Oolite Bulletins

[PREVIEW] Elite Trader 1.19d

• At every system's witchpoint you will find a Guild Lodge. In keeping with G.E.T.'s arcane and esoteric Order, these are small pyramidal stations offering welcome, ceremonial, cameraderie, and a trading floor - but no shipyard. One of the Lodge's external faces sports Galcop insignia for obfuscatory purposes and to assure a small police presence. Games may not be saved from inside a Lodge. The Guild Lodge flashes green and orange on your scanner.
• An ancient Guild tradition is the deployment of three guardian ships. Today, these are well-equipped Constrictor IIg models. A guardian will do nothing but patrol near the Lodge, unless disturbed. Guardians, in addition to the small (suborned) police presence which all Lodges attract, make a Guild Lodge's vicinity one of the safest - if not the safest - in the entire system. Guardian ships flash blue and orange on your scanner.
• The Guild accounts as a gift the rescuing of any escape pod, be its occupant of the innocent or the guilty. Saving the helplessly adrift will gain a Guilder not only merit, but also, as befits a gift of this nature, a 5-point ship enhancement plus a real Gift to the Guild of 1000 credits to further Grade advancement. This of course on top of any bounty that Galcop deems you worthy of.
• "Cloaking technology" - that 'Galcop advance' much rumoured and whispered about - was, in fact, long ago an invention of the Guild. They called their device the Hull Shroud. Needless to say, you, as a Guilder, can have it - at a price. Seek it at Stations with a high technological index.
• The Constrictor II - FE Shipyards' 'black project' - is no longer the restricted perk only of Grand Masters. You, as a lowly Master will now find it available, if you look hard. And it's not at all expensive! [nominal specs: thrust = 26; speed = 350; pylons = 4; capacity = 80 TC. Please note: this exclusive ET ship is designed for parity with FE Ships, not vanilla Oolite ships.]
• G.E.T. will pay to all Guilders except Grocers a regular and periodic Bonus. Guild bonuses are in gratitude for service, devotion, and fortitude. They are time-, Grade-, and performance-dependant: the higher you are in Grade and the more credits you have banked, the larger will be your Bonus when it comes.
• Total Bonuses paid by G.E.T. (and their number) are displayed on the F5F5 Manifest.
• G.E.T. owns to a new sensitivity to their Guilders' species-gender - you can be addressed now as "Sister", "Brother", "Sibling" (bi-, tri- or null-sexed persons), or just 'Guilder' (the default).
• As well as speedier Grade advancement, your Gifts to the Guild bring with them 3-point ship enhancements.
• Practical console advisories onstation for Grocers who have not yet made 4 runs.
• G.E.T. begins to take account of time...
• Time spent as a Good Guilder is recorded on your F5F5 Manifest in Lave days (and Lave years).
• System-to-System Runs as a Good Guilder are numerically displayed on the F5F5 Manifest.
• Main Station no longer mass-locks your ship on approach (so please take care you don't slam into it!) (Grade 1 and above)

To download the 1.19d Preview and see screenshots and further notes, please go to the main E.T. Manual at the Wiki.


Picture: G.E.T.'s pyramidal Guild Lodge, as seen from the forward viewscreen of a Grocer in a Krait FE.


(Currently testing in Oolite 1.90 and Oolite 1.91 Dev - no issues found to date with the above changes).

Just unzip the OXP to your Oolite->AddOns folder. It may be necessary to uninstall version 1.18 and/or delete the 1.19c Preview OXP first.

Please note: this is a development version of E.T. and there may be bugs or glitches. I'd be grateful if you would report any serious ones you find hereunder.

Trade Well!
D.R. of X.

