Oolite Bulletins

Sort-of, but there's no link to the wiki there yet.

Done!

Lone_Wolf wrote:

(Cut for brevity)

As for making things to easy : ever tried Random Hits medium diff missions ?
In those missions you have 3 -5 opponents, with mil lasers, rear lasers, mil shields.
Especially if there are also normal pirates around, you die very fast.

I do believe that yours and CommonSenseOTB's OXPs are going to make Random Hits missions more survivable. This is most definitely a good thing!


When I do a medium difficulty Random Hits mission it usually pans out like this:

1. Find target, get insulted over the intercom and shot at immediately
2. Dump velocity, bear my Cobra Mk III around, return fire, destroy one or two of the more fragile Scout/Escort ships.
3. See that my fore shield is about to get drained, turn tail and run, accelerating away using the Witch Fuel Injectors
4. Take out the stragglers one by one with my Aft Military Lasers
5. When there's only one ship left behind me to shoot at, dump velocity, turn around and shoot it with my Fore Mil Lasers
6. Torus Jump back the way I came to take out my actual target, plus any other defending ships that are left. Repeat steps 2 to 5 if necessary.

Ad_Astra wrote:

When I do a medium difficulty Random Hits mission it usually pans out like this:

1. Find target, get insulted over the intercom and shot at immediately
2. Dump velocity, bear my Cobra Mk III around, return fire, destroy one or two of the more fragile Scout/Escort ships.
3. See that my fore shield is about to get drained, turn tail and run, accelerating away using the Witch Fuel Injectors
4. Take out the stragglers one by one with my Aft Military Lasers
5. When there's only one ship left behind me to shoot at, dump velocity, turn around and shoot it with my Fore Mil Lasers
6. Torus Jump back the way I came to take out my actual target, plus any other defending ships that are left. Repeat steps 2 to 5 if necessary.

I do it differently. But point one is the same. (Except I always choose the really difficult hit)

2. Turn toward them and take out a cohort.
3. Inject right through the middle of and just watch them scatter.
4. Chase them down one by one.
5. Always leave the target till last. Scoop target so I can murder them with a cruelty and righteous indignation!

But that is just me.

Ad_Astra I'm glad you like my oxp. If you notice any bugs or have a comment about how it works while you are playing or even a recommendation just post it right here.

CommonSenseOTB

I've encountered what seems to be a bug in your otherwise fine OXP. It's that, when my energy is really low, and the shields gone, the capacitor doesn't seem to allow the shield to rechange at anything put a snail's pace (at least if my naval energy unit is damaged). Perhaps I should mention (might it be part of the problem?) that I've got Thargoid's naval grid installed too.

UK_Eliter wrote:

CommonSenseOTB

I've encountered what seems to be a bug in your otherwise fine OXP. It's that, when my energy is really low, and the shields gone, the capacitor doesn't seem to allow the shield to rechange at anything put a snail's pace (at least if my naval energy unit is damaged). Perhaps I should mention (might it be part of the problem?) that I've got Thargoid's naval grid installed too.

Hello UK_Eliter! I'm glad you like the oxp.

I did a quick test and what you describe happens in the game normally with no addons. When you are below 64 energy and you have a shield that needs charging the energy bank is prioritised and the shield either stops charging or charges at a trickle until the energy bank rises above 64 energy. Standard operating procedure of the game itself it seems.

Thanks for the reply (and I *do* like the OXP). Thanks for the testing, too. Your testing makes me realise that an OXP which would normally solve this problem (I think . .), namely the Navel Grid (which allows routing of recharging to energy as V shields) didn't, in this instance, because the equipment had been damaged.

So: no bug after all, and, indeed, even a work-around for the non-bug!

I like the idea of your oxp, but I wasn't able to afford the capacitors when I installed the oxp; and whenever I targeted an object or launched from the main station, my screen was spammed with messages concerning my capacitors status (namely the fact that they were empty). I hope that this will be or already has been fixed, because as soon as I can get my main game save sorted out, I intend to acquire this equipment, it will make attempting hard level random hits much easier with a two laser ship.

edit: never mind, sounds like it has been fixed already.

