OK... I [i]have[/i] to talk about this...

Simon B · Post by **Simon B** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 12:01 am

I was in hyperdrive trying avoid the spacelanes when I was attracted by laser flashes - there's usually a bounty taking out pirates so in I go.

That I saw the red laser lines and not big white flashes soys the fight has just started so I have a change of getting an easy kill on a wounded ship. That I can see them at all says they are close ... so I closed in quite fast, throttling back hard just ahead of the hyperdrive lock to cruise into scanner range...

and there is the biggest firefight I've ever seen - some thirty+ ships darting and wheeling an a big ball. Most of them shooting. ECMs going off, missiles all over the place, if briefly, and a few zipping around on fuel injectors.

There were two big ships, so most of the others were probably their escorts. At least one large pirate with escorts, a bunch of freelancers, and a single lonely cop (but he was in one of my Viper IIIs so he was holding his own).

(I can only say, my hats off to the developers - that was awesome)

I'm thinking - "I don't want to go near that thing".
(This was all visual, in far-mid scanner range ... 10-20km?)

But I see there are some cargo canisters and an escape pod in there... so I figure I'll nip in under fuel injectors, pick up this stuff (I'm testing a Typhoon Coyote - lets see what this thing can do) and zip out again before anyone can draw a bead.

Well it was like entering a clothes dryer.

But it worked, there was a hairy moment because I was going too fast to pick up the escape capsule and had to circle back.

Heading for the cargo container I got noticed - turned out to be a sidewinder so he was toast - and I tailed outa there.

And I would have got away too, but I got a distress call. I told myself the flight patterns were making sense - lets see if I can save the anaconda...

So I chase down a python blackdog, fire missiles at his escorts so they run away and stop targeting me, and have enough time to wound him badly, when I see half a dozen or so angry red blips.

I'm taking serious damage and I didn't even know what was shooting at me... I'm trying to run, but it was clearly all over - finger twitching towards <esc> - when the Thargons attacked!

I've never been so glad to see those guys.

Basically the fight was over - everyone tuns to defend against the Thargons. I hit the fuel injectors - I'm outta there big time!

On my way I pass a small fleet of galcops heading the other way. I'd stay to watch but thargons have long-range scanners.

Clear space, and it's back in hyperdrive and safety.

After repairing the extensive damage, picking up the insurance reward, and selling the cargo (save game), I headed out to find the place swarming with cops hunting a few remaining fugitives.

Redock - exit - whiskey time.

In the end I had managed to splat three small ships, crippled a big one, and got out with my hide and insurance intact. The ship performed so well I made a note to reduce maneuverability a tad... blockade runners are supposed to be about speed.

TGHC · Post by **TGHC** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 12:36 am

Don't you just love this game! If you have a bit of time to search the boards there are many instances of "awesome" activity going on. Get yourself over to Galaxy 4 and give Assassins a go!

Oops that should be Galaxy 7, hic!

CptnEcho · Post by **CptnEcho** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 1:29 am

Well it was like entering a clothes dryer.

LOL!!!!

Glad you had a memorable experience!
Thanks for sharing it.

Sarin · Post by **Sarin** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 2:35 am

I found out that combats I enjoy most are when I come across a few pirates when piloting just a basic cobra III with nothing more than pulse laser, injectors and ECM. Recently I ran into group of four pirates, flying various rusty ships from Gecko to Spiv. Most difficult was Asp tho, he managed to evade my fire for quite some time.

Just a while ago I had a similar encounter. I recieved S.O.S from Cobra NjX at the edge of my scanning range. I injectored in, looking for attacker and hoping for quick kill....and found myself the only "clean" commander among approx 20 pirates...there were at least three or four pirate groups battling each other. You can't imagine how fast I ran...

Simon B · Post by **Simon B** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 8:09 am

Interestingly I didn't have anything too special installed as oxp no thargon attack or anything especially likely to create big fights. Random hits is there though... hmmm, and all the governments... things are much more volatile in anarchies...

But I can see how there is material for a bunch of novellas here.

And I've not got past galaxy 4... yet.

drew · Post by **drew** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 8:30 am

Simon B wrote:
But I can see how there is material for a bunch of novellas here.

I look forward with interest! Who is volunteering? Mutabilis will probably be my last 'Oolite' story - too many other projects beckoning and time for some new blood!

Cheers,

Drew.

Commander McLane · Post by **Commander McLane** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 9:04 am

Thanks for sharing, Simon B! Yes, don't we just love this game, and especially its whole non-player-centredness.

I myself (with my battle-hardened Imperial Courier) would of course not have stopped in that same situation before I would've killed every single ship involved (the bad guys first, the good guys later--provided the police don't look too closely

), and scooped every last escape pod, container and floating metal from the site. But of course I guess that I may be a couple of kills ahead of you in the ELITE-ranking

(as matters are right now, a battle like that could push me beyond the 10000

).

Anyway, would you forgive me one remark about vocabulary? I am quite sure that the attack that saved you was made by Thargoids, flying in their warships, attacking everything on sight. The term 'Thargon' does exclusively refer to the small Thargoid robot fighters only.

Killer Wolf · Post by **Killer Wolf** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 9:13 am

"Well it was like entering a clothes dryer. "

why am i not surprised at a dry cleaners reference?!

