Oolite Bulletins

Addendum:

There's another obvious benefit to pulling the info straight from the .plist.
So obvious, in fact, that I totally forgot to mention it the first time around.
WYSIWYG.
There would no longer be any risk of being fooled by errors, typos and the like in the wiki, readme or sales brochure. What's on the screen, is what the ship will give you, at least to the extent that can be expressed in numbers.

another_commander wrote:

scaseman wrote:

How about more information about a targeted ship. It would be useful to see a percentage figure indicating its remaining strength.

Disagree. This is too arcade. Plus, it can be done with scripting.

ok i have no idea if this is do-able, however how is this for a non-arcadey compomise.

it is true that realistically a computer scanner would not know exactly the state of an enemies shields etc BUT

you could have <if the engine allows> the hue of the hit changes slightly as the shield wears out.

so where your laser hits, the shield could give off a slight "glow" around the shield hit (would look cool as well imo) as the shield gets weaker, this hue could change colour - say from blue to red.

am sure you could come up with some physics blurb as to the reason this happens, to include it in the story.

hpe i have made some form of sense. as it would be an oxp only those who wanted it would get it, so everyone is happy.

i spent, honestly, over half an hour trying to shoot down a star belly sled today, and with no indication of how it was doing i began to question if i had hit a bug, i almost let it get away.

finally managed to take it out, but was pretty fustrating having no idea if i was making any dent on it or if i was wasting my time.

thanks for reading

M,

bigmike20vt wrote:

another_commander wrote:

scaseman wrote:

How about more information about a targeted ship. It would be useful to see a percentage figure indicating its remaining strength.

Disagree. This is too arcade. Plus, it can be done with scripting.

ok i have no idea if this is do-able, however how is this for a non-arcadey compomise.

it is true that realistically a computer scanner would not know exactly the state of an enemies shields etc BUT

you could have <if the engine allows> the hue of the hit changes slightly as the shield wears out.

so where your laser hits, the shield could give off a slight "glow" around the shield hit (would look cool as well imo) as the shield gets weaker, this hue could change colour - say from blue to red.

am sure you could come up with some physics blurb as to the reason this happens, to include it in the story.

hpe i have made some form of sense. as it would be an oxp only those who wanted it would get it, so everyone is happy.

i spent, honestly, over half an hour trying to shoot down a star belly sled today, and with no indication of how it was doing i began to question if i had hit a bug, i almost let it get away.

finally managed to take it out, but was pretty fustrating having no idea if i was making any dent on it or if i was wasting my time.

thanks for reading

M,

I suggested something similar some time ago: https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?t=5417

scaseman wrote:

How about more information about a targeted ship. It would be useful to see a percentage figure indicating its remaining strength.

I'd also like to add that one of the reasons Oolite is a breath of fresh air for me is that there aren't any features like this. In most space sims there is so much tech in your cockpit that you become used to knowing every feature of your enemy that you wish to know (and can even match speed with a button-press etc.)

I like the cleaner leaner feel that Oolite has, where you simply have to guess and gamble, infer and assume, various things about the enemy. (And, as has been said, pay attention to what the enemy is actually doing to work out how 'healthy' they are)

As I mentioned in another post, this appreciation also extends to the weapons - lasers and missiles. That's it. Want to do better in combat... fly better. Pick your enemies more carefullly. Choose your approach more intelligently.

N.B. Having said all that, I am perfectly aware that any idea I want in the game can be just as easily rebuffed with the same remarks

Poro wrote:

scaseman wrote:

How about more information about a targeted ship. It would be useful to see a percentage figure indicating its remaining strength.

I'd also like to add that one of the reasons Oolite is a breath of fresh air for me is that there aren't any features like this. In most space sims there is so much tech in your cockpit that you become used to knowing every feature of your enemy that you wish to know (and can even match speed with a button-press etc.)

