Oolite Bulletins

wackyman465 wrote:

Hoo boy a new supercobra AI? Where can I get that; I'd love to see those ships in the hands of skilled pilots.
I think the thing where they just sit still though is just a problem with the way AIs handle autopiloting, right?

New version (1.4 - May 2009) can be found here: http://www.box.net/shared/xsc8dq6z0x

There's more spam in this thread than in the tinned meat aisle at Sainsbury's.

There was me thinking that a thread about the Imperial Courier would be worth my time to read, but thanks to wacky (who is anything but) and zbond it's nothing but a load of useless tat.

There are two IC models - the old version one model (which is one of my first attempts at shipbuilding and is this very unbalanced) and the version 2 model with spinny engines. The second one is a more balanced ship and should (if I got the stats right) fly like a slightly more maneouverable constrictor anway. It should be a good match for the Connie.

The version one IC would kick the Constrictor straight into the next galaxy.

Sainsboory's surely?

(Sorry couldn't resist - but I concur, the wacky one can derail a thread in style!)

The Imperial Courier is doing well now.But are there any more powerful lasers or weapons than the Military Laser? The Plasma Cannon is absolutely weak.......despite its exciting name, more than 40 accurate shots continuously and yet the bloody ship is still flying.

Commander Learner wrote:

... are there any more powerful lasers or weapons than the Military Laser?

Nope, and not possible to do without branching the Oolite core game.

Having a military laser on each weapon's mount will help you enormously, as they all heat up separately. Then it is just a question of learning to fly the ship so you can bring those weapons to bear on a target.

All I needed to fight the Constrictor in my neolite Fer-De-Lance was a single military laser.

Having contributed an opinion as to what the supreme choice might be, and read with interest the finely reasoned opinions of others, I am inspired to purchase an Imperial Courier and to evaluate its performance in trade and battle.

I purchased a civilian model at Ersoonve, G2, and was immediately impressed with the lack of Military Shields and E-bomb. The cargo space is more limited than some other ships, but perhaps they are more trade focused. I will be discovering how well the standard shield boosters perform quite soon, and am not particularly bothered by the lack of an energy bomb as I rarely use it - although with only 4 missile slots its absence might be noticeable.

In the Ship Data Table an "Imperial Courier (Navy)" is mentioned, priced at an interesting 2.85m Cr. I haven't seen one for sale, anywhere, yet.

Perhaps someone has tried this model, and could comment on its suitability for inclusion in a thread exploring what might constitute the Supreme Choice??

ZB

Cargo space more limited than other ships? At a full 100 tons??? OMG, do we have another arms race now for the über-cargobay?

For me the only really irritating detail about the Imperial Courier was always that the documentation claimed that it could not fit fuel scoops (which would be a major drawback for any ship), while in reality it always came with fuel scoops as standard.

I like shooting the engines off impys. It appeals to my sadistic streak, like plucking the wings off a fly. Though sometimes I simply nuke the blasted thing and move on to more worthy targets.

You must be a brave man to waste time against an imp shooting at the engines...

but I concur, the wacky one can derail a thread in style!

Thank you, I'm here all week...

I definitely agree that the v1 ICO navy is THE supreme choice, given it's ridiculous 100tc capacity, .550 max speed, and monster energy banks, and I'd call it a supership but I fly one so I won't. It is worth every Cr of the 2.85 million.

I've often thought about giving the v1 the v2 model, then giving the player one a black paint job with white flames coming off the nose towards the back.. That'd be a frightening ship, especially with quad mil lasers and a full q-missile rack. Because once you have 2.85 million to spend on a pretty ship, you don't need mining lasers anymore. Also: Has anyone ever done a comparison of damage per second for all the lasers? Does Oolite even use a "health" unit that would make this quantifiable?

Commander McLane wrote:

Cargo space more limited than other ships? At a full 100 tons???

