Controversy Corner

[Cholmondely]

Personally, it would scupper my lousy combat abilities

I think it would pair well with having ecm be less common. A belly full of missiles in elite was often very useful, much less so in oolite.

Yes, there are hardened missiles in oolite I know, so it's a little more complicated than that.

Effective, cheap missiles however could be a lifesaver while the player got their skills (and indeed ship) together. More fun-centric than player-centric as other ships could of course have them too... although the player ship seemed to be a little more resistant to a missile hit.

For me, the missiles serve as a hypothetical ecm, warding off other missiles.

My few attempts to use them aggressively always saw them disappear in a puff of ecm-induced smoke.

But I'd keep them defensively, in case I was "missiled" by the ravenous hordes of notorious nefarious nay-sayers to the pure and positive paradisical pleasures of feudal feoffment. Alas, when it came to it, I'd have to pause the game to thumb through the OoliteRS.pdf and work out which buttons to press... Araminta would get miffed, Benedict would roll his eyes, and my G-and-T would invariably spill - all over the astrogation boards... (I say, Benedict, should I really have pushed that button? [pause] Oh, look! Stars!!)

[Redspear]

The Docking Computer(s)

Prohibitively expensive for the starting commander but once you can afford it then you don't really need it. So what's the point?

In elite it was perhaps two-fold:

• convenience (especially the fast-dock variety)
• novelty (it was 1984)

Even back then, the novelty would wear off pretty fast so we're left with convenience but in oolite there's a twist: the clock. Auto-Docking will add on a certain amount of time, to the extent that manually docking can be (and often is) faster.

So in oolite, with it's time sensitive missions/contracts, you're paying for the DC twice. Furthermore, Docking is easier in oolite on account of better graphics/collision detection and the fact that there's a docking bouy to alleviate what WAS the hardest part: lining up.

The great thing about Docking Computers of course is that just because you've installed them it doesn't mean you have to use them and the player isn't always 'against the clock'. It remains the case however that they represent a non-essential item who's biggest virtue is to save the player real time.

Docking can be fun but it gets old. Not everyone likes to play along while listening to a podcast, some just want to play. By the time you've got this equipment item then you've already done your time and even if you still like to manually Dock then the next time you're given a queue position of 15 then 'fast-dock' is an option that you might like to have.

So, where's the controversy? Well how about making their use save time more than cost it, not just sometimes but rather everytime?

It has its merits I think:

• more intuitive - in saving real time you're saving in-game time too (with the 'fast dock' option)
• actually useful - saving a few mins of game time can help in some situations
• it would become a strategic purchase - few, if any, veterans need one but for the contract-phillic player it would make a sound investment.

But...

How could it possibly save time?
The ship is no faster, you never see other ship's teleporting into the station so another example of undesired player-centricity?

There's another possibility in terms of time saving. Rather than saving time before Docking it could save time after. Priority landing and loading facilities for example.

If the clock doesn't add on some time however then what the hell just happened? There's another way to do it, which would be to add on even more time when the player doesn't use computers.

This might seem harsh but then if the player would rather take their time to manually dock then it remains intuitive: they're effectively loitering when on the clock rather than when they're off it.

Contracts are often quite achievable time wise, to the extent that many players take on multiple contracts simultaneously. That could be no less viable with the purchase of DCs.

Of course a combination of adding some time after Docking manually and reducing the time added after fast-docking could be used but the point would be utility.

Rather than just a curious relic of 1984, the Docking Computer would be a desirable purchase, potentially on a par with the extra energy unit whose price it shares.

[Cholmondely]

The Docking Computer(s)

Prohibitively expensive for the starting commander but once you can afford it then you don't really need it. So what's the point?

Just to point out - you're ignoring ILS. I originally got it through one of Norby's meta-OXPs. And I would presume that many players have this.

[Nite Owl]

Just to point out - you're ignoring ILS. I originally got it through one of Norby's meta-OXPs. And I would presume that many players have this.

Personally prefer TRAFFIC LIGHTS to I-L-S as it cuts down on Docking Queue wait times, especially if you TWEAK it a bit.

The Docking Computer(s)

Docking Computers are a mandatory bit of equipment if you are into landing on Planet and Moon surface locations via PLANETFALL. This mandatory need can be eliminated with a bit of TWEAK. This is not a recommendation to do so on my part as keeping the Docking Computer as mandatory adds a lot to the whole Planetfall experience.

[Redspear]

Just to point out - you're ignoring ILS. I originally got it through one of Norby's meta-OXPs. And I would presume that many players have this.

'Ignoring' is an awfully strong word, don't you think?

Personally prefer TRAFFIC LIGHTS

Fair dos, I'm not very familiar with either of those but let me be more specific in my suggestion.

Skipping the whole experience via 'fast-dock' should not cost the player time.

From what I can tell, both of those oxps try to make Docking easier and/or faster. They're in some ways replicating or competing with the sequence that initiates the blue danube playing. They're not, however, replicating this:

It comes with MemnSomn pilot interaction to induce hi-cram sleep during the maneuvers.

Certainly not in a manner that fast-dock does.

I may have opined before that planetfall is a great proof of concept but got tied up to markets in terms of reasons to travel. That meant more profits and so then it got tied to maintenance /licence costs which turned it into a lot of work for little reward. I think I even suggested a solution: move one contract type from the station and have it be exclusively planet based. Anyway, getting sidetracked.

So planetfall does provide a very particular use for DCs but it's neither of the core game (oxp) nor does it change a core game interaction (as ILS and TL do).

Sometimes I want to watch the scenery, sometimes I want to press on. Both are fine but the player shouldn't be charged (repeatedly) for the latter IMHO.