Oolite Bulletins

Hi 7T, welcome and the same to all the new players out there who have joined only recently.

I still consider myself a newbie to the forum in many ways, I've not been on here for 2 years yet but I've got my hands dirty with some fiction and an OXP in the works.

I still remember the heady days of playing elite on my BBC and then on the arc. A working A5000 resides in my shed too.

I have to admit to not playing OOlite lots but I think about it a lot and write about it a lot.

Obsessed? Probably. Just with OOlite? No.

!m!

SevenT wrote:

BASIC, there's a Blast From The Past... something you never hear about these days. Do school children actually learn programming these days or does IT education merely involve knowing which icon to click and which WP to use?

Interestingly enough, we recently had a discussion on this very topic.. Why Johnny can't code

Diziet Sma wrote:

SevenT wrote:

BASIC, there's a Blast From The Past... something you never hear about these days. Do school children actually learn programming these days or does IT education merely involve knowing which icon to click and which WP to use?

Interestingly enough, we recently had a discussion on this very topic.. Why Johnny can't code

Gawd durn it... it seems like there are lot more "like-minded" people out there than I originally realised.

After the initial rush of building a ZX81 and putting it into a Crofton Keyboard, playing the mandatory games (3D Monster Maze was the apis'-menoptera - "Rex Is Approaching"), learning Sinclair BASIC, attaching a 16K ROM Pack.... I got bored and went on to learning Machine Code.

Bloody amazing... I recently re-discovered one of my MCode notebooks from 1983... Pages and pages of listing of Z80 pokes and peeks, painstakingly written in immaculate handwriting with a Rotoring pen... and now I can't understand a frikking line of it - nor do I recognise the handwriting of the person who wrote it! He was a bloody clever bastard - whoever he was!

SevenT wrote:

After the initial rush of building a ZX81 and putting it into a Crofton Keyboard, playing the mandatory games (3D Monster Maze was the apis'-menoptera - "Rex Is Approaching"), learning Sinclair BASIC, attaching a 16K ROM Pack.... I got bored and went on to learning Machine Code.

Sounds not unlike my early adventures teaching myself Assembler on the VIC20..

Topic moved to Discussion.

Thanks, a_c..

(a wee suggestion? Stickied too? Pretty please? )

Hi There. I'm new here too. I have been haunting the IRC over the last couple of days. Special thanks to Smivs for wanting to help me out on getting on here. It was my colleges overzealous spam filter all along!

I've never played the original Elite. Nor have I played either of the Frontiers. I had played many space sims in the past though, to young to understand where the genre got its beginnings. When I found oolite two years ago, I was just trying to find someway to get through the summer away from college in my home without internet. For me this meant playing the vanilla game with no OXPs, and reading the fiction whenever I was in town.

I fell in love. Deeply, deeply in love. Here was a game that with such simplicity created an entire world, no, universe, in which you played a minor role.

Unfortunately, my tendency as a computer science major to wipe hardrives on late night excursions into installing a new linux os left me always restarted around the time I hit competent.

Recently, I decided to pick up oolite again (because it's that middle of semester time, when things like that seem like a fantastic idea). I now find myself more hooked than I had ever been before. Obsessively hunting OXPs, thinking up fiction in my head, and getting to know some of the people on the IRC.

So... I guess that's my introduction of myself, I look forward to talking to everyone more, you've proven to be one of the much more friendly communities on these here webinets.

SevenT wrote:

DaddyHoggy wrote:

SevenT I still have have two working A500s (OK an A500 and an A500+) I had a third but it was stripped for parts to keep the other two going. Also have a 20MB A590 with an extra 4MB side installed in it (I used to do a lot of 3D renders using Raylab and I needed the memory and the storage space!)

I just came...

Evesham Micros... gosh that brings back mammaries (and memories!)

S'rsly though - nobody else on here ever own a CPC?

*raises hand*

Just a 464 though. They brought out the 664 like a week after I got mine, and the 628 later, but I stuck with what I had. Amstrad brought out a PC in 1992 which was impressive in its way for the money but was a funny-looking piece of kit.

rockidr4 wrote:

Hi There. I'm new here too.

I fell in love. Deeply, deeply in love. Here was a game that with such simplicity created an entire world, no, universe, in which you played a minor role.

Oh gosh... I am living it again - through your eyes.

Do yah know I am fairly/extremely jaded now (I am at that state of "nothing can impress me") but 10 years ago I took my daughter out to see the New-Years firework display. I thought "fuck - I saw the 2000 display in London.... nothing is going to top that"....

I put my hands on her shoulders and every time a firework went "bang" I felt her jump and then I jumped too. I suddenly realised that I was re-living MY early "shock & awe" experience through her eyes - despite the fact that I was a jaded old fart....

So yes - I get it - your memories bring back many happy memories of my own.... Oh that Ram Delta joystick baby..... If that sounds slightly perverted.... well I am neither going to deny or acknowledge such a despicable untruth...

Malacandra wrote:

SevenT wrote:

DaddyHoggy wrote:

SevenT I still have have two working A500s (OK an A500 and an A500+) I had a third but it was stripped for parts to keep the other two going. Also have a 20MB A590 with an extra 4MB side installed in it (I used to do a lot of 3D renders using Raylab and I needed the memory and the storage space!)

I just came...

Evesham Micros... gosh that brings back mammaries (and memories!)

S'rsly though - nobody else on here ever own a CPC?

*raises hand*

Just a 464 though. They brought out the 664 like a week after I got mine, and the 628 later, but I stuck with what I had. Amstrad brought out a PC in 1992 which was impressive in its way for the money but was a funny-looking piece of kit.

