From this post on, this thread becomes the development thread for Hiran's Oolite Starter programme which should eventually marry your saved files with their relevant OXPs
Following on from Hiran's initial thread, I just wished to describe the larger picture as I see it, with one or two ideas for where we as a community might wish to go.
We have a sandbox of opportunities - but need to work to realise any of them. What we already have is good and satisfies many of us in the community. But we may well wish to attract others - as well as try and satisfy some of our community who specifically desire certain improvements.
One path is Hiran's.
He has come up with a scheme to include elements of multi-player gaming in Oolite - but this requires a more robust development of the game, where we return to regularly rolling out nightlies so that his necessary tweaks to the vanilla game code can be tested. And we need to help him in doing this.
The need for this is based on the observation that there have been a large number of comments in many places on the web that people would have stayed with Oolite had multi-player been an option.
Critique
1) Some of us are AppleMac users, and this path leaves us out (not Hiran's fault - he worked tirelessly over many long hours to try and include the AppleMac).
2) We do not know how genuine the sentiments of those wishing for Multi-Player really are.
3) With 1100+ OXPs, how do we satisfy the wishes of players who want (say) the Galactic Navy in their Ooniverse with those who can't stand it? Admittedly many of the oxp's are not problematic (retextures, or many ambience ones for example).
Of course, if this path attracts enough new players, than all of these criticisms become redundant.
A second path is that of the OXPs.
The major improvements in the Vanilla game since 2015 have been graphical. This allows for major improvements regarding the oxps, if we have the skills and can be bothered.
The main problem is the bewildering assortment of 1100 OXPs and the heavy investment of time needed to work out what is what.
I believe that what is needed is a small selection of meta-OXPs which create ready-made content-filled universes for the player.
The following seem to me to be possible candidates:
• Stranger's World (more realistic, might need minor tweaking)
• Elite Trader (just trading, but this might need no work at all)
• SOTL Exploration (needs some work - HUD, new station-ship, use of commodities to create new equipment...)
• Far Planets (seems very incomplete - needing many more systems, or am I wrong?)
I believe that we could also do with several politics/wars options, combining for example Montana05's Invasion OXP with the Galactic Navy.
• All-out battle against the Thargoids. Starting with the current situation (minor raids) but getting worse and worse, with systems falling into anarchy, or being taken over by the Thargoids. I am presuming that we do not already have such an OXP.
• Political change in GalCop. A commie takeover of several sections of each galaxy. Or a corporate takeover. Or the rise of a new dictator. Or the rise of anarchy and of piracy.
• A new politic with two or three political blocs, the universe divided between them and a war about to start (sneak a peek at SOTL AltMap)
Critique
1) To create even one of the politics/war options would be a lot of work. We do have many of the needed elements, but would need to create more and also to iron out bugs in some of the current OXPs (eg Diplomancy). Are we up to it?
2) Galactic Navy copyright issues may well scupper some of this. Personally, I think that we can ignore these.
Of course, once a player elects to choose one of the various universes, they can - of course - add in other OXPs to tweak their cocktail as desired.
What have I missed?
Edited to add in Reference SectionReference Section:
•Enable Oolite development
•Changing Oolite...
•Nexus - Hiran's multi-player tweaks (and see "Links" at the bottom of the page).
•OXPs - Strategic thinking!
Less relevant
•Oolite interaction with Expansion Packs
•Oolite as exploration game
•Stranger's Roolite Essay #1 (adding flavour & depth to Galaxy 1)
•Musings for v.1.92
•OXP Categories (Analysis/Discussion)
•The First Amphiboly of the Architectonic of Oolite
•Popularising Oolite in Different Languages