ClymAngus · Post by **ClymAngus** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 10:55 am

drew wrote:
Simon B wrote:
But I can see how there is material for a bunch of novellas here.
I look forward with interest! Who is volunteering? Mutabilis will probably be my last 'Oolite' story - too many other projects beckoning and time for some new blood!

Cheers,

Drew.

Well that depends on where you leave Dark Wheel and Raxxla, wouldn't want it to go "all Marvel" now would we?

drew · Post by **drew** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 3:05 pm

ClymAngus wrote:
drew wrote:
Simon B wrote:
But I can see how there is material for a bunch of novellas here.
I look forward with interest! Who is volunteering? Mutabilis will probably be my last 'Oolite' story - too many other projects beckoning and time for some new blood!

Cheers,

Drew.
Well that depends on where you leave Dark Wheel and Raxxla, wouldn't want it to go "all Marvel" now would we?

As it happens I intend to leave Raxxla and the Dark Wheel pretty much where they were. I never set out to make a definitive 'Raxxla' which would preclude other interpretations. You'll get a facet of Raxxla from Mutabilis, but the mystery should be in no way diminished.

Anyone else should be able to write a 'Raxxla' story and not have it conflict with mine.

While Status Quo was 'about' the Q-Bomb and the characters were pretty much incidental (and to my mind rather bland), Mutabilis is really more about Rebecca and Jim - what they're going through, and where they're going - whilst bigger events roll around them.

Space/Sci Fi isn't really 'my' writing genre, which is probably showing a bit more in Mutabilis.

Cheers,

Drew.

TGHC · Post by **TGHC** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 5:59 pm

The last bits from The Dark Wheel:

Your father was chasing the mythical plant Raxxla. Does it exist, or does it not? If it does, then on Raxxla there's an alien construct that's a gateway to other Universes, and all that's in those Universes in the way of bounty, and treasures, and aliens, and life . . .

'Jason Ryder was convinced that Raxxla existed. That's why he trained for, and became a part of, the Dark Wheel, the legend-seekers. I hadn't heard much from him or about him for some time until just before he died, when he told me he'd found evidence for the real existence of Raxxla. He came back from Deep Space to get a proper team together . . . ' Rafe smiled bitterly. 'But just before he was due to go back, he decided to take a safe-worlds holiday jaunt with his son . . . and an assassin was waiting for him.' 'But why?' Alex asked. 'Why kill him for finding Raxxla?'

'Because there are people on Raxxla already. This is only a guess, mind you, but from what happened to Jason I'd say it was close to being right. We've long suspected that a corps of élites lives there, and are exploiting the gateway. They're powerful, twisted men. Powerful enough to hire an assassin to kill the threat to their dominance.'

Plenty of food for thought.

pagroove · Post by **pagroove** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 6:12 pm

It's the aspect of pure random events that keep me returning to this game. Even if I just bought X3 terran conflict (which is quite nice). But I like the Oolite universe and I'm so glad that it's a strong play formula today. It only needs a bit more exposure on the I-net because it deserve it. If there was a Gamespot.com for free games I would rate Oolite 9.5.

Post by **Disembodied** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 6:29 pm

TGHC wrote:
Your father was chasing the mythical plant Raxxla.

Presumably that should be "planet"... Unless it's some sort of humungous pan-dimensional daffodil! (sorry, I'll stop proofreading things now)

Simon B · Post by **Simon B** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 10:32 pm

Commander McLane wrote:
Thanks for sharing, Simon B! Yes, don't we just love this game, and especially its whole non-player-centredness. :D

I myself (with my battle-hardened Imperial Courier) would of course not have stopped in that same situation before I would've killed every single ship involved (the bad guys first, the good guys later--provided the police don't look too closely :twisted: ), and scooped every last escape pod, container and floating metal from the site. But of course I guess that I may be a couple of kills ahead of you in the ELITE-ranking (as matters are right now, a battle like that could push me beyond the 10000 :shock: ).

Well - I guess so.

My test capt just went elite a week ago - but that's cheating, since he's almost never bought a ship.

But what is this with the random-hits kills getting stolen? Every time I make a kill, it gets attributed to a "better hunter".

Anyway, would you forgive me one remark about vocabulary? I am quite sure that the attack that saved you was made by Thargoids, flying in their warships, attacking everything on sight. The term 'Thargon' does exclusively refer to the small Thargoid robot fighters only.

[/quote]
Fairy-nuff.

Presumably they are all Tharg like - but I have not heard a "Boragg Thung" offa any of them!

LittleBear · Post by **LittleBear** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 10:50 pm

Have you given your test ship the role "player" in the entry for the player-ship version in shipdata? If not the game won't be treating it as a player kill as player is not the ships role. I seem to remember Dr Nill hit a similar problem where he couldn't get an AI script he was writing to find the player. Then relised he was flying his own Purple Haze and hadn't given his ship the role player, so his AI script couldn't see him!

You must also make a kill NOT cloaked. If cloaked Oolite does not credit you with the kill, which RH will interpret as an NPC kill. There was a bug on the Script Patch that mean the player got the kill but fined as it was being treated as a e-boming. Thats fixed on the V1.3 WIP on the RH thread. Could you check it in a standard ship, as I haven't had anyone report that fault and it was working for my commander in a Chopped Cobra, so could be somthing with the test ship you are flying.