[PREVIEW] Elite Trader 1.19e

• Upon docking at a Lodge, G.E.T. will pay a Boon of 100 cr in appreciation of your patronage of the system's principal Guild Home.
• A new F4 Interface exclusive to the Lodge: the "G.E.T. Guild Lodge Sales Advisory", showing sell prices for the two most traded goods at all stations insystem. Those above the Apprentice grade may go on availing themselves of the Witchpoint Trade Advisory (giving only the single most-traded commodity prices), still a somewhat quicker option for the impatient trader.
• NPC traffic will now be encountered going into and out of the Guild Lodge - assume most of these ships are Elite Traders!
• Lodge Guardian Constrictor IIg craft will now respond to S.O.S. signals from beleaguered vessels, along with any Galcop police present.
• Lodge-tailored welcome messages appear at the Guild Lodge after docking there.
• G.E.T. has done away with Arrivals Screen refuel/repair/enhancement summaries in favour of more succinct console messages, facilitating swifter passage to the Market. The Guilder is directed now to the F4 Interfaces for fuller data on recent ship enhancements under "G.E.T. Ship Status Report".
• Various persistent - and perhaps annoying - ET behavioural glitches have been remedied.
• At every system's witchpoint you will find a Guild Lodge. In keeping with G.E.T.'s arcane and esoteric Order, these are small pyramidal stations offering welcome, ceremonial, cameraderie, and a trading floor - but no shipyard. One of the Lodge's external faces sports Galcop insignia for obfuscatory purposes and to assure a small police presence. Games may not be saved from inside a Lodge. The Guild Lodge flashes green and orange on your scanner.
• An ancient Guild tradition is the deployment of three guardian ships. Today, these are well-equipped Constrictor IIg models. A guardian will do nothing but patrol near the Lodge, unless disturbed. Guardians, in addition to the small (suborned) police presence which all Lodges attract, make a Guild Lodge's vicinity one of the safest - if not the safest - in the entire system. Guardian ships flash blue and orange on your scanner.
• The Guild accounts as a gift the rescuing of any escape pod, be its occupant of the innocent or the guilty. Saving the helplessly adrift will gain a Guilder not only merit, but also, as befits a gift of this nature, a 5-point ship enhancement plus a real Gift to the Guild of 1000 credits to further Grade advancement. This of course on top of any bounty that Galcop deems you worthy of.
• "Cloaking technology" - that 'Galcop advance' much rumoured and whispered about - was, in fact, long ago an invention of the Guild. They called their device the Hull Shroud. Needless to say, you, as a Guilder, can have it - at a price. Seek it at Stations with a high technological index.
• The Constrictor II - FE Shipyards' 'black project' - is no longer the restricted perk only of Grand Masters. You, as a lowly Master will now find it available, if you look hard. And it's not at all expensive! [nominal specs: thrust = 26; speed = 350; pylons = 4; capacity = 80 TC. Please note: this exclusive ET ship is designed for parity with FE Ships, not vanilla Oolite ships.]
• G.E.T. will pay to all Guilders except Grocers a regular and periodic Bonus. Guild bonuses are in gratitude for service, devotion, and fortitude. They are time-, Grade-, and performance-dependant: the higher you are in Grade and the more credits you have banked, the larger will be your Bonus when it comes.
• Total Bonuses paid by G.E.T. (and their number) are displayed on the F5F5 Manifest.
• G.E.T. owns to a new sensitivity to their Guilders' species-gender - you can be addressed now as "Sister", "Brother", "Sibling" (bi-, tri- or null-sexed persons), or just 'Guilder' (the default).
• As well as speedier Grade advancement, your Gifts to the Guild bring with them 3-point ship enhancements.
• Practical console advisories onstation for Grocers who have not yet made 4 runs.
• G.E.T. begins to take account of time...
• Time spent as a Good Guilder is recorded on your F5F5 Manifest in Lave days (and Lave years).
• System-to-System Runs as a Good Guilder are numerically displayed on the F5F5 Manifest.
• Main Station no longer mass-locks your ship on approach (so please take care you don't slam into it!) (Grade 1 and above)

To download the 1.19e Preview and see screenshots and further notes, please go to the main E.T. Manual at the Wiki.


Picture: New G.E.T. Guild Lodge Sales Advisory exclusive to Lodges via F4 Interfaces.


(Currently testing in Oolite 1.90 and Oolite 1.91 Dev - no issues found to date with the above changes).

Just unzip the OXP to your Oolite->AddOns folder. It may be necessary to uninstall version 1.18 and/or delete the 1.19d Preview OXP first.

Please note: this is a development version of E.T. and there may be bugs or glitches. I'd be grateful if you would report any serious ones you find hereunder.

Guilders, it's probably time to place a semi-colon after this ET iteration and call it "1.19 final". You might even come across it in the Oolite Expansions Manager as an OXZ sometime in the days to come... But do look out for new 1.20 Preview OXPs both here and on the Wiki.

Trade Well!
D.R. of X.

More power to your elbows, Reval - you seem to be going from strength to strength! Looking forwards to (eventually) sampling the fruit of your labours...

Thank you! - Your own remarks and encouragement are as ever especially appreciated. Now for a little more Wiki work...

[RELEASE] Elite Trader 1.19

Now in the Manager and on the Wiki.

