New start to the game idea

[toxitalk]

Love 1.72 version of the game (Just downloaded after a year of not playing.)

And my first hour in the game left me thinking.

It was my first cargo trip out of Lave to Zaonce, and after I entered Zaonce I was unable to 'fast forward' to the planet due to traffic. This took what seemed like the best part of an hour.

If it had been the first time I had played, I may have given the game up as being boring.

With this in mind I was wondering if the following was possible as a better way to start the game.

You wake up to hear the news "Zaonce is a quarrentine system with the out break of Zaonce Flu"

"All ships grounded till medical supplies arrive"

"if you want to help call xxxxxxxxx"

You take the job with the promise of 100 credits and your choice of ship

Once you complete your mission you can either have a cobra iii, something which holds more cargo and no weapons, or a ship with better weapons and no cargo.

This would mean you get to go to the destination and dock very quickly (after my first trip if after an hours flying I had crashed and had to start again I would have probably just forgot about the whole thing)

Also you could then decide what sort of game you were going for.

Any thoughts?

[Sarin]

Hm....reminded me of F:FE and Soholia Medical run...it was an event at the start of F:FE where one planet nearby has been hit by plague and for two game months, you could sell there medicines for very high price, making about 700% profit at each unit...

Yep, having some "starting mission" would be good...I suppose some OXP could take care of it, if you find someone to write it...there is a few mission OXPs around tho, but I can't think of any that begins at Lave or nearby right after starting the game.

About that "long trip" of yours, if you don't want to spend hour flying to destination, just fly on jump drive not towards the planet, but in 90 degree to the normal course for a while to approach the planet from different angle to avoid traffic.

[Commander McLane]

Hi, toxitalk, and first of all welcome to the boards, and of course to this great game!

I'm not sure about a start mission, which may have something to do with the way I came to Elite. When I played it on a C64 in 1985, I played it for the sake of discovering-the-universe-while-doing-a-little-trading-and-building-a-fighting-reputation. And I was more than fascinated with that. I wasn't even aware of the existence of missions. So it was exactly when I thought 'now I know everything about this game', that I suddenly got the first mission (Constrictor Hunt), and a whole new world of possibilities opened itself...

I still remember how amazing it was. And this experience wouldn't have been possible, if the first thing to be seen on Lave would have been a mission screen.

So I hope you understand my reluctance.

As far as speeding up the journey from witchpoint to planet is concerned, Sarin has the right hint: use your hyperdive (hit 'J'). But this doesn't work if any other ships are nearby, so the trick is to leave the corridor and fly outside of it. Then you will arrive at the station within seconds.

This and many other useful hints, and answers for all kinds of questions, are available in the Oolite-FAQ on the Elite Wiki. You may also want to check out the Oolite Instruction Manual for more useful information. And as a beginner's guide to the game you should go and see Mr Gimlet, the friendly and talkative dockmaster of Lave station.

[OSH]

Hi all!
I'm old fan of ELITE-games. I've started playing ELITE 13 years ago on C-64, the beginning was hard...I couldn't dock to Lave station, I've thought even, this is impossible to dock with station...but once day, I've approached slowly this station, rotated constantly and...I've made it! I've docked with Lave station. Now I understood, it's possible to docked with station. And so began my ELITE-fascination. I've flown from station to station, fought with pirates, upgraded my Cobra...when I saw first time "Right On Commander" I've don't knew what's up...When I've received my first mission (tribbles) I was shocked. I couldn't understand what i have to do to complete this mission, but I've received Constrictor mission, that was great...ELITE has surpised my in many ways... I've reached Dangerous rank, and I'm playing still ELITE on my good old C-64...
Next was Frontier on Amiga...better graphics, better music, many missions, many ships to buy, and totally freedom...I'm playing also Frontier on my Amiga...
And next Frontier: First Encounters...much better graphics, music, but steering was very hard, and I can't play this awesome game...I have to learn how play this game...
And finally Oolite. I know this game, but when I've downloaded it first time in 2005, it appeared me like once odf ELITE-clones. But yestaerday, I've downloaded version 1.72 and I've saw list of OXPs and I was shocked I think, Oolite is the best interpretation of legendary original ELITE. To all OXP creators: keep up your good work! I'm sadly not a proggrammer, I'm translator. I came from Poland, maybe I can make a polish translation of Oolite?
And sorry for my very bad English, I translate German texts...

[Commander McLane]

Hi, OSH, and also to you a warm welcome to the boards, and of course to this great game!

Feel free to contribute whatever you can. A polish localization would be a nice start for your fellow countrymen, I guess. Oolite in Italian exists already, and I am still working on the German version.

Have a look in this thread for more information.

[CptnEcho]

Love 1.72 version of the game (Just downloaded after a year of not playing.)

And my first hour in the game left me thinking.

It was my first cargo trip out of Lave to Zaonce, and after I entered Zaonce I was unable to 'fast forward' to the planet due to traffic. This took what seemed like the best part of an hour.

If it had been the first time I had played, I may have given the game up as being boring.

With this in mind I was wondering if the following was possible as a better way to start the game.

You wake up to hear the news "Zaonce is a quarrentine system with the out break of Zaonce Flu"

"All ships grounded till medical supplies arrive"

"if you want to help call xxxxxxxxx"

You take the job with the promise of 100 credits and your choice of ship

Once you complete your mission you can either have a cobra iii, something which holds more cargo and no weapons, or a ship with better weapons and no cargo.

This would mean you get to go to the destination and dock very quickly (after my first trip if after an hours flying I had crashed and had to start again I would have probably just forgot about the whole thing)

Also you could then decide what sort of game you were going for.

Any thoughts?

The idea of accepting a "pilot wanted" advertisement for a risky medical relief mission seems like a decent alternative to the original Elite story.

As others have stated, it would make a worthwhile OXP scenario.

Good thinking, Toxitalk. Welcome to the Oolite forums.

[toxitalk]

I had being trying the J key, but each time one ship left the radar another entered, preventing me from making any real progress. (boy its boring when that happens)

Luckerly after the flying I did not screw up docking or I would have been really fed up.

I did not twig about the flying 90 degrees, and will try that out.

Thanks again guys.

[Ark]

Luckerly after the flying I did not screw up docking or I would have been really fed up.
Thanks again guys.

Bear in mind that in oolite you have an extra helping tool for manual docking. The name of the tool is navigational buoy. So manual docking is far easier in oolite than it was in the original elite

[JensAyton]

I had being trying the J key, but each time one ship left the radar another entered, preventing me from making any real progress. (boy its boring when that happens)

Hint: the ships mostly follow specific routes. You can go around.