Questions for a Returning User

[morigen]

Hello. I have not been playing Oolite for about 6 months and have just started again. I have questions about the new version and OXPs:

1. Has general gameplay gotten harder?

2. What controler do you use? (joystick possible?)

3. Do you play with pretty much ALL OXPs installed?

4. Is it harder to land manually now than before?

5. Where is the ECM Hardened Missile? I dont see any for sale? If I ise expansions, they are not there??

6. I use a Python Class Cruzer, which used to rock. Now I get killed by a Krait with a few shots. Whats up with that?

7. Is there any thoughts of making Oolite into a MMORPG? I would gladly pay for such service.

Thanks to all who give me some answers.

morigen

[Captain Hesperus]

1. Has general gameplay gotten harder?

I played Elite in the 80's on an Apple IIc and I got the V1.65 of Oolite and they are similar in terms of difficulty

2. What controler do you use? (joystick possible?)

I use keyboard (simply 'cause I love the nostalgia).

3. Do you play with pretty much ALL OXPs installed?

Pretty much.

4. Is it harder to land manually now than before?

Again I can only comment on my recollections of Elite in the 80's, but I can say that I still lose a layer of paint when I manually dock (I'm sure my Python is down to the bare metal now!)

5. Where is the ECM Hardened Missile? I dont see any for sale? If I ise expansions, they are not there??

They can be found on TL9 stations at all reputable Faulcon DeLacy distributors for a hefty (but so worth it) 350Cr.

6. I use a Python Class Cruzer, which used to rock. Now I get killed by a Krait with a few shots. Whats up with that?

Got me, chum. My Python has rammed Kraits to death before.

7. Is there any thoughts of making Oolite into a MMORPG? I would gladly pay for such service.

As to that, see here, here and it comes up regularly, so keep 'em peeled as to the next thread posted.

Captain Hesperus
"I have an emergency plan for each situation. Shame they all start with 'PANIC!!'."

[Ulli]

I once played Oolite for a bit maybe 1-2 years ago, and also started playing again.

I didn't play too much back then, so I can't say if it got harder. I don't use any OXPs, so I can't answer that question, and I also don't have a joystick, so I (have to) use the keyboard (which is sometimes a bit hard, during fights).

Docking seems to work as before, but with a bit of money you can also get a docking computer (and press shift-D to auto-dock, near a station).

The ECM is only for sale when you have free missile slots, and on higher-tech systems (not sure what tech level, try something above 10). So get rid of your basic missiles first.

Don't know about the Krait. Usually they don't hurt me too much (I play a Boa right now), but yesterday one kept flying at me aggressively, made a few shots, then turned around. It was too fast for me to aim and shoot it (luckily I had fuel injection and could get away a bit).

Generally, the bigger ships are much easier to target, though. Don't know the Python cruiser, but Python and Boa are much fatter than Cobras or Fer-de-lance, and the Boa Cruiser is especially large.

Also, save the money to build Shield Boosters and an Energy Enhancement.

[morigen]

Thanks for the reply.

About ECM Hardened Missiles that are lvl9... I went to a lvl 13 planet today and it wasnt there... does it have to be lvl 9 exactly? and where are the cascading mines? i dont see any of the special equipment anywhere. am i in the wrong galaxy (3) or something?

EDIT: oh i see.. i need to have free missile slots... ok thanks

[lolwhites]

I don't understand people who say manual docking is hard in Oolite. I hate to say "when I were a lad...", but in BBC Elite there were no helpful navigation buoys or landing lights to guide you in. I remember when a docking point was a black rectangle on a black background. Compared to that, manual docking nowadays is a doddle.

[morigen]

I didnt say it was hard. Its still easy as hell. What I meant was:

Is it HARDER now than in the previous version of Oolite? ie. Did something change about the entrance to the station? I wanted the details, thats all.

[AndySlater]

I'm pretty new here so I can't say what might have changed in the last 6 months but as compared to Elite on the Commodore 64 some 20 years ago:

Manual docking seems easier because you've got more visual clues.


@lolwhites - you had it easy mate. You weren't allowed to dock on the C64 until you'd done a 12 hour shift down t'pit and we couldn't afford a telly so we had to do it witouth any visual clues.


The bad guys are harder to deal with. On top of having experienced this, I've has it confirmed by others here. 20 years ago, most bad guys didn't have ECM or much in the way of shields either. The bad guys in Oolite are better equipped and they are also much smarter because the AI controlling them is more advanced.

I use the keyboard.

As for missiles, I haven't fired a missile in ages because out of about 2 dozen that I fired when I first started playing Oolite, there was only one that hit the target. All the rest got zapped by ECM. Not much point spending 30 credits a go to confirm that yes, this b* has ECM too.

As for ECM hardened missiles, it strikes me that firing a 350 credit missile is pretty much a last resort that will solve only one of my problems, if I'm lucky. If I'm THAT desperate I'd rather put the 350 credits towards a 900 credit energy bomb in the knowledge that it'll solve ALL my problems.

