm

Nice work!

Cheers,

Drew.

themacman · Post by **themacman** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 12:33 am

I must say for about the first month I played Oolite I didn't want to download OXP's because I didn't like the fact that random people could make whatever they want. The behemoth was the first OXP I downloaded because it seemed widely accepted. I would be shocked if I had more than half the OXP's on Oosat.

Maybe there should be restrictions (or a review by a group of people) on an OXP before it gets uploaded to Oosat (or do we do that already idk, I've never done an OXP) and if they want to make an uber ship they can just make for themselves and use it.

ovvldc · Post by **ovvldc** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 7:24 am

WeylandYutani wrote:
Anyway, it's a start. I think that volume - cargo volume and then a point system for the remaining volume is the most rational way to start defining uberness - if people are so inclined.

Thanks to you and Drew for figuring out all of this. It is a good help for figuring out a ship. I have one question: could your final report include cargo space:equipment space ratios, rather than just the raw numbers? At first glance these do not tell one much.

That, combined with energy, speed, and turning ability will go a long way towards comparing ships.

Best wishes,
Oscar

WeylandYutani · Post by **WeylandYutani** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 5:00 pm

ovvldc wrote:
I have one question: could your final report include cargo space:equipment space ratios, rather than just the raw numbers? At first glance these do not tell one much.

Yeah, I have that calculated in the spreadsheet I'm playing with, but when I started transcribing the numebrs for that post I realized that my freeware spreadsheet program was using some fuzzy math (some freeware programmers idea of a joke no doubt).

I'm redoing it in a reliable spreadsheet program now.

Aother question I've been wondering about.

Are all of the shields on all of the ships the same strength before upgrades. I mean if a Boa can take 5 hits from a military laser before it's completely drained, can a Sidewinder take the same number of hits before being drained too?

It seems like shield strengthXsurface area should dictate how much of the equipment space is consumed by a shield generator but if all of the shields are the same stregth that makes that calculation a little bit clunky.

Maybe I should be happy if it is a constant, not another variable to juggle...

LittleBear · Post by **LittleBear** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 10:01 pm

A solution to uber ships would just be that desingers included a reasonable chance of an OXP player ship appearing as a pirate.

EG:- If you have fly a Mamber and are attacked by a pirate fleet of 5 mambers, your in some trouble! If you fly an IC and are attacked by a pirate fleet of 5 ICs you are in the same ammount of trouble.

Think any OXP retains game balance as long as NPCs get the ship as well as the player.

lucabu · Post by **lucabu** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 6:50 am

LittleBear wrote:
A solution to uber ships would just be that desingers included a reasonable chance of an OXP player ship appearing as a pirate.

This makes some sense. The chance sould be greater if the player is flying that ship. Otherwise, if you install an 'uber' OXP, and you are playing on a Adder, you'll get your ass kicked every day...

ArkanoiD · Post by **ArkanoiD** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 9:07 am

lucabu wrote:
LittleBear wrote:
A solution to uber ships would just be that desingers included a reasonable chance of an OXP player ship appearing as a pirate.
This makes some sense. The chance sould be greater if the player is flying that ship. Otherwise, if you install an 'uber' OXP, and you are playing on a Adder, you'll get your ass kicked every day...

It's ok. There are ways to get your ass not kicked. So i think such a correction is not necessary.

TGHC · Post by **TGHC** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 10:07 am

ArkanoiD wrote:
It's ok. There are ways to get your ass not kicked. So i think such a correction is not necessary.

Not if you've tinkered with the ship's stats, but then that would be a bit of a cheat.

ArkanoiD · Post by **ArkanoiD** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 2:51 pm

TGHC wrote:
ArkanoiD wrote:
It's ok. There are ways to get your ass not kicked. So i think such a correction is not necessary.
Not if you've tinkered with the ship's stats, but then that would be a bit of a cheat.

Just stay away from unsafe places until you get better ship.