New Player + Manifest (and many other) Question(s)

[DeathKnyte]

Ask away - we love questions here!

Heh... a standard Fer-de-Lance is flashy and basically useless.
Which shipset OXP are you using? Only a couple (I think) allow customised colours/decals.
Your ship's name on the dashboard requires a little tinkering with graphics, and probably is only possible on a few huds.

Ah... So then why is the Fer-de-Lance included in the game then? Could it be for people who don't know what to do with their extra credits?

I'm using what came with the game. I saw a black cobra in the "Screenshots" thread in this forum, so was curious as to how I could get something similar.

I saw another picture in the "Screenshots" thread and someone had some writing on their HUD (I think it said "Rolling Thunder"), so was inquiring on how I could something written on my own.

[DeathKnyte]

Smivs:

Okay, it took a few days, but your post helped me track down a store in another city that sells Logitech equipment and they got me a joystick! It's a 'WingMan Extreme Digital 3D" (whatever that all implies - lol). It is taking me some getting used to, and am learning how to use it. The game is very good though, as it has a section (in the F2 screen) on programming the individual buttons for different functions in the game. Only thing I am disappointing in, is that when I let go of the stick, the ship will drift along an axis, which means that if I don't keep it in my hand all the time, I can't keep the heading I want to. This wasn't a problem with the keyboard, because after you stop pressing a key, the ship would go to a neutral position. But thanks so much for helping me with finding one.

I was using a docking computer, but since have improved my manual docking skills, and yes - it is easier to go in on the vertical with the Boa Class Cruiser. Thanks again.



Rese249er:

I just wanted a black ship with the skull 'n bones to make the pirates think I was just another pirate and they would look elsewhere. But.... after reading through the forums here, I see there is no multiplayer available for Oolite. So you won't be able to kill me.


By the way, what is a 'Serpent Class Cruiser'? I have never seen one.



Wildeblood, Zieman, and Smivs:

Thanks for trying to help me there, however....

I spent the last few days, really, really, really trying to understand these things. I've gone to the different links, read everything I could, and a few more than those too. That is all way beyond what I will ever be capable of accomplishing, I'm afraid. I don't even understand some of the terms employed...

When I went to school, there was just one computer - actually it wasn't even that, it was a terminal. The actual computer was located in the basement of a building, in another city. It was very much like a teletype machine, more than anything else, and likely adapted from one. I have no education in these things, computers are like "magic boxes" to me, and if something doesn't work as intended, I can't fix it.

But thanks again, from your posts I saw you were sincerely trying to help me there.

[Smivs]

The FerDeLance is available as a player ship because all the ships with jump engines are available to players.

There are several ways ship names can be added to HUDs. In the example below (my ship the (OXP) Boa Clipper Bilbo Maru) you will see that the name features in the HUD under the scanner, and at the top of the F5 screen as well.

There are two methods used here. The ships name at the bottom is added by adding it to the hud.plist in the config folder of the OXP. This could also be done for a 'core' ship by making a copy of the hud.plist (in the game's 'resources' folder), editing it and moving the copy into a Config folder in AddOns. It sounds a bit complicated if you are not used to these things I know, but we can talk you through the details if you want to try this.
The name at the top 'Boa Clipper - Bilbo Maru' is a bit more complicated and involves making a specific OXP for just this one player ship.
To add logos etc to ships you will need to be able to make a texture and apply it to the ship in question, again by creating a small OXP.The Bilbo Maru has a small 'cat' logo just ahead of the heat exchangers each side

which I did while making the OXP.
The good news is, custom skins for the Cobra III are one of the features of my Smivs'Shipset OXP, so you might want to take a look at that. The 'kit' that comes with the shipset allows you to make a custom skin, and is easily adapted if you want something even more personalised.

[Cody]

When I went to school, there was just one computer - actually it wasn't even that, it was a terminal.

[Monty Python voice]Thee were lucky, lad... all we 'ad at school were inkwells and nibs on sticks![/Monty Python voice]

Rolling Thunder is my ship - that was done using the Fighter Hud OXP, and some tinkering with an image contained therein.

[Tricky]

[Monty Python voice]Thee were lucky, lad... all we 'ad at school were inkwells and nibs on sticks![/Monty Python voice]

When I was at school that is exactly what we had.

[Cody]

[Monty Python voice]Thee were lucky, lad... all we 'ad at school were inkwells and nibs on sticks![/Monty Python voice]

When I was at school that is exactly what we had.

Yep... I wasn't joking, that is exactly what I had as well!

[Smivs]

Yeah, I had to wait till college to 'meet' a computer. And like DeathKnyte's it was just a terminal (well two actually) in a room. These were operated by enormous keyboards that generated punch-tape, and this then had to be fed into the actual terminal. The computer itself (a Honeywell) was actually hundreds of miles away, although I can't remember exactly where now.

[Jake]

Well, that's the last time I complain about feeling old because my three year-old nephew has an XBox!