[lolwhites]

Andy -you were lucky! On t'BBC th'entrance t'station were t'size o'letterbox. I had to dock it at four in t'morning and if I left t'tinest scrape on t'ship our dad would thrash us to death wi' a Q-bomb

But I can't honestly say it's got harder in the last 6 months.

[LittleBear]

Of course we had it tough. On the Acorn Electron there were 150 Commanders living in a single Cobra in the middle of the Space Lanes and the Station didn't even have a docking port!

[Captain Hesperus]

Of course we had it tough. On the Acorn Electron there were 150 Commanders living in a single Cobra in the middle of the Space Lanes and the Station didn't even have a docking port!

Oh, that's hard is it?
When I first started you had to haul ten tonnes of Radioactives with nothing but a RemLock mask, a CO2 fire extinguisher and there WEREN'T any stations. I remember when this were all starfields.

Captain Hesperus
"I never show my age. I've always worn a tank-top, comfortable slippers and a flat cap."

[Star Gazer]

Fascinating and humourous as the preceding posts have been, I think most missed the main point of the original post, which was asking if the latest version of Oolite had changed since an unspecified previous version of Oolite, now't to do with comparing it to Elite at all!!!

1. There have been changes in the AI during the last several versions, and significant changes to the collision recognition routines, which will affect combat and hitting the target.

2. You can use pretty much any USB joystick if you install an exceptionally useful little utility called 'USB Overdrive X', but I prefer the keyboard every time, as I find it pinpoint accurate, if harder to do complex astrobatics.

3. Nope, just a 'select' few - purely personal choice - certainly ship variants , and the station variants, plus a few others - renegade, etc.

4. Not that I have noticed, but see point 1.

5. No comment!

6. Nope, can't imagine how that happened, unless he had a military laser and you had piss-poor shields, and couldn't fly for toffee...

7. There's been a lot written about this for almost as long as Oolite has been around. But, the answer is not seriously in the immediate future.

[AndySlater]

Well it was tough 20 years ago, but back to the topic:

6. I use a Python Class Cruzer, which used to rock. Now I get killed by a Krait with a few shots. Whats up with that?

Obviously that's an exaggeration because a Python is going to take more than a few hits to bring down... unless it's just taken a hammering off something else?

I had a situation a couple of days ago where I went up against 4 bogies in my python. I took one of them out (I can't remember what it was) before they got within 15km and then started chipping away at a python. He took so many hits that my military laser was overheating (having already taken out the other bogie) and I was having to pause to let it cool a bit between shots.

In the meantime a poxy little krait that I'd been ignoring hit me with a missile from so close in that by the time it even registered as incomming it was too late to hit the ECM. My front shields has already taken a hammering with return fire from the python so I ended up floating home in a box.

Does that sound more like what happened? I can't imagine that you are regularly getting your butt kicked by kraits unless you cheated to get the python as opposed to earning it.

[Arexack_Heretic]

I regularly got my hull busted by small pirates.

Then again, I was flying one of those recycled Pythons, not that pretty thing you have in your Avatar.


I need to upload that AH_cruiser.

[morigen]

Ah thanks again for the great replies, all.

I think the Krait that got me was one of those Renegade things (?). They are tougher, right?

I noticed the NPCs are much more accurate than before.

Also, I tried the Docking Computer (which I never used to use), and noticed that it lands my Python Class Cruiser vertically into the Docking Bay. I used to land it horizontally, as always. But maybe the improved collision system now takes into account that the Python is taller than it is wide?

Also, the views (sides, rear) now have the hull visible. Makes it harder to target. Especially: I used to use the rear view to shoot a LOT when my front laser gets overheated. Now it is almost impossible, as the target is completely covered up by the now visible exhaust plume!

Anyway in the end: I am Dangerous status in Oolite (Used to be Deadly on the Amiga, but thats a much easier version). And now I load the new Oosat version, and although im Dangerous, I feel like I went back to being piss poor lol. I think the last time I played Oolite was about 6 months ago. Now I'm back into it!

[LittleBear]

Aah, if you have Renegades.oxp installed then a Renegade Krait (or any other Renegade) is much tougher than your standard pirate. Very rare to encounter one outside an anaracy system, but they pack dual or tripple Military Lasers in the nose, their ships are blinged out with all the optional equipment, some even have plasma turrets and use q-mines!

GalCop pays a big bounty though for taking them out or caputauring the rotter's escape pod!

I wrote Renegades in response to comments on the boards that bounty hunting was not a viable option (credit wise) to trading. The 13 ships added by Renegades are tough pirates, but you are paid 200 - 3000C bounties for taking them out. A similar additional bounty is paid if you also manage to scoop the Renegade's escape pod and hand him in to GalCop. Be warned though, you have to earn your money!