Stranger things in Oolite... Or "too difficult at start"

[albanlusitanae]

Hi Forum

I have just returned to this game after several years and I am pleasantly surprised the community is not only still here,
they are alive and kicking and making mods to enhance the Oolite.

Although sometimes I guess things go wrong.

So I was running tests on the game, and then decided to add the ACTVIITIES - ADD ONS FOR BEGINNERS pack of 50 mods,
which is supposely a great compile of things to enhance the experience. It definitely is, but then strange things started happening:

• To start anew, I created a new character after adding the mod pack. On the first jump, I'm attackedf by 5 enemies parked at the witchjump point

• I take it it was bad luck, chose a different system; second one appears clean, jump to planet, immediately appears 10 (!) ships in formation locking me there.

• 10 seconds later, 5 more enemies super fast (I mean fast, they travelled without fuel injectiors from top to center of radar in 3-5 seconds) come out and you guessed it blow me up easily

• mind you at this point, although it was my first few games and first jumps, I had a Cobra MK1, military laser, fuel injectors and couldn't outrun them

So huuuuuuuuuh to make sure I don't fingerpoint the modder for being a troll and marking the compile as appropriate for beginners,
can someone somehow explain to me what is going wrong? How is this game at this level of diffiiculty at the very start?
This didn't happen in the past, and ELITE always had increased levels of difficulty depending on your level. I'm experiencing
ELITE levels of attacks (I was Elite in the AMIGA) at the very start of the game, and this is not fun at all.

Thank you for any data you can shed on this matter.

Cheers

[Cody]

The AI is smarter, which means you will have to proceed with caution - pick your destinations carefully.
The "Easy" start option may be a good choice if you are struggling.

I don't recall classic Elite having different levels of difficulty (I played BBC Elite).

[Cholmondely]

AddOns for beginners adds these:

Ambience Collection
AutoRefuel
Combat Simulator
ETT Homing Beacon
Miner Cobra
Neo-Docklights
Lave Academy
Target Autolock
Tionisla Reporter
Traffic Control
Reverse Control
Ring Racer
Safety Catch
Start Advice
The Collector
Welcome Mat

The ambience collection are these:
Asteroid_Storm
BetterBuoys
BackGroundSet
BGS Soundset by P.A. Groove
Cabal Common Library
Camera Drones
Captain Solo's Good Fortune
Combat MFD
Commanders Log
Communications Pack A
Contracted Goods Reminder
Delightful Docking
Display reputation
Email System
Explorers' Club
Extracts from the Tre Clan
Famous Planets
Fireworks
Flight Log
Freighter Convoys
Gallery
Griff Station Bundle
HD Backgrounds
HD Backgrounds Image Pack A
HD Backgrounds Image Pack B
Headlights
HUDSelector
Hyperradio
Icesteroids
LogEvents
MarketObserver
MFD - CommsLog
MFD - Manifest
MFD - Navigation
Randomshipnames
Random Player/Ship Name
Satellites
Snoopers
Ship Respray
Ship Storage Helper
Ship's Library
Ship's Library Book - Mutabilis
Ship's Library Book - Status Quo
System Features Rings
System Features Sunspots
TrackerCam
Trails
Trophy Collector
OXPConfig

They are innocuous.

I did exactly what you did when I started playing just over a year ago now. I had none of your issues, just getting nobbled by a single solitary pirate at Ensoreus when I flew there from Isinor to explore (quite enough to do me in!).

I don't think it is these oxp's, and despite the increase in piracy around Lave (thanks to the pirate colonies in Riedquat & Uszaa), I doubt that the effects would be as you describe (I always head east to Zaonce/Isinor/Tionisla - better pickings). What other .oxp's did you add on?

... Or are you running lucrative contracts which pay well thanks to the danger?

[albanlusitanae]

The "Easy" start option may be a good choice if you are struggling.

I was on easy

I don't think it is the oxp's, and despite the increase in piracy around Lave (thanks to the pirate colonies in Riedquat & Uszaa), I doubt that the effects would be as you describe (I always head east to Zaonce/Isinor/Tionisla - better pickings). What other .oxp's did you add on?
... Or are you running lucrative contracts which pay well thanks to the danger?

none others. I was literally cruising around without even cargo to attack whatsoever. To make the tests I always go to Isinor.

https://ibb.co/qBnG1n5

https://ibb.co/Vvtp2nF

10 clean formation ships on one, and 3 out of 5 attackers in a single jump.
I am starting to think there is something hidden in the Activities packs.

[Cody]

Have you taken on any parcel delivery contracts? That bandit is "Clean", which usually means it's an assassin.
If not, something else is going on, as clean ships shouldn't be attacking you, especially in formation.

