Oolite Bulletins

Ah, a Wolf who wears the skin of the Sheep. And a Wolf I know.
Using a 'cheat' doesn't make you a cheat although sometimes these can lead you to cheat yourself Certainly no insult intended. You are a Commander I like and respect, whatever Medicine you use.

I think one problem here is the somewhat emotive word "cheat": it's possibly not the best word to use here. This is, in some respects, just the "über" argument in a different form: what some see as improving the game, others might see as game-breaking. I think though SandJ is right when he says

SandJ wrote:

The reason this thread started was, I suspect, because I said two add-ons are not widely advertised because they are cheats. Perhaps I should have said "they are not widely promoted because the experienced authors know it will spoil the game if newbies use them as if they are standard equipment."

OXPs can be very moreish. But the ones which change the gameplay, which give extra advantages to either the players or the NPCs, can quickly fling things out of balance; players new to the game should only add them carefully and cautiously, probably even one at a time with decent testing periods in between.

Disembodied wrote:

players new to the game should only add them carefully and cautiously, probably even one at a time with decent testing periods in between.

Oh yes indeed!

El Viejo wrote:

Dawn Trader wrote:

there is a big bottle of Tequila for you sky brother.

Jose Cuervo Reserva de la Familia?

quietly sits in back pouring and chuckling.... Si Mi Amigo, Que Pasa?
Is this not the best? swat a hornet's nest and see what happens? Is this not best for the new commanders, to hear what the best have to say? Truly a cornecopia is information is to be had here if one is willing to understand. To those who participated... many thanks.
Especially Dawn Trader who tends to nitpick at times.

<Coyote howls>

Yah-Ta-Hey wrote:

swat a hornet's nest and see what happens?

Swat? You mean the SWAT Condor? Yeah, those Condors are remarkable vessels. Certainly an interesting OXP for newbies. But the Hornet's Nest - is that an upgrade to Wasps.OXP ? Now there's another OXP that I'm fond of (Wasps) despite it being not-terribly-Elite canon. It is another I would recommend to newbies.

And neither are cheats.

Senors SandJ and Smivs, uno momento. come, sit with us and enjoy a drink with us.... you have grasped the idea with mucho gusto and must be rewarded. come, the tequila is good, the air is cool and don't even mention the serving girl...El Viejo has made it several trips around the eight and he may not survive her. Rewrote as senor Sandj said... the girl, she is too hot to handle.

I will happily admit to downloading just about every one of the "cheat OXPs" mentioned here. I would also like to point out that my main commander has never been loaded with any of these OXP's installed. Statistics lie, or tell only half the truth. I spend a lot of time balancing my game and selecting OXPs that remain installed. Probably more time then I spend playing for real. But hey, that is part of the fun. I use these "cheat.oxps" when I test something, or if I want to show off the Tionisla Grave Yard and the Tianev pulsar to a friend. So I don't have a problem with cheat oxps but for one exception. For new players, I imagine it's quite a daunting task to select what oxp's to install. Get that wrong, then play for 6 months only to find out that you have been basically "cheating" must be very frustrating. I know it would be for me.

Apart from that one reservation, I think people should build their Ooniverse to their liking.

Yah-Ta-Hey wrote:

Senors SandJ and Smivs, uno momento. come, sit with us and enjoy a drink with us.... you have grasped the idea with mucho gusto and must be rewarded. come, the tequila is good, the air is cool and the serving girl is mucho callente.

Thanks for the offer old chap, most kind, but having just done a Google image search for 'callente', I think I'll stick to the missus, thanks. At least I know what's under her skirt.

(Suggestion: don't do that search with SafeSearch off unless you want a mucho surprise and a need to clear your browser cache! NSFW.)

Yah-Ta-Hey wrote:

El Viejo has made it several trips around the eight and he may not survive her.

Oh I don't know... when I get my mojo workin', anything is possible!

