Beginner questions

[Eric Walch]

Yepp. Try Erics UPS-Courier.

Yes, that one was written to be used for starters. Nothing to difficult. I cant currently update the wiki link but the newest version is at: UPS-Courier 1.5.2

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is there anything with repeatable missions aside from random hits?

Galactic Navy - once you are ready for fleet battles. Especially against the Thargoids a single Quirium Cascade Missile can create big fireworks...but it's more fun not to resort to such a WMD.

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[DkryptX]

thanks for the help with the OXP's, I haven't played to much the last few days, but now I think I have the basic idea of the main game. Now I'm sort of stuck trying to get my kill count up, I'm having issues on finding ships... especially ones not near a space station or with like 4 escorts. I need some advice for finding people and getting my kill count up/getting better at combat.


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oh is there any way to make milk runs more efficient? I'm using the starting ship, and the next upgrade is currently about 100 milk runs away, Its starting to get a bit repetative

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Now I'm sort of stuck trying to get my kill count up, I'm having issues on finding ships... especially ones not near a space station or with like 4 escorts. I need some advice for finding people and getting my kill count up/getting better at combat.
oh is there any way to make milk runs more efficient? I'm using the starting ship, and the next upgrade is currently about 100 milk runs away, Its starting to get a bit repetative

For more fun outside the trading lanes you could add deep space pirates. You probably won't see much of them in "secure" systems, though.

I myself went via a Python (wasn't really "my" ship) towards the Boa Class Cruiser, which I believe is the best built in ship. With that one, it was pretty easy making profit. Trading at two points in systems (Shipyards and stations) I was making 60-100K per hour on milk runs. If you don't go for RS, you can install planetfall and trade with the station and planet, which should provide a similar experience.

Now there's the GriffBoa from the according oxp. It's not the battle ship, as it only has one laser mount, but it has four turrets which can help with simple pirates. The GriffBoa is pretty cheap and has a much larger cargo hold. Maybe you want to save your game to a backup file and then give the GriffBoa a try until you've got enough money for a better ship!

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[DkryptX]

What did you trade between the station and the shipyard with RS?


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oh can someone post a link to the GiffBoa oxp, I couldn't find it on the wiki and I didn't see it in the oxp fourms

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What did you trade between the station and the shipyard with RS?

oh can someone post a link to the GiffBoa oxp, I couldn't find it on the wiki and I didn't see it in the oxp fourms

You got me a little bit wrong. I did (usually) not trade between the shipyard and station, but I used both for trading. Typically their prices are in the same range.

The problem with big cargo ships is that the stations will only buy up to 127 units of each type of goods. They usually also do not have much more than 50 units to buy. Therefore, I did use both shipyard and station (new: planet and station) in order to buy and sell more than I could with a single station.

The typically lucrative thing is to find a low tech agriculture which provides cheap furs and liquor. Especially the fur can give 40Cr profit per ton. On the return tour, computers often provide the same income. Luxury goods typically return 30Cr profit. If there's still more space than the pirates on the way could fill, machinery can also give some nice profit.

Another thing is to buy gold, platinum and gems when they are cheap and carry them around until a station will pay a good price. Be careful though, as I once lost some tons of these goods because I switched ships and could not get rid of these items before The good point is, that these types of goods do not take up cargo space!

A good place to sell gems are the hoopy casinos! I've found that they provide 40-80 Credits profit! In that case, it does make sense to buy expensive (18+ Cr) gems and fly the few meters to the next casino to sell them there

Concerning the GriffBoa, I had to search myself Turns out I had it from the package griff_ships_remixed and I could not find it on the Wiki either. I found this thread, which has a download link:
https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?t= ... emixed+oxp

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[rossdv8]

so far I'm enjoying it but i was stuck for about 4 hours on docking lol, finally modded my save file to give me a docking computer,

I had to have a quiet chuckle at this because I had the same problem when I first started playing the original (Elite) about 25 years ago.

I started playing Oolite yesterday and within a few hours had ECM, Beam lasers, energy units, cargo bay and docking computer and a full cargo bay and spare 5000 credits.

Then I got a Trumble. I don't remember the name of the thing in Elite, and there was no graphic of it, but it amounts to the same thing. So today I started a new commander. Now, another 3 hours later and I have all my gear back, full cargo and 4300 credits spare.

I go manual with my docking until I have bought a cargo bay and traded enough to then add a docking computer from the extra freight. It is amazing how quickly that works.

The trick with docking is the same as jumping to the station. "Fly The Curves"

When you come out of witchspace, immediately go full speed and rotate so just the tiniest bit of the bottom curve of the planet is visible in the top centre of the screen. Tap the joystick every time the curve disappears. watch the target display for the moment the green ball moves about 1/4 turn (usually to the right) and rotate so it is up.

As soon as you drop out of jump speed (mass locked) fly for a spot between the planet and the station. Line up the station opposite the right crosshair of the sight (in most systems) and the middle of the curve of the planet with the left crosshair.

When they are exactly opposite each other, rotate carefully so the station is above the top crosshair. Then staying at full speed aim at a spot about 3/4 way between the planet and the station.

Stay aimed at that spot until the station touches the top of the screen.
Remember how I tapped the joystick so the bottom bit of curve of the planet is just visible in the top of the screen?
Well, for the station, you just let the top of the station touch the top od the screen.
keep tapping the joystick to keep that happening and you will soon see the ring of lights and the lights in the bay.
When you feel ready (don't leave it too late) cut speed to half.
Keep the top of the station just touching the top of the screen as the station gets closer.
Slow down as you feel the need.

If you do this you will come up directly in front of the front of the station almost square on to the docking bay.

Stop, and use small slow bursts until you are lined up with the middle of the bay and the light diamond.