[albanlusitanae]

Had nothing, no jobs, no cargo... I literally fired teh game to show you screenshots... as I knew sooner oor later they would show up. took me less than 10 minutes. As you can see, 3-5 attackers at game start is let's say a bit too much

[Cody]

Well then... rip out all those expansions and start a proper game!

[Slartibartfast]

Hello

i have started ~end of august with poor Jameson ( without any hacks )

and ..yes -- the first flights have been a little bit "problematic"
- but ... after a short while --- you will see, that these problems will get smaller

!!! its not a game which is made for being finished in a fixed time

I have played Elite on my Atari ST ( died long rime ago )
and the beginning was more difficult ( no beacons etc. )

matthias

p.s.
if one strategy fails -- look for another

[Cholmondely]

Had nothing, no jobs, no cargo... I literally fired the game to show you screenshots... as I knew sooner or later they would show up. took me less than 10 minutes. As you can see, 3-5 attackers at game start is let's say a bit too much

So I sometimes get this too. Usually at Isinor. My regular game start is Lave > Zaonce > Isinor and then bounce between Isinor & Tionisla until I'm semi-equipped (Fuel Injectors first, then cargo bay expansion) and then start exploring Qutiri & Ensoreus. I play with Weapon Laws which means that the nearest military lasers & STE are at Biarge, also with the fuel tanks oxp's and with Strangers World (need fuel to run engines). Stranger's World also kicks in with much higher prices for food & textiles after leaving Lave, so I usually make 3x the regular profit at Zaonce (massively helps saving up for fuel injectors!).

But I always avoid the traffic lanes, so if I don't get scragged at arrival, I'm all right. And if I do get scragged, I've my fuel injectors to do a runner with. So, yes, I usually do get attacked by hordes of McNasties, just like you, but I run away (and I never get to count them!). And if it happens at arrival at the witchpoint beacon on my very first jumps to Isinor (before I've bought my injectors - has happened just the once so far), I'm dead.

ELITE always had increased levels of difficulty depending on your level

Is this really true? They had enough space in the game code to add that sort of complexity? I understood that one chose one's own difficulty by visiting safer or more dangerous systems.

[another_commander]

Just to be clear on this: there are no attacks by Clean ships in the unmodified core game, unless you get certain contracts (usually of the too-good-to-be-true type). What is observed here is almost certainly the result of one or more of the expansion packs in use.

Pirate groups on the other hand are indeed possible even in supposedly safe systems, when such systems are within jump range of e.g. anarchies. The probability of such encounters should be low, though.

[Cmdr James]

ELITE always had increased levels of difficulty depending on your level

Is this really true?

I dont remember it getting harder, if anything the extra equipment you tend to acquire made made it gradually easier. Even the missions were for the most part more about getting you to do new things rather than being challenging.

They had enough space in the game code to add that sort of complexity? I understood that one chose one's own difficulty by visiting safer or more dangerous systems.

It wouldnt be at all difficult to have the frequency of attacks/misjumps/etc or "level" of encountered ships increase. But as far as I know it wasnt done.

That to me was part of the beauty of the game, it wasnt about constant pushing the limits it was about slowly working your way to an iron ass. "Just another couple of runs and I can finally get a docking computer" or "cool now I can afford a decent laser"

[arquebus]

My experience as a new player is that I'm often jumping into a system and getting immediately beset by pirates. I can't outrun them, I can't fight them, so I just die. And then reload my last save. I don't exactly *mind* doing this, but it does suggest a lack of balance to some extent.

This happened in the second system I went to. I probably did have cargo, nothing weird, and in the early game there's not too much else to do anyway so I had no choice but to have 20t of stuff.

It's likely that this happened due to an OXP, though, so it's not really a complaint.

[Cody]

I can't outrun them, I can't fight them, so I just die.

You can dump cargo, which is what they're after. Drop enough, and they'll stop attacking you and turn yellow.

[arquebus]

I can't outrun them, I can't fight them, so I just die.

You can dump cargo, which is what they're after. Drop enough, and they'll stop attacking you and turn yellow.

Aha! I will give that a shot. I think I may have done that once by accident.

This was probably down to an OXP I have installed, all these extra pirates. One would think that if pirates are regularly swarming around nav beacons, system authorities would be out there, too...

[Nite Owl]

[This was probably down to an OXP I have installed, all these extra pirates. One would think that if pirates are regularly swarming around nav beacons, system authorities would be out there, too...

Have a look at TOTAL PATROL which will put those system authorities out there and in several other places as well.