Oolite Bulletins

Well I'll make of habit of that safety feature... until I can get my joystick setup back. Hell, even in my C64 days I prefered the joystick.

Well, the Harder Adder start is certainly harder in 1.80!

It wouldn't be so bad if Lave started odd with some asteroids I could see so I could collect empties. And even when I can hitch a ride through someone else's jump, I never seem to be in a system with visible rocks cluttering up the sky... then pirates always kill me. Seriously. I have yet to make a credit.

Yikes.

mossfoot wrote:

Well, the Harder Adder start is certainly harder in 1.80!

It wouldn't be so bad if Lave started odd with some asteroids I could see so I could collect empties. And even when I can hitch a ride through someone else's jump, I never seem to be in a system with visible rocks cluttering up the sky... then pirates always kill me. Seriously. I have yet to make a credit.

Yikes.

I managed to find asteroids at Lave by flying to the sun, then back towards the planet.. With my back to the sun the asteroids stood out against the black. One asteroid field was enough to get me fuel and some cargo...

- Neelix

Yep, just figured that out myself Also I had the Asteroids add-on, maybe it made the asteroids smaller?

Rock hermits usually have plenty of 'roids in their vicinity - all you gotta do is find the local rock hermit(s).

Cody wrote:

Rock hermits usually have plenty of 'roids in their vicinity - all you gotta do is find the local rock hermit(s).

In an base model Adder with no credits for additional equipment? How? If I wanted to find a Rock Hermit in those circumstances I'd be looking for a 'roid field, it seems somewhat counter intuitive to suggest doing it the other way around...

- Neelix

There are ways to find rock hermits, but they require patience (doing the Adder start implies a capacity for patience, yes?): watch (and listen to) the aegis traffic - a Transporter or an Adder heading out-system may be worth following; scan the skies for those distant tell-tale explosions; look out for ships heading off-lane.

Cody wrote:

There are ways to find hermits, but they require patience (doing the Adder start implies a capacity for patience, yes?): watch (and listen to) the aegis traffic - a transporter or an Adder heading out-system may be worth following; scan the skies for those distant tell-tale explosions; look out for ships heading off-lane.

Hrm... that's a very good point. Though in my experience the transports headed for rock hermits tend to be worms or orbital shuttles...

- Neelix

Well its easy enough to pop enough empties to get your fuel and food cargo to start. I just had trouble finding ding the asteroids at first due in part to glare. Now I know what I'm looking for.

Onward! To victory!

You know in 1.80 it seems considerably harder to survive and Adder start. It seems like I always have an eventual pirate attack I can't avoid, even in civilized systems no matter how much I try to skirt the main ship lane. I have yet to survive long enough for a ship upgrade of any kind.

mossfoot wrote:

... no matter how much I try to skirt the main ship lane.

Maybe that's the problem? It's possible that 1.80 pirates are more likely to lurk on the fringes of the lanes, to avoid Viper patrols. Might it be safer to stick to the middle of the WP-planet line?

Or maybe tag along with a convoy - safety in numbers.

mossfoot wrote:

You know in 1.80 it seems considerably harder to survive and Adder start. It seems like I always have an eventual pirate attack I can't avoid, even in civilized systems no matter how much I try to skirt the main ship lane. I have yet to survive long enough for a ship upgrade of any kind.

I've been tootling around the Zaonce system for days now (game time) in my Adder, the Busted Flush, with no problems.. mostly doing runs to and from the three Rock Hermits I've been able to locate. I've done a couple of runs out by the witchpoint beacon and back (one of the hermits is out there) with no dramas.. the only place I've been attacked (twice) was in the Station aegis.. both times I dived in close to the Station, so that when they missed, they'd hit the Station and draw down the wrath of the Vipers on themselves. That got them off my back in a hurry.

I've been able to fit a large cargo bay and an ASC so far.. currently trying to choose between injectors or an ECM for my next purchase.

And yes, I stay in the lane.. although so far I haven't really worried about travelling in company. However, I have no plans to leave Zaonce until I'm good and ready. I very carefully picked this as my first hitchhiking destination when I started the game. Had to wait in the Lave Aegis for almost 90 minutes to get the lift I wanted, but it was worth it.. Zaonce is the safest system in the region.

So your solution is to not even leave the system?

I tried convoys, only for pirates to attack and go "I choose YOU, Mossfoot!" ignoring the more valuable cargo ships nearby.

I'm sure I'll find a sweet spot. I just never had this much trouble being cautious before.

Your choice of expansion packs can make quite a difference to difficulty, too.. perhaps you have something in there that's influencing things..