NEW IN VERSION 1.19

• Upon docking at a Lodge, G.E.T. will pay a Boon of 100 cr in appreciation of your patronage of the system's principal Guild Home.
• A new F4 Interface exclusive to the Lodge: the "G.E.T. Guild Lodge Sales Advisory", showing sell prices for the two most traded goods at all stations insystem. Those above the Apprentice grade may go on availing themselves of the Witchpoint Trade Advisory (giving only the single most-traded commodity prices), still a somewhat quicker option for the impatient trader.
• NPC traffic will now be encountered going into and out of the Guild Lodge - assume most of these ships are Elite Traders!
• Lodge Guardian Constrictor IIg craft will now respond to S.O.S. signals from beleaguered vessels, along with any Galcop police present.
• Lodge-tailored welcome messages appear at the Guild Lodge after docking there.
• G.E.T. has done away with Arrivals Screen refuel/repair/enhancement summaries in favour of more succinct console messages, facilitating swifter passage to the Market. The Guilder is directed now to the F4 Interfaces for fuller data on recent ship enhancements under "G.E.T. Ship Status Report".
• Various persistent - and perhaps annoying - ET behavioural glitches have been remedied.
• At every system's witchpoint you will find a Guild Lodge. In keeping with G.E.T.'s arcane and esoteric Order, these are small pyramidal stations offering welcome, ceremonial, cameraderie, and a trading floor - but no shipyard. One of the Lodge's external faces sports Galcop insignia for obfuscatory purposes and to assure a small police presence. Games may not be saved from inside a Lodge. The Guild Lodge flashes green and orange on your scanner.
• An ancient Guild tradition is the deployment of three guardian ships. Today, these are well-equipped Constrictor IIg models. A guardian will do nothing but patrol near the Lodge, unless disturbed. Guardians, in addition to the small (suborned) police presence which all Lodges attract, make a Guild Lodge's vicinity one of the safest - if not the safest - in the entire system. Guardian ships flash blue and orange on your scanner.
• The Guild accounts as a gift the rescuing of any escape pod, be its occupant of the innocent or the guilty. Saving the helplessly adrift will gain a Guilder not only merit, but also, as befits a gift of this nature, a 5-point ship enhancement plus a real Gift to the Guild of 1000 credits to further Grade advancement. This of course on top of any bounty that Galcop deems you worthy of.
• "Cloaking technology" - that 'Galcop advance' much rumoured and whispered about - was, in fact, long ago an invention of the Guild. They called their device the Hull Shroud. Needless to say, you, as a Guilder, can have it - at a price. Seek it at Stations with a high technological index.
• The Constrictor II - FE Shipyards' 'black project' - is no longer the restricted perk only of Grand Masters. You, as a lowly Master will now find it available, if you look hard. And it's not at all expensive! [nominal specs: thrust = 26; speed = 350; pylons = 4; capacity = 80 TC. Please note: this exclusive ET ship is designed for parity with FE Ships, not vanilla Oolite ships.]
• G.E.T. will pay to all Guilders except Grocers a regular and periodic Bonus. Guild bonuses are in gratitude for service, devotion, and fortitude. They are time-, Grade-, and performance-dependant: the higher you are in Grade and the more credits you have banked, the larger will be your Bonus when it comes.
• Total Bonuses paid by G.E.T. (and their number) are displayed on the F5F5 Manifest.
• G.E.T. owns to a new sensitivity to their Guilders' species-gender - you can be addressed now as "Sister", "Brother", "Sibling" (bi-, tri- or null-sexed persons), or just 'Guilder' (the default).
• As well as speedier Grade advancement, your Gifts to the Guild bring with them 3-point ship enhancements.
• Practical console advisories onstation for Grocers who have not yet made 4 runs.
• G.E.T. begins to take account of time...
• Time spent as a Good Guilder is recorded on your F5F5 Manifest in Lave days (and Lave years).
• System-to-System Runs as a Good Guilder are numerically displayed on the F5F5 Manifest.
• Main Station no longer mass-locks your ship on approach (so please take care you don't slam into it!) (Grade 1 and above)

DEPENDENCY:

Required for the Guild Lodge to be present at the witchpoint:

• Stations for Extra Planets
• Stations for Extra Planets: Stations

If you are downloading via the Expansions Manager in-game, these dependencies are flagged and will be installed along with Elite Trader.

To download the 1.19 final release and see screenshots and further notes, please go to the main E.T. Manual at the Wiki.

An OXP version download is there too, for those (few?) who prefer the "old way".

And, as mentioned above, look out for upcoming 1.20 Previews...

Trade well!

D.R. of X.

[RELEASE] Elite Trader Meta

Finally available, the all-inclusive E.T. package brings you:

• Elite Trader
• FE Ships Complete
• GETter HUD
• Goods Containers 10-50 TC

DEPENDENCY:

Required for the Guild Lodge to be present at the witchpoint:

• Stations for Extra Planets
• Stations for Extra Planets: Stations

If you are installing Elite Trader Meta via the Expansions Manager in-game, these dependencies are flagged and will be downloaded automatically as you do so.


