Oolite Bulletins

I too have discovered the joys of slowing to full stop and picking off privateers as they close in from 18kms away! And when the front gun gets too toasty, I spin around and let the aft laser take over...Rinse, repeat and scoop the pods!

I would like the "target sensitive" OXP to only turn the gunsight red when the enemy ship was touched by the central dot. It seems to turn red when the ship is partly near the aiming pip. It could be made a bit more accurate,

But for now, I am happy to use the milhud sights that come with the "Dragon" OXP.

curtsibling wrote:

I would like the "target sensitive" OXP to only turn the gunsight red when the enemy ship was touched by the central dot. It seems to turn red when the ship is partly near the aiming pip. It could be made a bit more accurate,

That’s just been improved in trunk… when the reticle turns red, you hit.

curtsibling wrote:

But for now, I am happy to use the milhud sights that come with the "Dragon" OXP.

Be advised that the MilHUD that ships with the Dragon is not the  latest and greatest version.

In long distance sniping, I'd think the game AI would have the edge anyway, wouldn't it? Logically, it doesn't have to find you out of a starfield or wonder if it's aiming correctly. I'd assume that the game AI only misses "on purpose" in most cases (meaning it simply hits a certain % of the time), and as such the best strategy is to stay out of an enemy ship's 12. I usually try to beat that by moving in fast on an erratic course until I'm close enough to get them in my sights for a sustained burst, then peel off and fly evasive as my weapon cools down.

In my Cobra MKIII, I can flip and use the other lasers while the front cools, but the Griff Boa I fly for "piratey research" can only have a front weapon, so I've had to think more about my tactics. I usually try to close fast to push the confrontation into a dogfight rather than relying on long distance sniping. Good to hear that the red reticle is in the process of being fixed, though. I'd gotten to feeling it was pretty useless and so I've tended to rely on moving in close enough that reticles are redundant. LOL Move in fast with a sweeping arc or a barrel roll and you're a lot harder to hit.

Ganelon wrote:

In long distance sniping, I'd think the game AI would have the edge anyway, wouldn't it? Logically, it doesn't have to find you out of a starfield or wonder if it's aiming correctly. I'd assume that the game AI only misses "on purpose" in most cases (meaning it simply hits a certain % of the time)

There are two built-in factors to counter-balance this edge of the AI.

1. There is an accuracy-factor which can be set for AI ships. It defaults to something less than maximum accuracy, therefore most NPCs will not hit you every time (as is obvious from each fight you're in).

2. The most distinctive feature of the various lasers is not their fire power, but their range. None of the ships in the built-in ship set feature a military laser, and there is a reason for that. They would simply overpower a new Jameson. As soon as he can afford a military laser, the edge is on his side, because he can take out his enemies long before they get into the firing range of their own pulse or beam lasers. Only at that point he may decide to install OXPs that feature hostile NPCs with military lasers (like the renegade pirates, or the stolen military ships from military.oxp). At that point he will have sufficient training to stand a chance against an AI with a military laser, and the game remains exciting. And even the most experienced player will not easily survive against more than one NPC with a military laser, especially if they sport multiple military lasers.

El Viejo wrote:

That’s just been improved in trunk… when the reticle turns red, you hit.

Yes, it is improved, see the next pictures. The parallax is taken into account.

But I still had occasions that I heard the hit-sound when the reticle was green or the missed-sound when the reticle was red.

Ganelon wrote:

I'd assume that the game AI only misses "on purpose" in most cases (meaning it simply hits a certain % of the time),

Yes, after calculating the trajectory for the beam, it adds a random deviation to the beam. I think most players would not like if every npc ships would always hit the player on every opportunity

Eric Walch wrote:

But I still had occasions that I heard the hit-sound when the reticle was green or the missed-sound when the reticle was red.

So it's not 100%... good!

Commander McLane wrote:

And even the most experienced player will not easily survive against more than one NPC with a military laser...

See what happens when they all have them, and Military shields and extra energy units and hardhead missiles.
And this doesn't show the long list of previously damaged equipment, either.




(Testing the WIP ToughGuys Apocalypse OXP for balance )

Whew! I just downloaded trunk and took it for a spin to see what it's like! I have to say, the improved reticule thing is noticeable! I've got a Caduceus set up so that the parallax effect is minimal, but even with that, 'twas green far more often than I expected! I clearly need to brush up on my targeting skills...

El Viejo wrote:

curtsibling wrote:

I would like the "target sensitive" OXP to only turn the gunsight red when the enemy ship was touched by the central dot. It seems to turn red when the ship is partly near the aiming pip. It could be made a bit more accurate,

That’s just been improved in trunk… when the reticle turns red, you hit.

Another reason to eagerly await the new update!

El Viejo wrote:

Eric Walch wrote:

But I still had occasions that I heard the hit-sound when the reticle was green or the missed-sound when the reticle was red.

So it's not 100%... good!

In my opinion - Not good! But I guess this feature is an aid, rather than a crutch...

Here is where I noob out and look daft...

How do I get the trunk working? It is a source or programming element thing?
Basically, can it be easily installed?

Yes it's easy… if you’re using Windows, go here (if not Windows, it’s on the relevant OS page), download the latest build, install (it sits quite happily alongside normal Oolite)… and off you go! (I think I've got that right). Personally, I only use trunk for the occasional test... I always 'play' in the latest test release (1.74.2 atm).

Do take note of the disclaimer!

curtsibling wrote:

El Viejo wrote:

Eric Walch wrote:

But I still had occasions that I heard the hit-sound when the reticle was green or the missed-sound when the reticle was red.

So it's not 100%... good!

In my opinion - Not good! But I guess this feature is an aid, rather than a crutch...

I am willing to bet that Eric's cases of hit-sound-when-green and miss-sound-when-red are actually cases of a momentary loss/capture of the target, which did cause the reticle to change color but it was maybe for one or two frames and therefore unnoticeable.

Edit: I just had a case where the reticle remained green although the target (a stationary cargopod) was directly in front of it and the subsequent laser shot destroyed it. So, it really isn't 100% yet. Close enough maybe, but... I hate this when it happens...

El Viejo wrote:

So it's not 100%... good!

On the not so good part, I doubt the game AI actually fires unless it has you right in it's sights. It doesn't shoot wild. As such, even with only being allowed to hit you a certain percentage of the time, their weapons aren't overheating as much as a player who may be panic firing and hoping part of a spray gets lucky. They also track better than most players, because logically the game AI always knows right where you are and is turning to get you dead in it's 12.

On a point of realism, actual battles in space with lasers most likely would be almost always long-distance sniping. But I personally don't get quite the adrenaline rush from that as a good dogfight. It's all a matter of the styles of play you like. For a dogfight, if you're close enough to make out details or even do a positive visual ID of the ship type, you aren't likely to miss whether you watch the colour of the reticle or not. The reticle also doesn't show when an opponent is on a heading that's taking them into your line of fire. I find it particularly satisfying to stitch a moving opponent all down their length with a line of laser fire in the middle of a fight.

Still, long distance sniping always has it's place for evening the odds a bit by picking off a few ships before they can get into firing range for their weapons. But as soon as they start shooting, I usually figure it's time for closing the gap fast and going to "boom and zoom" tactics.