Here is the list of equipment I can buy, copied from my reference spreadsheet (where I log mission progress & other details).
The items missing from my Imperial Courier are in red. In copying this I noticed an extra mining laser which I have highlighted in blue. The usual 4 mil. lasers are all present, so this vessel seems to have 5 lasers altogether. I will experiment to see how to fire the mining laser.
As yet I haven't undertaken enough battles to test the absence of a mil. shield; I expect it to be critical-1, but the standard shields might be tougher for this model.

LgeCargoBay
ECM
FuelScoop
EscapePod
EnergyBomb
ExtraEnergyU
NavalEnergyU
DockingComp
GalacticH/D
MiningLaser
CloakingDevice
W-F injectors
ScanTargetEnh
MultiTargetSys
AdvSpaceComp
TargetMemExp
ShieldBooster
MilitaryShield
ExternalHeatSh
MarkTrScanner
(HomingBeacon)
EmergencyEU
ChaffDispenser
OreProcessor
RockHermitLoc
fwdLasrCannon?
aftLaserCannon?
sbdLasrCannon?
prtLaserCannon?
PassengerB

As regards cargo capacity, my usual purchase at Industrial markets comprises:
Narcotics
Computers
Firearms
Luxuries
Machinery
..in that order (descending order of profit). Today, at Zaria-G2, I can buy:
40t narcotics @ 4.4 Cr/t
59t computers @ 62.0 Cr/t
36t firearms @ 51.6 Cr/t
57t luxuries @ 78.8 Cr/t
47t machinery @ 48.8 Cr/t
239t TOTAL

A round trip, returning with Furs, Liquor/Wines, Radioactives & some Food, Textiles, maybe Slaves or Minerals & Alloys (depending on price) gives a profit in excess of 10,000 Cr. If all of the inventory (above) could be carried, the one way trade would almost equal that without the return load:
55t furs @ 45.6 Cr/t
31t liquor/wines @ 19.6 Cr/t
24t radioactives @ 18.0 Cr/t
6t slaves @ 2.4 Cr/t
21t food @ 2.4 Cr/t
137t TOTAL (fill up with minerals/alloys if spare capacity)

Different ships, not superFreighters, but fairly standard traders with a pirate resistance capability, enable this sort of trading to a greater or lesser extent:
PythonClassCruiser 160t
SeymourClassCargoSled 150t
PenelopeClassFreighter 145t
BoaClassCruiser 175t
StrelkaCruiseLiner 155t
..and although none of them could accommodate the full 239t available today at Zaria, these (and a few other) ships make worthwhile trading a reality.

Contracts are available that require very large cargo capacity, but such vessels are dedicated freighters and altogether unsuited for combat. Any ship with less than about 250t cargo capacity is compromised as regards trade -- the full load from Zaria (above) could not be carried, with significant impact on the profits needed to buy equipment for battle -- but all ships are a compromise to some extent, and a vessel only able to carry 100t needs to have a compensating advantage in combat.

My next stop will be Leera-G6, a favourite battle spot, to evaluate more fully the limitations - if any - of no military shields no energy bomb and only 4 missile slots

wackyman465 wrote:

I definitely agree that the v1 ICO navy is THE supreme choice, given it's ridiculous 100tc capacity, .550 max speed, and monster energy banks, and I'd call it a supership but I fly one so I won't. It is worth every Cr of the 2.85 million.

To be fair, it is a super ship, but I think justified by the price and the rarity of the vessel. I've yet to see one for sale in game. I've not encountered one at all in the hands of pirates.

I also like shooting the engines of an Imp Courier before I deliver the coup de grace. They're easy targets and providing there isn't something more threatening to deal with, I can take my time over picking one apart.

Ooh I see lots of ico navy pirates... Mean ships. Is there a way to tell if a ship is packing military lasers without getting shot?

I've yet to see one and I do have the latest version of the OXP installed, so thats rather odd.

Not sure there is a way to tell really beyond getting shot, although certain ships tend to have them more than others (Wolf MKIIs, Iguana's, most of the Military Fiasco ships).

Wackyman said that he flies a V1, so I guess that he must have V1 installed maybe V2 as well. So having the latest would mean you probably dont have V1 installed, which is why you dont see the same things as him