Download Elite Trader Meta pack via the Oolite Expansions Manager or HERE.

Trade well!

D.R. of X.

[RELEASE] Elite Trader Meta 1.19.1

Finally available, the all-inclusive E.T. package brings you:

• Elite Trader
• Auxiliary Pylon
• Cargo Pods 10-50 TC
• Cargo Space Refit
• FE Ships Complete
• GETter HUD
• Goods Containers 10-50 TC

DEPENDENCY:

Required for the Guild Lodge to be present at the witchpoint:

• Stations for Extra Planets
• Stations for Extra Planets: Stations

If you are installing Elite Trader Meta via the Expansions Manager in-game, these dependencies are flagged and will be downloaded automatically as you do so.

Download Elite Trader Meta pack via the Oolite Expansions Manager or HERE.

Trade well!

D.R. of X.

[RELEASE] Elite Trader Meta 1.19.2

Finally available, the all-inclusive E.T. package brings you:

• Elite Trader
• Auxiliary Pylon
• Cargo Pods 10-50 TC
• Cargo Space Refit
• FE Ships Complete
• GETter HUD
• Goods Containers 10-50 TC
• Overdrive

Changes for version 1.19.2

• Elite Trader --> 1.19.2 : various, mainly cosmetic, improvements.
• GETter HUD --> 1.3 : now shows shipowner, ship class, ship name, and ship tonnage in a deep blue line above the scanner. Goods carried (deep blue line below scanner) now include quantity.
• Cargo Pods and Goods Containers got one or two minor annoyances ironed out.
• Most notable change: Overdrive is now included in the package.

Picture: Cdr. Jinny Jameson of "Tianve's Tides" has just engaged her O-drive. The neophyte Sister's new GETter HUD speed readout shows her O-drive velocity at just above the nominal top speed of her Sidewinder FE.

DEPENDENCY:

Required for the Guild Lodge to be present at the witchpoint:

• Stations for Extra Planets
• Stations for Extra Planets: Stations

If you are installing Elite Trader Meta via the Expansions Manager in-game, these dependencies are flagged and will be downloaded automatically.

Download Elite Trader Meta pack via the Oolite Expansions Manager or HERE.

Trade well!

D.R. of X.

Reval,

I'm just curious about what you are doing to the game!

All of the usual challenges (from my perspective) - piracy, masslocking etc., seem to be becoming extinct in your Elite Trader. The newer oxp's (Teleportation Drive, Overdrive & Auto S.O.S) unpick it all.

So what is the game, from your perspective? Where should the challenges be?

And where are you hoping to eventually take things? What is your "ideal version" of Oolite?

The overarching aim in all my OXPs is to make a game that I like to play. It's as simple and personal as that.

And what I like to do is TRADE. Nothing else.

I don't care about Elite, and I don't give a fig about lore or game history, nor what I like to think of as the minutiae of the game. I favour simplicity. I prefer to look at Oolite as if it didn't have a history - I want to see it as new ground to explore and exploit.

Of course I don't have to share any of the changes I've made (for my own personal enjoyment), but do have a sneaking suspicion that a healthy percentage of players - old and new - are also in it for the trading. All of my OXPs contribute to making trading easier and fun, at least I hope so.

The annoyances of Oolite/Elite are precisely those things that attract an equal if not greater percentage of players: piracy, masslocking, damage, combat etc. Those core elements, to me as a Grocer, were nothing more than impediments to trading.

The really marvellous thing about Oolite - with its infinite capacity for extension - is that it makes room for both 'camps'. To my mind there were not enough OXPs catering to mine, so I made a few more, and will doubtless go on doing that until boredom sets in - which shows no sign of happening yet.

My 'ideal version of Oolite'? - I think I'm now coming quite close to it. With Elite Trader and the other equipment OXPs, I've eliminated most of what I consider 'vanilla' Oolite/Elite's principal shortcomings.

D.R. of X.

And do you find the trade challenging enough?

Which of the trade oxp's do you use?

New Cargoes? Risk Based Economy and/or Risky Business? SW Economy? Demand Driven Economy? Smugglers?

Are there any changes you would prefer see for the Oolite trade model which are not already there?

I find the game challenging enough and, more importantly, relaxing now the principal 'annoyances' have been eliminated.

