Oolite Bulletins

Wildeblood wrote:

Explorers' Club currently uses green Xs for visited systems and orange diamonds for unvisited systems.

Disembodied wrote:

Is there any need to mark unvisited systems? If marked = visited, then unmarked = unvisited would help reduce visual clutter.

spud42 wrote:

no, just checked and all i have is green x for visited systems. no marks for unvisited systems. oolite 1.80 and explorers club from OXZ manager ingame.

Sigh.

Explorers' Club currently uses either green Xs for visited systems or orange diamonds for unvisited systems (but not simultaneously).

Wildeblood wrote:

Wildeblood wrote:

Explorers' Club currently uses green Xs for visited systems and orange diamonds for unvisited systems.

Disembodied wrote:

Is there any need to mark unvisited systems? If marked = visited, then unmarked = unvisited would help reduce visual clutter.

spud42 wrote:

no, just checked and all i have is green x for visited systems. no marks for unvisited systems. oolite 1.80 and explorers club from OXZ manager ingame.

Sigh.

Explorers' Club currently uses either green Xs for visited systems or orange diamonds for unvisited systems (but not simultaneously).

sorry mate but you had a "and" in the sentence which i to to mean simultaneously....

Commander Hennessey is just starting to hit his straps as a galactic courier, having completed his first full cross chart sojourn attempting to deliver (too) many parcels to various systems along the way – not so successful, but he probably maintained a moderate reputation with about a 70% on-time delivery rate from about 20 jobs. Starting from Cemave in the northwest corner, the last system on this trip was Beenri near the southeast corner of chart1. Having got used to the frequency of (misguided) contracts put out on him by various Mafioso and Triad groups along the way, he now considers his combat and evasion skills indeed match his rating of Competent, with over 250 bounties. He decides to give himself a little adventure vacation and visit Ascension, the mysterious system in the southeast corner of the chart just a few jumps away, to see for himself the extreme results of human genetic modification.

Brushing off the few half-hearted attempts at piracy as he navigated the isolated star systems the other side of the Tortuga expanse, his stay at Ascension was both eye opening and disconcerting. He could see why few people made the journey as the close knit and insular population appeared barely recognisable as human. After picking up a small courier job to deliver some prototype tech, he was invited to a meeting with one Captain Curruthers of Her Imperial Majesty’s Space Navy…

Hmm, Hennessey just happened to visit one of the more isolated places in the chart, a place reputed to develop seriously advanced technology and happened to meet someone from the navy who tells him about a stolen ship prototype with some top-secret kit that needs to be recovered. All this after starting to build a reputation as a dependable courier who is capable of holding his own against the more criminal elements of GalCop society. Coincidence?

I think this would have to be one of the luckier introductions to a core mission anyone could have in the Ooniverse. Many thanks to the authors of Famous Planets – this was my first ever visit to Ascension.

The curious case of an Adder named Magic...

I hyperspaced into Ataneris, looking for those special parcel contracts that really interest me. Halfway in-system, I came across a firefight - four clean ships attacking a lone offender in an Adder. My first thought was 'that ain't gonna last long' - but the pilot of Magic had other ideas. From close-in, I watched Magic weave and duck and then counter-attack, taking-down two of his assailants. He then had to turn and run from a missile! So impressed was I with his skills (and thinking he might just be a fellow courier) that I disposed of the missile for him. He then came about and disposed of a third ship, and the fourth ship turned-tail and ran. I was about to waggle my wings at him - but he decided to attack Mercurial Amethyst next. Puzzled, I attempted to discourage him - but he persisted. That was an error on his part! Somewhat reluctantly, I slowly took him apart, taking some heavy hits in the process, hoping he had an escape pod - but alas, he did not.

Thus passed another Ace who took on one fight too many! I shall remember Magic though - impressive!

As for those parcel contracts: at Ataneris main, I was presented with the choice of a dozen, three of which were right up my street!

Got another hyperwave message from my old friend "Slippy" Jim Inskipp making his way through G5 en route to G7 -

So I'd arrived in the Geonbi system after witching out of Veveesve, and was making my way towards the station, when halfway in Angelina got bounced by a bunch of pirates. The lead ship - a Griffin Mk I, something I'd never seen before - claimed to be from "the people's revolution" and demanded 11TC of cargo to 'donate' to the cause before immediately opening fire. Now I don't take kindly to this kind of 'charity with menaces' approach, regardless of how worthy the cause is and especially when driving a Serpent-class cruiser, so I told Falcon of Mayhem II that he could suck quirium vapour and turned Angelina around to engage. Locked up his Mamba friend Admiral Lydia and sent several full-power mil-laser bursts into him before loosening a hard-head missile off in his general direction - which of course sent him off running while screaming "I'm taking too many hits!" and frantically hitting his ECM to no avail.

