Oolite Bulletins

Diziet Sma wrote:

After far too long, and too many distractions, I've finally gotten around to adding the Planet Express ship to the Oolite Wiki. Sorry for the delay, mate!

http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/D.T.T. ... ip_Designs

No worries Dizzy! Thanks for your work as usual! }:]

This ship is hopelessly overpowered I can say now that I've flown it. For the combination of cost/speed/cargo it has it should be at least as weak as an adder with its combat capabilities which are still as good as a cobra 3 (and better than those of a cobra 1 at the same price).
Just outrun everything at cruising speed. Or injector speed if they use theirs.

It's undoubtedly underpriced - I think 150K or 200k would be more reasonable - but it isn't really a combat monster. For one thing, the guns are far enough off the main axis that accuracy really drops at long range. For me the main advantage is that it's very good at running away, and weakening its other combat capabilities wouldn't change that.

Anonymissimus wrote:

This ship is hopelessly overpowered I can say now that I've flown it. For the combination of cost/speed/cargo it has it should be at least as weak as an adder with its combat capabilities which are still as good as a cobra 3 (and better than those of a cobra 1 at the same price).
Just outrun everything at cruising speed. Or injector speed if they use theirs.

Well, as Paradox said:

Paradox wrote:

According to Wikipedia, "...As the Professor prefers to send the crew on dangerous missions in favor of higher profit margins, the ship is well armed and quite fast. The ship is capable of travel faster than the current speed of light, by shifting the entire universe [7] The ship can actually travel at 97% of the new light speed.[8]..." So, I set the speed to 550 because Oolite. Max_cargo = 30, because Oolite, and scale is 3 times larger than it should be because Oolite! };] Same with the rest of the stats! What you don't like, you may easily change! I know I will, as it is way too twitchy for me to play by keyboard!

(emphasis mine)

ffutures wrote:

it isn't really a combat monster. For one thing, the guns are far enough off the main axis that accuracy really drops at long range. For me the main advantage is that it's very good at running away, and weakening its other combat capabilities wouldn't change that.

Agreed.

ffutures wrote:

the guns are far enough off the main axis that accuracy really drops at long range.

That was weird yes, I think I had to aim accordingly. But still could hit larger ships at ~20km range. With a rear military laser. Often none of the pirates have injectors or military lasers or the ones with injectors are already killed or forced to retreat. Speed adjusted a little down to 350 or so for them to follow. That way you can slowly reduce their numbers to acquire a cobra 3 wreck in order to salvage it to a dredger.
The planet express is very long though, thus the side/top/bottom profile is large, another disadvantage. In close combat shields are down quickly without upgrades.

EDIT
Perhaps there should be a few planet express pirates at times ? Seems it only appears as trader so far. That would even things out.
The speed is IMHO the most important property of any ship. It determines whether you can run away when you're in too much trouble (with or without injectors).

EDIT2
The ship can be difficult to manually dock with. I had a heavy accident with a seedy space bar which destroyed lots of equipment and cargo. It must have been because of its length, as cobra 3 and boa cruiser (wider/higher than planet express) fit perfectly into the bar's dock. So be careful to align your long axis early enough when docking manually with difficult docks.