I suppose I'm trying to turn oolite into a freelancer / freespace type game - and obviously it would be a massive and probably impossible undertaking..
but i think it would go down very well with youngsters / new players if there was an overarching 'purpose'
One can presumably do this sort of thing by using Cim's scenarios.plist.
I've little idea about freelancer/freespace, but there are several missions OXPs which do have such an overarching purpose. Xeptatl's Sword springs most readily to mind, and I suspect that Cataclysm is another. One needs to be pretty much Elite to take on either, so the hard grind of getting to Elite is presumed, but those OXPs do exist. It is the gap between starting as a green Jameson and attaining Elite status which is unscripted...
To us people who live and breathe and love Oolite? It matters not at all.
For someone new to the genre / game / scenarios? Possibly a lot - i think a measured introduction to OXPs in the form of a storyline would be a good way to introduce someone to it.
I could even see some 'tutorial' OXPs with someone talking you through docking, MFPs etc etc..
But - looking at the Oolite demographic (and I'm guessing somewhat here, so sue me) - the vast majority all know and love Elite as a game already, so would have no use for such an introduction to the Ooniverse.
I think it goes down as something that would be nice to see, but limited appeal i guess. I would definitely play a structured lengthy storyline from green Jameson onwards. It definitely would be an immense undertaking to build...
But, yes, I agree with you. The in-game tutorial does not help with MFDs, for example. It is only for the vanilla game.
And over the past 5 years we’ve attracted many younger people who never knew Elite (and who presumably drifted away again). And who seem to load up their game with a zillion-and-one oxps from the outset!
I was hoping to structure the “Hints” oxp to cover other oxps, but am not a programmer and was also defeated by how to best balance vanilla game hints with oxp hints.