At this point everythng somes down to fine adjustments. once you are REALLY close to the bay, stop, and rotate the joystick so you are rotating with the thing and can'tscrape a wing, then gently fly in.

Believe me, once you do this a few times it is sooooo easy.

As for the ship. First trip I buy 20t of food at Lave, then fly to Zaonce. I sell the food there and buy a computer (depending on prices, maybe 2 or 1 and 1 machinery).

Then I fly to isinor and sell the computer and buy liquor. back to zaonce to sell and buy computers, then back to isinor to sell that and buy liquor.

very, very quickly you will afford a cargo bay. From there it is no time until you can afford a docking computer.

If you save every time you enter a station, you can keep docking manually even after you have a computer. It makes the game so much quicker.

Oh, i forgot. Flying the curves means you will rarely be bounced by pirates around the common 9safe) planets. If you want to get into a fight, when you come out of witchspace, set your sights in the middle of the planet and press J. For some reason the pirates seem to target people heading straight in.

Hope this helps some frustrated beginners.

After a quarter of a century I had forgotten just how addictive this game is. I hear it dock on another workspace while I was typing this, so I should have my 5000+ credits and full cargo again that I was up to before I got my furry friend.

Yep, made it. Now I'm going off to play bounty hunter for a change, then back to my milk runs to buy some wild stuff.

Cheers,

rossD

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Then I got a Trumble. I don't remember the name of the thing in Elite, and there was no graphic of it, but it amounts to the same thing. So today I started a new commander. Now, another 3 hours later and I have all my gear back, full cargo and 4300 credits spare.

Hello and welcome to the board!

On the C64 the Trumbles were displayed as a sprite. They did reproduce much quicker there, filling the entire cargo hold so that nothing would fit in. In oolite, they are just HUNGRY!

You should know...there's a way to get rid of Trumbles! With some OXPs you might also encounter trumbled cargo pods. Cmdr. Wyvern always says: "Trumbles. Best served flame broiled in BBQ sauce.". Thus, starting over was not required. Sorry for that additional work, I hope that you had fun nonetheless.

The picture shows the maximum amount of trumbles to see - you can have more aboard, but you won't see them all at once.

If you save every time you enter a station, you can keep docking manually even after you have a computer. It makes the game so much quicker.

I agree - if the target is not the systems main station. When you want to dock at the main station and have a DC, you can use shift-d to dock instantly as soon as you got the "S" displayed! This does not work on other dockable targets like carriers, rock hermits, casinos, ... and at those places it's really quickest to dock manually.

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[rossdv8]

As a matter of interest I have already had the docking computer fly me into the side of the station once. Was a tad too close when I engaged it.

I think last time i played was something like 1988. For years after I got a PC XT I kept the Commodore 64 going for Flight Sim and Elite. Og, and the GEOS graphical OS. Sort of Mac before the Mac.

Since then I looked at various clones of Elite. Before 1998 I started using Linux out of curiosity, but in 1998 is suddenly became a real alternative to OS/2. I've been checking Oolite ever since I first saw it, but this week is the first time I've had it install from the repository and actually WORK.

Congrats to all the people that have worked on this project. It has all the feel of the original, has lost nothing in the translation and even has new stuff.

I've been playing it form memory,so the next step is to print the control sheet and start checking everything out properly again.

I the 80's I got to Elite level with nowhere near the amount of junk I have onboard now after only 6 hours play. I'm about to save a few commanders. One will become a pirate, one a bounty hunter and one will head off on those special missions I see tucked away.

In the mean time, I'll have a look around this forum and see what everyone has been up to.

Thanks for the welcome - see you in witchspace somewhere,,,

Which makes me wonder. Will someone develop a hosted version some time for network play... Hmmmm


Cheers,

RossD

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I've been playing it form memory,so the next step is to print the control sheet and start checking everything out properly again.

Then you probably did not find yaw control yet The 1.72.2 test version has it. It's anyway far superior in functionality and stability compared to the 1.65 release (you probably know, just in case someone else reads it).

As to all those mission oxp's: Im at 10K kills and still have MANY mission oxp's waiting for me. I did spend quite some time with navy and random hits mission though, which can be played as often as desired.

On the original C64 and Atari ST Elite, I was having much fun up to deadly...and then it was just "will nothing new happen"? That's entirely gone for me now

Concerning your different commanders: It's always good to keep backups. I did never have any save games become unreadable, but it's nice to have backups, especially when accidentally saving while reloading was required.

Which makes me wonder. Will someone develop a hosted version some time for network play... Hmmmm

I'm afraid that's far far away, if it comes. Guess it would be much fun. Well, maybe the game attracts some more coders, but there's currently surely other work to do.

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[DaddyHoggy]

Installing the Your Ad Here OXP and you can do some of this trading computers for food/liquor in-system - no fuel or (much) time required...

[DkryptX]

Ah I see what you mean, My issue with milk runs being inefficient was with the starting ship, I can only hold 35tons, and the next ship I saw was the python but that was around 200k. I guess a better question would be are there any other ships aside from the python that would be a good first upgrade?


@rossdv8 welcome to the board

[DaddyHoggy]

Ah, but 35 tons of food bought for 3Cr/TC and sold 10 minutes later (game and real time) and sold for 100Cr/TC at a constore - can certainly give a boost to those early finances!

[DkryptX]

constore? are those from the YAH oxp?

[HueijRevisited]

... The trick with docking is the same as jumping to the station. "Fly The Curves" ...

Cheers,

rossD

Heh... The old Elite way. In Oolite it is actually a lot easier. Fly up to the beacon between the planet and the station and then just point to the station. Fly up to the entrance and hold still just in front of it. Then when the entrance is almost horizontal go in full speed.