CommonSenseOTB wrote:

UK_Eliter wrote:

CommonSenseOTB

I've encountered what seems to be a bug in your otherwise fine OXP. It's that, when my energy is really low, and the shields gone, the capacitor doesn't seem to allow the shield to rechange at anything put a snail's pace (at least if my naval energy unit is damaged). Perhaps I should mention (might it be part of the problem?) that I've got Thargoid's naval grid installed too.

Hello UK_Eliter! I'm glad you like the oxp.

I did a quick test and what you describe happens in the game normally with no addons. When you are below 64 energy and you have a shield that needs charging the energy bank is prioritised and the shield either stops charging or charges at a trickle until the energy bank rises above 64 energy. Standard operating procedure of the game itself it seems.

UK_Eliter, I,ve had a chance to go over my script and do some testing and you were right, there is a bug. It is exactly like what happens normally during the game as you described above except when you have no energy unit/damaged energy unit and the energy and shields are critical(red) the equalizer ends up in a loop which causes it to sputter but not charge up the shields. It was when you mentioned that your naval energy unit was damaged that put me onto this. An updated version 1.3 with a fix is on the way.

ShieldEqualizer+Capacitorv1.3.oxp is now available.

Download here:

http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Shield ... citors_OXP


Changes:

-bugfix for UK_Eliter's problem.
-added toggles to allow player to turn off the sounds and messages.(requested feature)
-removed the missionVariables as they are not really needed.


Now if you don't like the sounds or messages simply go into the script and in the startUp function there are toggle variables. Set what you don't like to "OFF". The default is "ON". This feature will also now allow hud developers to remotely switch off these variables for the purpose of having a hud gauge instead.


If you have any other bugs or playtest results or comments or suggestions concerning this oxp please post them here. Thanx.

Whatcha,

Just a little comment - changing your scripts this.name between releases can be a bit of a pain for other scriptors, who use the worldScripts[this.name]. method to interact with your script.

For example I'm working on something (Standard Shields Generators that can be damaged in combat) that needs to be able to switch your shieldcheckTimer on and off. It nearly got a release yesterday (delayed because of problems with Shield Cycler compatibility), and I would have been swearing this morning if I'd had to repackage and reupload.

For the more difficult Random Hits, I go about it a bit differently. (I'm sure we all do.)

As soon as the target is located, I'll go hard to port or starboard with injectors for a few seconds to make it a bit difficult for them to score a shot on me, then come around, target the main objective, and let loose a hardhead to keep them busy for a moment. Then pitch down and injector in on them fast, reducing the regular throttle to about 1/3 on my way in. If they manage a hit, I'll break right or left a bit, but either way I come up in their midst or just behind their position. Take out any smaller ships of the escort, then go after the main objective. If you timed it right, the main target should be still evading the missile by the time you get them in your sights. Let the missile connect, if it's close, to take down their shields and then unload on them with front mil laser and often the main mission is done right there. Mop up the remaining escorts (if any) at your leisure.

Nice pieces of equipment these, definitely useful for "into the thick of it" engagement techniques while not making you bulletproof.

One tweak I have made to the copy I downloaded is to (unless I misread the code) launch with the capacitors fully charged. While the in-game rationale for launching with them discharged makes sense unfortunately that is the time when my screen is cluttered with messages (traffic controllers, hyperspace countdowns, planetary info etc.) and useful sound effects (misjump analyser). At other times the charging/discharging messages & info are very welcome and so I don't want to switch them off.
May be a toggle you want to incorporate in a future release (or may be not )

Hi Makara, I understand exactly where you're coming from on this one. The real reason I put the toggles in is to make it easy for hud developers to toggle the messages or sounds on and off. This will have various applications including the creation of gauges specifically for the shield capacitors. The toggles would switch the timer sound and messages off because they aren't needed when there is a guage showing you this information. Other side benefits would be to temporarily toggle off the sounds or messages when other priority sounds/messages are preferred by another oxp such as the missile analyzer you mentioned. Also it doesn't hurt to let the player customize his/her environment so it's there for you as well. My huds will have gauges for the shield capacitors in the future so you won't have this problem as you'll see/not hear the charge(timer sound) and not have messages in the message gui. At least you have a workaround for the overlap of messages and sounds and that is good to hear. Thanks for your comments and it means a lot knowing you find this equipment worth having.