Dawn Trader wrote:

before I got my scanner and planner... I had many run ins with pirates at both safe and unsafe stations.
I know how to evade and lose my opponents however, I make it a point not to get a reputation. In my alter ego, I have arrived at my location only to meet 50+ grieving relatives of a pirate that I took out several system removed. My reputation seemed to get there before me... I have even had the sheriffs try to warn me off because of the reception committee that was waiting for me.

That sounds like Random Hits OXP. If you harass or kill any of the syndicate ships attacking a Seedy Space Bar (which is only found in Anarchy systems), you build up a reputation that can trigger a "next-of-kin" retaliation attack. Even docking many times at a Space Bar can increase your reputation. So too can taking a Random Hit, regardless of your success. Each jump you make decreases your reputation slightly. The bounty hunter sheriff/bailiff/judge types may even warn you of an impending retaliation ambush.

There are probably other OXPs that also cause retaliation ambushes by pirates, but that's the only one I've seen in action.

Quite a few of the OXP missions added special npc ships that can sometimes be random pirates found "anywhere"...or adds additional Thargoids. This is especially nasty for Military Fiasco OXP (Basilisk) and Galactic Navy OXP (Pirate Frigates!). I'm a decent player and those are still so nasty that I generally have to flee them.

Adding any Thargoid ship-type OXPs should be obvious sucker bait.

Switek says:"That sounds like Random Hits Oxp" and he is correct. What a great OXP... those reception parties can get pretty hairy and for my Alter ego.... it is like calling in pigeons to the slaughter. For traders ;iike me who fly the same space lanes as my alter ego, getting past those committees is not only hairy but downright dangerous even more dangerous now that I have removed my long distance scanner and planner oxp. Did some serious thinking on that and concluded that it did unbalance the game in favor of the player. i THINK that the long range scanner is a doable item but it should be at the cost of something on the ship... cargo space to house the banks of detection grids. As the lensman found out from old Carndyge... it is the atmospherics in space that limit the range of detectors in both escape vesssels and first line battleships. by being able to tune out the "hash" the range is limited only by the cosmics. It would be these filters that take up the cargo space. that is why the lensman's special ship had a 7 detet range vs the 1 detet range of regular detectors. Right now , our ships can pick up vessels in a 25km sphere ( think 1 detet)... by putting in the scanner,,,the range is opened up dramatically to include the sphere of space around a planetary system( think 7 detet).

so is there a person who is good at oxp.. who can modify the long range scanner to be only the scanner, at the cost of 1,150,000 credits and a loss of 10-20 tonnes of cargo space to be filled up with filters that would allow the long range of the scanner? Note, you really, really would want this to pay that kind of price... hence it would be found only of tl13 or higher planets or only in Hacker outposts or in secom bases( due to security/military applications). Truly a rare gem.... like a cloaking device or primable laser.

Dawn Trader wrote:

I THINK that the long range scanner is a doable item but it should be at the cost of something on the ship...

Survival chances. If you can have a long range scanner, then any pirates similarly-equipped in the system should be able to see you from anywhere and start homing in on you with their thrusters on. If you think one pack of pirates is bad, having every pack of pirates in the system coming after you at once would be very hairy!

Also, if you can have a long range scanner, why shouldn't GalCops? Then when you become Fugitive, every GalCop in the system should come after you, with injectors on, including those docked at the space station,

I find it easier to comprehend a Ooniverse without the LRS - with it the game should be like Frontier where you can see everything that's in the system.

By golly , you are absolutely right..... thank you. it was an idea that didn't work and it certainly "blew up" with your insightful logic on how others would use it. (shivering to think of what it could be like). Lunch on me when you reach next port... if they still accept my credit.

SandJ wrote:

. If you can have a long range scanner, then any pirates similarly-equipped in the system should be able to see you from anywhere and start homing in on you with their thrusters on. If you think one pack of pirates is bad, having every pack of pirates in the system coming after you at once would be very hairy!

Interesting Idea for DeepSpacePirates.oxp (And probably many other oxps). If the long range scanner is available to the player, increase the chance of meeting a pirate by a factor 10. Cause you are right, if the player allows this instrument in his universe, the opponents should have it too.