Did anyone say Freespace?
I was a bit surprised by the absense of these information when I fought in Oolite after having played Freespace 2 for a bit, but after a while, I liked it. (Also, I can fight nicely with the mouse controls in Oolite. In Freespace, I still need the keyboard for fast turns because even the max mouse sensitivity isn't fast enough) You can still pick your targets - e.g. pick the Cobra Mark III before the Python because it's faster and could have double the missiles - but it's always a surprise when I realize that the missiles of the shabby pirate I just wanted to shoot to pieces is ECM-hardened.

bigmike20vt: there are already hints as to the condition of the ship being hit.

i can see both sides of the enemy-shield thing. i do like it in some games cos it can give you a little reassurance when you're in the middle of a fight, down to your last bank and out of missiles ~ if you see his shields are as low as yours, that is!
it could, theorectically, be fairly plausible too : a combat computer knows what ship you've locked up, and from it's database would know shield strength and recharge rates. it could therefore calculate, to a tolerance, the known damage your laser would inflict and be able to calculate recharging if you didn't hit it for a while etc. of course, it would only be a guide - it couldn't know if a ship had an extra/naval energy unit etc, unless that was standard kit.
the navy might have such kit, in which case this item should only be available at Navy ships, and at great cost.

Corny wrote:

Did anyone say Freespace?

Ha! If only such hand-holding was confined to that one series. I remember playing Star Crusade back in the days of DOS, and even that had every cockpit aid you could want. It was nice to have such information, but it's more stimulating when Oolite takes them away from you

Killer Wolf wrote:

it could, theorectically, be fairly plausible too : a combat computer knows what ship you've locked up, and from it's database would know shield strength and recharge rates.

Huh?
A combat computer could probably find out what ship the opponent has quite easily. But apart from that? How could it "know" what kind of shields the opponent has installed? How could it "know" if it carries an extra energy unit (or even a naval one)?
Reactor emission scans? Mini probing-laser?

its not unfeasable that each type of shield gives off its own "emissions" and as the shield gets weaker the strength of the emission drops.

Corny wrote:

Killer Wolf wrote:

it could, theorectically, be fairly plausible too : a combat computer knows what ship you've locked up, and from it's database would know shield strength and recharge rates.

Huh?
A combat computer could probably find out what ship the opponent has quite easily. But apart from that? How could it "know" what kind of shields the opponent has installed? How could it "know" if it carries an extra energy unit (or even a naval one)?
Reactor emission scans? Mini probing-laser?

(a) because as far as the game goes there's only "shields", we don't have xxxmegawatt shields, yyymegawatt shields etc etc as other games do. as far as the game goes, all Cobra MkIIIs have Cobra MkIII shields, and have a Cobra MkIII recharge rate.
(b) see the bit where i wrote "of course, it would only be a guide - it couldn't know if a ship had an extra/naval energy unit etc, unless that was standard kit. "

Killer Wolf wrote:

(a) because as far as the game goes there's only "shields", we don't have xxxmegawatt shields, yyymegawatt shields etc etc as other games do. as far as the game goes, all Cobra MkIIIs have Cobra MkIII shields, and have a Cobra MkIII recharge rate.

What about shield boosters / naval shields, then? At least the military shield enhancement is a _huge_ boost.
Edit: So a Cobra III standard shield is different than a Python standard shield?
Why can't it look up shield values e.g. in the wiki, then?

Killer Wolf wrote:

(b) see the bit where i wrote "of course, it would only be a guide - it couldn't know if a ship had an extra/naval energy unit etc, unless that was standard kit. "

Mh - sure you'd need that information if it would be just a rough guide?
I mean, if it says "shield reloads at 1%/s. Maybe. Maybe more.", I'd say it'd be useless since the calculation tolerance would be quite high.

If you find some explanation for scanning shield strength ("emissions"), that'd be certainly useful for a fighter.

you cannot find shield details for a variety of reasons.
Firstly npc dont have shields just energy and shields/energy arent much different. It isnt inteeresting how much shield a ship has, but rather how much energy.

It is pretty clear that each ship will have a standard setup and a combat computer would know its details. It is also possible that we can explain away any dection problems just like we do for bounty scanner.

The only question of note is if this equipment is a good idea.

If it was made an OXP it would be an optional choice for each individual player.

Well, if you want to build it, Im sure people will use it. I know yuo said that you dont have the skills, but you should be able to learn quick enough. I guess it will be a simple change to the bounty scanner.

Anyway, back on (original) topic Did we come to an agreement on extra info in the shipyard?