Oolite Bulletins

AFAIK, there are very few (if any) ships that can be bought wothout a laser pre-installed.

This oxp does not affect ships offered for sale (and all the equipment possibilities entailed therein). Even if it did, Confederacies are relatively low risk and mining lasers (which are not especially combat inferiior to pulse lasers if memory serves) are completely unrestricted with regards to government, if not tech level.

So if your ship (player or non player) comes preinstalled with an indestructible, damage resistant laser, then you have that chance to defend yourself, do you not?

The exception I can think of is the orbital shuttle but canonically that is an unpiloted ship.
Even the worm comes with a laser unless I'm very much mistaken.

> So if your ship (player or non player) comes preinstalled with an indestructible, damage resistant laser, then you have that chance to defend yourself, do you not?

Yes, but in-game realism requires that one be able to tell a story about where one got it . .

You got it with the ship, not separately.

So, what's the difference?

Well, just as you could argue that the innocent pilot in a hostile ooniverse needs a way to defend oneself, it could be argued that does not always extend to installing port, starboard and (especially) aft lasers; which could be used to significantly deter a police pursiut. Not having something for sale doesn't make it illegal.

Or, if you'd rather be more draconian about it then said ships are imported from Confederate or higher systems.

Redspear: yes, I suppose that make some sense.

UK_Eliter wrote:

Redspear: yes, I suppose that make some sense.

Some sense is the most I can manage

Speaking of lasers, I've got big plans for them once I get some programming time again.
As usual, four or five different projects on the go but I'm getting better at turning them into oxps...

v 1.2 available

• Energy Bomb included (cim credited)
• ECM restrictions removed (for compatibility with Missile Combat Reimagined oxp)

Redspear wrote: ↑Fri Feb 01, 2019 9:15 pm

Even the worm comes with a laser unless I'm very much mistaken.

Never having tried other ships than the default Cobra and occasionally cargo hulks like an Anaconda (something I'll get round to when I've completed my "round", I think?), but wouldn't the reduced power plant of e.g. a Worm reduce the actual fire rate of a Pulse Laser to something little more than paint-hardening?

Redspear wrote: ↑Wed Feb 20, 2019 8:49 pm

• Energy Bomb included (cim credited)

Another thing I'll have to try at some point (when I'm backtracking by a saved-game, or something), but wouldn't the tactics of an energy bomb make it a bit of a suicide weapon. You hit a button, and something nasty happens to all ships in your vicinity - but not stations. So ... how did you survive?
If hitting the Energy Bomb resulted in you being destroyed, your Escape Pod being triggered (what - no Escape Pod? Oliver the SalesRat says "Respectfully Sir, I would suggest that this ultimate defensive weapon might not be for you, unless you really like waking up dead. Perhaps the Quirium Cascade Mine instead, Sir?"

A Q-mine is about the cost of Escape Pod + Fuel Injectors + Energy Bomb, making the two weapons considerably comparable.

If triggering an Energy Bomb meant you woke up in your new craft (thank you, Escape Pod), in a nearby station, with some number of bonus credits and kill ratings, your parcels and passengers ... but you've lost an appreciable amount of time to complete your deliveries - and that is going to hurt in Credits and Reputation. It would still leave the Energy Bomb as a powerful weapon, but with costs.

Oh, that would make the destruction of Pirate Bases much harder, if not impossible. But that's in an OXP. Maybe that OXP provides a delayed-action trigger for the Energy Bomb, so you can do your deed, vector out of the blast radius, then dive back in to plant the second little bundle of sweetness and light.

RockDoctor wrote: ↑Thu Feb 21, 2019 3:28 pm

Another thing I'll have to try at some point (when I'm backtracking by a saved-game, or something), but wouldn't the tactics of an energy bomb make it a bit of a suicide weapon. You hit a button, and something nasty happens to all ships in your vicinity - but not stations. So ... how did you survive?

I found the dozen pages of discussion over the removal of E-bombs back in 2010. I'm not going to resurrect that. The only time I choose to use them is in a Pirate Base destruction mission, and it took me a time to figure out how and why to do that.
The point of them being an extremely unbalancing weapon, I get. Much of my musing in the previous post was about how to balance them better. Which is a perfectly fine debate, but one for whoever maintains the Energy Bomb OZP.

RockDoctor wrote: ↑Thu Feb 21, 2019 3:14 pm

Redspear wrote: ↑Fri Feb 01, 2019 9:15 pm

Even the worm comes with a laser unless I'm very much mistaken.

Never having tried other ships than the default Cobra and occasionally cargo hulks like an Anaconda (something I'll get round to when I've completed my "round", I think?), but wouldn't the reduced power plant of e.g. a Worm reduce the actual fire rate of a Pulse Laser to something little more than paint-hardening?

That's a core game question I think but with a recharge rate of 2 and 1 energy bank it should be identicle in that regard to an adder.

RockDoctor wrote:

Another thing I'll have to try at some point (when I'm backtracking by a saved-game, or something), but wouldn't the tactics of an energy bomb make it a bit of a suicide weapon. You hit a button, and something nasty happens to all ships in your vicinity - but not stations. So ... how did you survive?

Eye of the storm, mate

RockDoctor wrote:

A Q-mine is about the cost of Escape Pod + Fuel Injectors + Energy Bomb, making the two weapons considerably comparable.

I should probably make it more expensive here but the facts (in this oxp) that it's only found in anarchies and you can only install one at a time, limit its usage quite significantly.

RockDoctor wrote:

The point of them being an extremely unbalancing weapon, I get. Much of my musing in the previous post was about how to balance them better. Which is a perfectly fine debate, but one for whoever maintains the Energy Bomb OZP.

Not I but rather this is my way of balancing them. If the player-centricity of them irks you I would argue that there are already a few things that one must turn a blind eye to in order for that particular illusion to be maintained. Again, that's a discussion that we probably don't want to resurrect here.

Small bug:

10:41:20.008 [oxp-standards.deprecated]: Script ../AddOns/Oolite.oxp.redspear.weapon_laws.oxz/Scripts/energy-bomb-equipment.js does not "use strict";

phkb wrote:

Small bug:

Thanks phkb, I should be updating this one and the laser combat oxp fairly soon (fingers crossed).

Redspear wrote: ↑Tue Apr 16, 2019 9:47 pm

I should be updating this one and the laser combat oxp fairly soon (fingers crossed)

If fairly soon means within a year then yay!

Updated to v 1.3

Changes:

• Only works with Oolite 1.89 upwards - reason being use of this code change
• Removed energy bomb (it remains compatible with the energy bomb oxp however)
• Compatibility with Laser Combat Reimagined and (once the new version is released) Missile Combat Reimagined

Works best with a new game, or at least with a stock ship.

How does one gets one's grimy paws on a version which works with Oolite 1.88?

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Tue Aug 11, 2020 12:10 pm

How does one gets one's grimy paws on a version which works with Oolite 1.88?

Try here