Ohhhh... shute.... Alan Sugar never got the Kudos that Uncle Clive did and for good reason.

I met both of them and they were both... ermmm... well to align them to a lady's private "parts" or someone who was born without knowing who his father was is - I am now aware - not particularly politically correct at the moment (2013).... but can I say that when I met them 25 years ago they were both bastards and both female genital organs...

Whoooo... you were lucky buying that 464 when you did. The 664 only went out there for a few months before the 6128 did. The 664 was just a 464 with a 3" drive... you certainly dodged the bullet there man!

Even on the bare-bones CPC464 you should have been able to play "Elite" NO?

I waited until the CPC6128 came along and then I shoved a "DK'Troniks" RAM expansion pack in the back... along with a Rombo RomBox and a Rombo "Vidi" which allowed me to take multiple moving "videos" of Elite...

If all of this seems somewhat divergent from the theme of "Oolite" you have to remember that WE remember a time before "Oolite" a world before the Internet, a world where BASIC was still used and a world where Gary Glitter was only regarded as "slightly odd" - but Noel Edmonds was regarded as "normal!"

Seriously - you don't want to back there.... No you don't....

Yes, Elite played OK on the 464, though from time to time it would crash for no obvious reason, which was annoying when it took a good five minutes to reload from cassette. Only mission I ever found was the nova mission though - I was never offered a Trumble and never heard of the Constrictor, at least not on my system. That's probably because I was off on my galactic travels long before I even made Competent. Only ever found the Cloaking Device via a cheat code in a magazine, a lot of typing in and then loading from tape. Fun toy when I had it though.

SevenT wrote:

rockidr4 wrote:

Hi There. I'm new here too.

I fell in love. Deeply, deeply in love. Here was a game that with such simplicity created an entire world, no, universe, in which you played a minor role.

Oh gosh... I am living it again - through your eyes.

Do yah know I am fairly/extremely jaded now (I am at that state of "nothing can impress me") but 10 years ago I took my daughter out to see the New-Years firework display. I thought "fuck - I saw the 2000 display in London.... nothing is going to top that"....

I put my hands on her shoulders and every time a firework went "bang" I felt her jump and then I jumped too. I suddenly realised that I was re-living MY early "shock & awe" experience through her eyes - despite the fact that I was a jaded old fart....

So yes - I get it - your memories bring back many happy memories of my own.... Oh that Ram Delta joystick baby..... If that sounds slightly perverted.... well I am neither going to deny or acknowledge such a despicable untruth...

playing the vanilla version made me realize that I needed oxps to enjoy the game anymore. there just wasn't much to see anymore. I just still needed a Soave sim that my computer could run. it can't handle Vega strike. it's just too intensive. with the addition of a few things there are still some things that surprise me. like the scow from the far arms Pack.


I was flying around(as I tend to do) and it sent a transmission, "I hope the space lanes are safe." he then turned fire on me. suddenly those words read differently.

Hello and Ahoi,

recently docked and thought I introduce myself to "the friendliest board this side of Riedquat" at last. My name's Mike. I originate from the northern coastal area of Germany with swedish ancestry, so the concept of trading by ships, freeloading and smuggling is not too unfamiliar.

As a little lad I watched anything SCI-FI'ish I could find and played Elite with a friend acting as copilot and vice versa on a c64 for months and months. Later Frontier on an Amiga got me hooked. I alway looked for something that was just like elite when I switched to Linux many tides ago. Tried vegastrike but to my delight I found Oolite (1.64???) not much later.

So far I played Elite/Oolite in a more traditional way with my main Jameson going the trader (anything from clothes, purple wigs to arcturian brandy), smuggler and then bountyhunter route, but thanks to the great OXPs by the community I am now tempted to take over RRS group missions to salvage blackboxes and rescue shipwrecked pilots from the wrong hands (very cool oxp, btw.). I enjoyed taking over the role of a hired gun for the ITHA and escorting traders to the next main station, too (Still wishing one could escort one of the real big fishes like an Emerald Liner, Bulkhauler or Lynx Bulkcarrier one day)

I recently started over and was thinking about a different side careers for young Jameson in my Ooniverse as miner, pirate and cab-driver.
I hacked and fixed some OXPs for my personal use for this, e.g. there's the Griff-NPCs ships oxp to have a flashy Gecko with sharkteeth design as a player ship. So I currently follow traders through wormholes, convincing them to share on or two containers with me, now . I fixed some shader problems with Z_Groovies Viper Raider, because later my free loading alter ego should upgrade to one of these ones.

To make a living in the passenger business I thought it might be appropriate for the other Jameson to fly a real cab. Unfortunately the YellOo Cab only worked with the stand alone Griff Moray package installed, to avoid redundance, I hacked it to work with Griff ship replace oxp and gave it the possibility to have a passenger berth.

I am not sure about the mining setup, yet. I'd like my hard working Jameson to have the choice to have a special vessel for that, too. I'm currently flying in a Bug, bought mining laser, a rock hermit locator and Ore processor, but to fly staer9 Bushmaster with these addition already built-in would be nice. Oh, well. so many ideas, so little time...

Ok, for those who might be interested I put these hacks online the box account below in the sig. My deepest praise for all Oolite developers and oxp writers. All your hard work is more than appreciated here on this side of the com-link.

Time to undock, there's an Annie going through its wormhole, I got to follow.
Amah

Welcome Amah! If you like a Bushmaster then a shameless plug: http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/File:B ... _Miner.jpg

The RSS missions and ITHA and Random Hits Missions are a lot of fun

Dank je wel, pagroove. Nice tunes on soundcloud (and in famous planets), btw.

About the bushmaster currently wondering about some difference in stats between oldships and staer9 ships.