I'm quite content with the trade model as I find it, so I don't use any of the OXPs you mentioned - except, the one element I would change (and might even assay it one day) is the quantity of primary goods available for sale. At some stations there are not always enough computers/furs to fill my holds, thus forcing me to buy less valuable items to make up the shortfall. So, yes, I'd increase their overall average quantity. I know there is a limit of 127 units for each market commodity, but I'd like to see that number appearing more often!

1) Just looking at the descriptions in the Expansions Manager:

Elite Trader
Already a meta-game, the Guild of Elite Traders subverts Galcop and turns everything toward Trade. Perks include anti-masslock, witchpoint refuel, a forever-clean record, constant ship-enhancement, bonuses, new ship, lodges, cloak, fast dock; and Market scores count toward Elite. Progress in Grade brings a further edge. But - do not kill!

Elite Trader Meta
Already a meta-game, the Guild of Elite Traders subverts Galcop and turns everything toward Trade. Perks include anti-masslock, witchpoint refuel, a forever-clean record, constant ship-enhancement, bonuses, new ship, lodges, cloak, fast dock; and Market scores count toward Elite. Progress in Grade brings a further edge. But - do not kill! Elite Trader Meta is an all-inclusive package featuring: Elite Trader, Auxiliary Pylon, Cargo Pods 10-50 TC, Cargo Space Refit, FE Ships, GETter HUD, Goods Containers 10-50 TC, and Overdrive.

I've a nasty feeling that with 700+ oxp's to wade through, that many will just read the first few words of any description and only bother reading further if they are interested.

Might it make more sense to reword the ET Meta description so that it is less confusing for those people? Say,

Elite Trader Meta is an all-inclusive package featuring: Elite Trader and associated add-ons: Auxiliary Pylon, Cargo Pods, Cargo Space Refit, FE Ships, GETter HUD, Goods Containers, and Overdrive. The Guild of Elite Traders subverts Galcop and turns everything toward Trade. Perks include anti-masslock, witchpoint refuel, a forever-clean record, constant ship-enhancement, bonuses, new ship, lodges, cloak, fast dock; and Market scores count toward Elite. Progress in Grade brings a further edge. But - do not kill!

This is missing Teleportation Drive, of course.


2) I understand the 127 limit to now be transcendable.

3) With chronically poor combat skills (even with all the artificial bolt-ons such as the accuracy oxp's), my game also centres around trading. But for me, the pirates, the mass-lock dangers, the hazardous trip between the buoy and the station... those challenges all get the adrenalin flowing and make the game enjoyable. The difficulties of getting safely to Isinor with a couple of TC's of Zaoncean computers and no extra equipment, hoping to dodge the pirates... that's what the game is all about in my eyes!

Reval wrote: ↑Tue Dec 13, 2022 8:57 am

I know there is a limit of 127 units for each market commodity, but I'd like to see that number appearing more often!

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Tue Dec 13, 2022 10:53 am

I understand the 127 limit to now be transcendable.

Have a look HERE for information on a Station's Cargo Capacity. This is one of those tedious TWEAKS as it has to be done for all of the Stations in your Ooniverse. If you have something like Stations for Extra Planets installed (based on your posts you probably do) then each individual Station would have to have its Capacity changed. Have personally tried changing the Capacity on a template and then doing the [like_ship =] thing but that does not seem to work reliably enough to satisfy my goals. Increasing the default 127 Capacity to something in the vicinity of 350 would probably achieve your "one stop shopping" desires depending on your ship's Cargo Capacity. Having personally played with these numbers a significant amount over the years be assured that happy ground can be found for almost any given scenario if you are willing to put up with the tedium of the individual TWEAKS across multiple OXZs and their respective shipdata.plist coding. Do not forget the core vanilla stations as these will be a system's Main Station most of the time. A simple shipdata-overrides.plist placed in a sub-folder named Config in your AddOns folder will take care of those default Stations without having to edit and backup the original Oolite shipdata.plist file. Tedious, as has been typed, but quite worth it in the long run.

Many thanks for the ideas, tips, and pointers, Nite Owl. Yes, it would certainly seem a grind and a chore going station by station and changing the max quantity value for each of them.

Yesterday, looking for a better, more all-encompassing way of obtaining higher average quantities of a given good over a spread of stations, I set up a little test OXP and imported Oolite's trade-goods.plist into the Config folder... After playing with the value of the key "quantity_average" for Computers (the default of 8.5 was far too low) I got some surprisingly nice results...

Picture: Elite Trader G.E.T. Master Advisory for Lerelace buy prices and quantities.

More than enough computers to go round there! - So I seem to be on the right track: will play with a few more of those numbers, perhaps tuning them more finely, for the primary exports.