Oolite Bulletins

a simpler design

Another alternative would be to go for something purely graphic - especially if the event that triggers the warning signs could also trigger a broadcast message by the station. Most road signs, particularly the urgent ones, try to avoid using words. High-contrast chevrons, bars or zigzags might be suitable.

Now we are talking .

no text



. .

That's pretty nice. I'll test drive it when I get home.

From all these, I think the one with just the text works best. Maybe ditch the sings in the background and make the border a bit wider. This kind of simple text might also work as a two ad-rotation, where the first one says: "Station under attack" and the other "No docking allowed" or "Docking prohibited".

spara wrote: ↑Wed Mar 07, 2018 4:54 pm

This kind of simple text might also work as a two ad-rotation, where the first one says: "Station under attack" and the other "No docking allowed" or "Docking prohibited".

<nods> That sounds favourite to me - but use 'Docking Prohibited' rather than 'No Docking Allowed'.

What do the NPCs do when this alert is signalled? Do the merchantmen just queue up patiently, or do they scatter?

Good question!

the merchants are protected by the escorts from the station, obvious...

From a game-mechanic point of view, though: how does it all work? What happens to the docking queue once the alert is over, for example? Would the player have to sit and wait while various NPCs trundle back into place (not to mention having to wait for all the Vipers to re-dock)? Or would the queue get cleared, and docking revert to a first come, first served?

Should all the Vipers re-dock after an attack? Or should a wing of them make a patrol sweep?

What actually triggers the alert, anyway? If it's just the station getting hit by a stray laser or two from a nearby dogfight, then it might be quite disruptive.

Big D has a good point. I would also want to add: Do pilots on docking approach need to read that the station is under attack? If the station is attacked, would it not be reasonably evident anyway?

Sometimes less is more. What I would do with the four screens on the Coriolis in case of a docking restriction order, would be to switch them all to full red. That would be my code to signal to pilots that the station is locked down until further notice.

Good points. This type of thing wears off pretty easily and just becomes annoying. That colour coding is an interesting idea though. There could be an Ooniversal standard, that red means the station is temporarily locked. I'm also thinking that flashing the screens to green could signal that a Thargoid invasion is close by. For example. Don't know.

The idea of a system override feels interesting though, but what ever it is, it should happen very rarely. Maybe the screens could switch to red when the station goes below 50 % of it's hitpoints. Kind of signal for help type of thing.

Red Alert! Talking strictly Griff's stations, it'd be cool if they did what his rock hermits do - when attacked, the lighting in the slot pulses red.

spara wrote: ↑Thu Mar 08, 2018 12:04 pm

Good points. This type of thing wears off pretty easily and just becomes annoying. That colour coding is an interesting idea though. There could be an Ooniversal standard, that red means the station is temporarily locked. I'm also thinking that flashing the screens to green could signal that a Thargoid invasion is close by. For example. Don't know.

The idea of a system override feels interesting though, but what ever it is, it should happen very rarely. Maybe the screens could switch to red when the station goes below 50 % of it's hitpoints. Kind of signal for help type of thing.

Am I correct in presuming that this project never got any farther than this? That no oxp's were created?