Unfortunately the rest of his mates had closed to within knife-fighting range and Angelina was taking some serious hits, so as a distraction I released a few tons of 'pirate kibble' - literally in this case as it was 3TC of Veveesveian swamp wheat - and hit the injectors to escape. The plan worked, for most of them immediately went after the dropped cargo... but one ship, a Wolf Mk II, decided that Angelina was a tastier prize and continued to pummel my aft shields. By now having separated him out and gained enough manoeuvring space I started to bring Angelina's forward lasers around to bear - when a Taniwha NG seemingly appeared out of nowhere, barrelling in towards us at an astonishing rate. Now I'd never come across one of these before either, but Ranthe, you've told me enough about these ships to make me seriously worried that even one Taniwha NG would be enough of a challenge for a Serpent-class cruiser!

Then the Taniwha opened his comms: "It's the Wolf Mark II: Iron Skull [...] Open fire!" Almost immediately Scimitar II made good on his word with his lasers tearing into the Wolf Mark II, forcing the aforementioned Iron Skull to, shall we say, realign his battle priorities!

I guess he must have owed the Taniwha pilot money, or slept with his sister, or something... either way, I wasn't going to hang around to find out. So I flashed a quick message of thanks to Scimitar II and left them to it!

Sorezaan to Soleuser - 109lys taking about 450hrs. A cross-chart run with two contracts worth over 26k onboard, and power to add along the way. It's a long run, and there ain't no way to avoid the Beritere/Tierus chokepoint - I know it, and the assassins know it too! Any hyperspace jump over 6lys means trouble for a courier - with little fuel left for the injectors, evasion becomes almost impossible. Thus it was with such things on my mind that I launched from Beritere main, fully expecting to find at least six assassins awaiting me at Tierus. Even with my new RoE allowing use of the aft laser, I knew it would be touch and go - the last couple of times I'd made that crossing, I'd suffered heavy damage!

As I cruised away from the station, three assassins launched and began trailing Mercurial Amethyst - a Moray, a Ferdie, and a Cobra. Three, I can usually manage - but I would almost certainly take some damage in the process, and when you're about to jump into the type of firefight that I was expecting at Tierus, already damaged kit is a no-no! So I led them towards the limit of the aegis, knowing they'd open fire as soon as we were all clear - but just before we reached the limit, I came about and headed straight for the most dangerous of the three - the Moray - at full-tilt. He tried to evade, but I scored a near-perfect side-swipe - it took my shields down, and took the Moray out. Then I led the remaining two slowly out of the aegis while my shields recharged, then set about them - one hit the injectors and fled, and the other perished bravely! Now for the hyperspace jump - with no damaged kit, and no extra assassins trailing me through. The gloves are off now!

I emerged at Tierus straight into an almighty firefight - two Thargoid warships had spoilt the welcome party. I would've gleefully cruised on past, but one warship turned on me and I had a rush of blood to the head. Not only did I splash that warship, I also took-out the other one, thereby saving two assassins in the act. One congratulated me on my shooting - then they both attacked. Bad decision! I was on a roll by then, and they didn't last too long. Then it was frag the drones time, followed by the triumphant cruise in-system - where I suddenly found myself helping the local Feds against yet more Thargoid warships. By the time that was done and over, Mercurial Amethyst had taken some damage - even the beer-cooler took another hit, bless it - but I was through!

Gotta love the seventh octant - it has it all: two halves, connected by two chokepoints; the Maraus hub; and the Rift Worlds!

Another enjoyable tale from our intrepid courier! Nice one, sir!

might have to stop taking parcel runs.... dont think im up to that sort of fun yet... lol

Cody wrote:

Gotta love the seventh octant...

All roads lead to Maraus!

CaptSolo wrote:

All roads lead to Maraus!

Indeed! Animal names for sectors are good, as they are for planets and moons - ever read Coyote, amigo? Highly recommended!

47 Ursae Majoris' system has four planets - named Fox, Raven, Bear and Wolf after Native American mythology. Bear has six satellites - Dog, Hawk, Eagle, Coyote, Snake and Goat. Of these six, Coyote is large enough to support its own biosphere.

Cody wrote:

...ever read Coyote, amigo? Highly recommended!

No, have not, but will check it out next time I'm at the library.

I would recommend it. Great read.

The other chokepoint in the seventh is the Timaesin/Tiarice jump, but the assassins surprised me there by their complete absence - it was a milkrun!
However, they turned-out in force on the very next jump - and I survived, thanks to the injectors and the aft laser! I count at least twenty of them!

Cody wrote:

By the time that was done and over, Mercurial Amethyst had taken some damage - even the beer-cooler took another hit, bless it - but I was through!

Just curious: Does the installation of some OXP hardware reduce the chance of the rest of the equipment taking damage? If damage occurs and it is "assigned" to that cooler, maybe the injectors spared their chance?
And yet again, maybe flying sober did help you in the end. Or did you drink that warm beer instead?

ralph_hh wrote:

Just curious: Does the installation of some OXP hardware reduce the chance of the rest of the equipment taking damage? If damage occurs and it is "assigned" to that cooler, maybe the injectors spared their chance?

Every item of equipment you add reduces the chances of critical equipment being damaged.. as the item to be damaged is selected at random. Hence the popularity of 'useless' equipment such as beer coolers, tea & coffee machines, etc.. (or even ship's cats, for that matter ). Their primary function is "damage magnet". And as Cody has related, now and then, it actually does help. More usually, it's something essential, like injectors, nobly sacrificing themselves to protect the beer cooler!