Fuel Scoops for Cargo on 1.72

[Thargoid]

Isn't that called an asteroid?

Starship Troopers here we come...

[Commander McLane]

I didn't think so much Starship Troopers.

But there was a bad SF-movie, the title of which I don't recall, where a bunch of kids are sent on a quest in a ship with basically no weapons. Until they construct sort of an electronic sling which enables them to fire whatever 'ammunition' they can think of out of the airlock with terminal velocity (deeply holding their breath for a moment).

So, yeah. I told you, it was a bad SF-movie, didn't I?

[Cmdr Wyvern]

Isn't it interesting how Oolite's physics engine works.

Objects that have no explosive damage can still pack a lot of kinetic damage, ie Hesperous using the catapult trick to swat a pirate fighter with a container of food. That gives a new meaning to the phrase 'food fight' all by itself. Or large ships trying to dock sending the main station flying off at light speed...

Kinetic damage can also be added to explosive damage, ie it's less damaging to be hit in the aft by a hardhead than in the fore. But using the catapult trick, a hardhead becomes lethal even to a Behemoth as it's kinetic damage gets multiplied.

[ClymAngus]

Mmm which oxp are you using to scoop missiles?

I though you could only scoop cargo, asteroid shards, and escape pods

My god what a horrible way to kill someone, catapult their escape pod into a rock, ship, planet or space station. I wonder if you get extra bounty points for classy kills.

For that matter would a well placed cannaster of kittie num-nums be enough to take out the asteroid in asteroid storm. If so sod the missiles, I'm going to pelt it with a ton of whiskers.

[Thargoid]

Pods offers scoopable missiles (standard and hardhead) as new items of cargo, as I think perhaps does cargo & wrecks (not 100% sure about that). In the pods case if you scoop up one of the free-floating (not actively fired) missiles and you have a free pylon, you get another missile to fire

But I don't think that's quite what was meant.

[LittleBear]

Missiles and mines disabled by a Minesweeper can also be scooped, although nothing appears in the cargo bay when its scooped up.

[ClymAngus]

Missiles and mines disabled by a Minesweeper can also be scooped, although nothing appears in the cargo bay when its scooped up.

Seriously though LB, could you t**t your big bad asteroid by lootzing a ton of cat food at it?

It's almost worth turning that into a (youtube) competition.

[ovvldc]

But there was a bad SF-movie, the title of which I don't recall, where a bunch of kids are sent on a quest in a ship with basically no weapons. Until they construct sort of an electronic sling which enables them to fire whatever 'ammunition' they can think of out of the airlock with terminal velocity (deeply holding their breath for a moment).

That would be Earth Star Voyager, IIRC. And please don't ask me why I remember this film out of so many that I've watched. It is, indeed, quite bad.

Best wishes,
Oscar

[Cmdr Wyvern]

But I don't think that's quite what was meant.

No, it wasn't.

Here's how to catapult-launch missiles.

1) Arm and target a missile.
2) Point your ship at your target, punch the injectors, and when you've reached maximum injector velocity, fire the missile.
3) Immediately release the injectors and watch the missile scream away at 3 to 4 times it's normal speed.

Got it?

[Eric Walch]

Isn't it interesting how Oolite's physics engine works.... But using the catapult trick, a hardhead becomes lethal even to a Behemoth as it's kinetic damage gets multiplied.

Yes, when you look inside the code you see oolite IS using E = m v2 to calculate collision damage. Double speed = 4 times the impact damage.

[Alex]

I mentioned using this slingshot effect as a weapon 10 days before ClymAngus mentioned the effect happens. Half way down page 1. And had no response.
Humph I away in a Huff.
That should last long enough to make a cuppa.

[Commander McLane]

I mentioned using this slingshot effect as a weapon 10 days before ClymAngus mentioned the effect happens. Half way down page 1. And had no response.
Humph I away in a Huff.
That should last long enough to make a cuppa.

Hey, that's life, buddy. Sometimes people react on a post, and sometimes they don't. And there may be a million reasons for it.

And by the way: If you perform a thorough search in the depths of the board, I am quite sure you would find that somebody else mentioned the effect two or three years before you did. 'There is nothing new under the sun' (Eccl. 1:9). Or, if you want the whole passage:

Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again. All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.
(Eccl. 1:4-9) NIV