[Shipbuilder]

@ Deathknyte - A Serpent Class Cruiser is the new ship oxp that I will be hopefully releasing either over the weekend or early next week (Rese249er is currently play testing the prerelease version for me).

It is basically an improved version of a python style ship similar in many ways to a Boa 2.

EDIT - It has now been released - See the link in my signature strip.

[Rese249er]

Playtesting and loving it! He's made a beaut of a ship.

[DeathKnyte]

This thread has grown to a proportion out of what it was originally intended to query.
I have edited the thread title, because it has expanded into much more than just the topic of the manifest screen....


Speaking of which; since my idea of scrolling down (with the down arrow key) didn't seem to fly, for the manifest screen - how about something similar to the ship purchasing screen (F3 + F3)? There, if there are more ships available than can fit on the screen, there is a red arrow and the word "More", which when you press the right arrow key, it switches to more ships (which I assume is like an extension of the screen).

Furthermore, maybe this could also be applied to the Passenger Contracts (F8 + F8), since only five are listed at a time, when there can be more available. I have picked up to ten at a station in the past. Like, if I wanted to travel to another star system, why would I wait for the first five people advertising to be accepted? I would certainly want to be included, especially if I'm traveling very far, and/or offering a better price-to-jump ratio.




Eric Walch, another_commander, and Kaks:

Yes, I use MS Windows 7. There was an option for it on the site, when I downloaded the game, and it works just wonderful. Very easy to install, and when done all I needed to both learn, and play the game, was included.

I still don't notice a difference between the three available English language versions. Perhaps it is because I'm getting old, or that I'm Canadian, or maybe both. < shrug >



Smivs, El Viejo, and Tricky:

All right - more of a response than I had ever imagined.
lol
Obviously we're all in the same age bracket, but you guys certainly received a computer programming education, while I did not.
(I loved Monty Python, and some other British shows as well, namely The Black Adder series.)

[cim]

Speaking of which; since my idea of scrolling down (with the down arrow key) didn't seem to fly, for the manifest screen - how about something similar to the ship purchasing screen (F3 + F3)? There, if there are more ships available than can fit on the screen, there is a red arrow and the word "More", which when you press the right arrow key, it switches to more ships (which I assume is like an extension of the screen).

This is how it will work in the next version (screenshot)

Furthermore, maybe this could also be applied to the Passenger Contracts (F8 + F8), since only five are listed at a time, when there can be more available. I have picked up to ten at a station in the past. Like, if I wanted to travel to another star system, why would I wait for the first five people advertising to be accepted? I would certainly want to be included, especially if I'm traveling very far, and/or offering a better price-to-jump ratio.

Adjusting this interface is part of my current project. There will be space for more than five once I'm done.

[DeathKnyte]

cim:

All right, looking forward to that.



Smivs:

Neat. I looked at some of your stuff, and you have quite the array of oxp,s.
That clipper class would likely be something that my play style would appreciate, but I donèt want to break the game balance of Oolite.


That led me to look at some of the rest of you, and you are all quite active with some innovative work, and projects.



Back to the basics though....

In the Oolite Reference Sheet document, that came with the game, I have been studying the values given for different ships.

There is not any given for the yaw capabilities (as compared to the roll and pitch).
Am I to assume that all ships have the same yaw capability?

Furthermore, once you have the credits available, seems like the Boa Class Cruiser is the next upgrade from the Cobra MK III.
A slight decrease in speed, but better; roll, cargo capacity, banks, and more missile slots.

I was thinking that for a combat pilot, the Asp Mk II would be good, but besides a 25% speed increase, the Boa Class Cruiser beats it.

For Trading, well there is no question, as the Boa Class Cruiser is just too good. The Anaconda is simply too slow. And even though it (the Anaconda) can carry a massive amount, the real money is made from passengers and small loads of precious metals and gems. Speed and the ability to avoid combat is more important.

These are just my thoughts, from the limited experience I have with the game, of course.

[Smivs]

Yes, the Boa CC is in most respects probably the best of the core ships, although it is still a bit 'uber' compared to the others. By the way my Boa Clipper originally was just a little faster than the Boa CC, but with a drop in cargo capacity to balance it. None of the other specs were changed. I was flying a Boa CC at the time, and didn't need all that cargo space but felt a little more speed would be useful, hence the Clipper. The external fuel tanks were added later, partly to offer a unique selling point, but I sometimes wonder if that hasn't in some way spoilt the ship. Still, what's done is done.
The Asp is a fine fighter and a lovely ship to fly, but with no cargo capacity is really not a viable option for playing with.
The Anaconda is a slug! A very big slug, but a slug nonetheless.

[JensAyton]

There is not any given for the yaw capabilities (as compared to the roll and pitch).
Am I to assume that all ships have the same yaw capability?

For all built-in ships and most OXP ships, yaw capacity is the same as pitch capacity.