Oolite Bulletins

GIR wrote:

I was flying into a wormhole with a boa and five asps. i came out and got ambushed by two kraits the asps blew up the krait. in turn i protected them from the second krait. once it was gone, we flew merrily to xeesle. the asps all the sudden started blasting me and my fifteen trumbles. soon i read the message we've all read...press space commander

Hi GIR and welcome to the "Friendliest board this side of Riedquat™".
Please keep on documenting your encounters, large and small, and enjoy the bb.

GIR wrote:

..... the asps all the sudden started blasting me and my fifteen trumbles. soon i read the message we've all read...press space commander

Now, that is an original and effective way to get rid of the trumbles.

(Somehow there must be a catch with this method)

another_commander wrote:

I have to say, moderating this forum used to be much much easier. I hate locking discussions, so please do your best to help me not to do it in the future.

Yeah, what that guy said.

Caladwen wrote:

Earlier today I was playing to relax after a long trip. Took off on a merchant run and neglected to pay close attention to my Witchspace count-down. Came out in the middle of no-where surrounded by Thargoids. Still hadn't really figured out how to fight at that point, so I fled. Escaped with very little left of my ship, and all thoughts of relaxing had been utterly destroyed.
Thankfully, I had done a quick-save prior to leaving the station so I admitted defeat and just closed the game whilst floating in no-wheres-ville. Came back in and headed in the opposite direction. The second try resulted in a very nice profit and a very relaxing afternoon.

I've done the same thing many times... Thargoids are never fun when you want to relax.

Caladwen wrote:

...all thoughts of relaxing had been utterly destroyed.

That statement brings back a lot of bad memories, including my first time being ambushed by Thargoids. I didn't survive.

Bad to Worse

It's been a while since I was a Jameson, so I thought I'd start from scratch and relive my early days in the Old Worlds.

On my second trip from Lave to Leesti hauling food, I got mass locked by a Cobra Mk 1 soon after emerging in system. And you know, without injectors, it takes so interminably long to get to the aegis. First thing on my wishlist, injectors. So I figure I'll have a pop at this Cobbie to clear my scanner. Nobody else is around. After the first couple of hits from my (puny) pulse laser, my adversary launches a missile. Ha. ECM. ECM? E..C..M!! Oh dear. Not fitted as standard. Brace for impact!

Well, I have to say, Cowell & MgRath did a pretty decent job with the Mk III - my front shields went to pretty much zero, but they soaked up the impact.

Now I was annoyed. Comin' atcha, Cobbie! Jameson Rating: Harmless (1). Time to scoop a little bounty. One hull panel and a cargo pod up ahead. Hull panel will be mine... darn - what happened there? It just evaporated off my shields. Ach!! No fuel scoop. I did it again. I'm starting to think I may have a problem with 'red mist' in combat situations... Certainly not a trait befitting a wannabe Elite combateer.

Dock, sell, refuel, stock up. 'H' back to Lave.

<Warning Fuel Leak>
Oh darn oh darn oh darn. why me why me why now! Hang on, I can see Lave close up ahead. Scanner seems clear. Relax. Engage torus drive.
<woop woop> Mass locked again
Two Thargorn Battle Cruisers.

Hits from my laser are not cutting any ice here. Those icky green lasers make short work of my fore and aft shields. Bang bang, that's hull plating getting vap'd.

Cargo gone. Time to bail.

Escape capsule. Escape..Capsule..!

oh crap.

<press space commander>

lfnfan, I know exactly how you feel. I was helping somebody start playing Oolite and he didn't want injectors or a pod. And he wonders how I cross the galaxy so fast.

lfnfan wrote:

Bad to Worse

It's been a while since I was a Jameson, so I thought I'd start from scratch and relive my early days in the Old Worlds.

On my second trip from Lave to Leesti hauling food, I got mass locked by a Cobra Mk 1 soon after emerging in system. And you know, without injectors, it takes so interminably long to get to the aegis. First thing on my wishlist, injectors. So I figure I'll have a pop at this Cobbie to clear my scanner. Nobody else is around. After the first couple of hits from my (puny) pulse laser, my adversary launches a missile. Ha. ECM. ECM? E..C..M!! Oh dear. Not fitted as standard. Brace for impact!

Well, I have to say, Cowell & MgRath did a pretty decent job with the Mk III - my front shields went to pretty much zero, but they soaked up the impact.

Now I was annoyed. Comin' atcha, Cobbie! Jameson Rating: Harmless (1). Time to scoop a little bounty. One hull panel and a cargo pod up ahead. Hull panel will be mine... darn - what happened there? It just evaporated off my shields. Ach!! No fuel scoop. I did it again. I'm starting to think I may have a problem with 'red mist' in combat situations... Certainly not a trait befitting a wannabe Elite combateer.

Dock, sell, refuel, stock up. 'H' back to Lave.

<Warning Fuel Leak>
Oh darn oh darn oh darn. why me why me why now! Hang on, I can see Lave close up ahead. Scanner seems clear. Relax. Engage torus drive.
<woop woop> Mass locked again
Two Thargorn Battle Cruisers.

Hits from my laser are not cutting any ice here. Those icky green lasers make short work of my fore and aft shields. Bang bang, that's hull plating getting vap'd.

Cargo gone. Time to bail.

Escape capsule. Escape..Capsule..!

oh crap.

<press space commander>

So funny, in so many ways, on so many levels...

(and this is why the classic start is so perfect...)

It wasn't my fault. I swear! I had just finished helping GalCop clear a TG2 blockade and headed in-system when, to my complete surprise, was being fired upon by a Viper. Quickly checking F5 confirmed that I was indeed an offender. "Okay fellows, there is a mistake here so I'm gonna just disappear for awhile". I engaged the cloak but the reckless Viper pursuing me banged into me hard and disintegrated. "Holy Asteroids, I bet I'm a fugitive now for sure". I injected away and for several systems maintained a low profile. Just when I thought all was well I received this message one day upon docking:

"You have been fined 900 credits and made to clean up the Lobstoids". At least it cleared the offender status and provided me with a good chuckle.

I love this thread...

Eliminating 'random hit' Chevalier Dacvefai, an evil plant looming in the cargo hold of a funny painted Cobra M3 @ Qurexein G3 proved to be very difficult. After some 8/9 press space moments the job is finally done. Here's what happened:

Entering Querein space I was immediately 'welcomed' by a revenge committee. Luckily I had hired escorts and managed to destroy the group and captured a human colonial from Edxeri. After that it was 'in system cruise' to find the mark. I found some offenders and ended in a Navy convoy heading for the planet but did not find the mark. Luckily as I was out of fuel and missiles. Docked at the station. Got bounty for the capture and bought 2 fuel tanks and 2 fragmentation mines/bombs.

Out again. At the witchspace point I fount some ASP in fight with an Offender tagged Python Class Cruiser. Shot the cruiser also. Then it was in system again. About halfway I finally found the mark and injected in the middle of the group. Immediately followed by dropping the mines. Then took some quick shots at the mark. Het jumped... I shot... He jumped again... I shot (nearly there) het jumped again. I shot and then he jumped for a last time. This time there was no escape from the swift justice of my Milspec laser
He launched an Escaped capsule which I scooped. I took the short route to the station. There I got the message that they where not so happy with the fact that I 'scooped' my target alive. I got the choice to introduce kill the mark in the escape capsule (cruel) to get the bounty. Which I did. It was just a 'plant' Then received the 4250 bounty. I ended up 20.1. lightyears from the system the target was in when I began the mission.

Wow.. Oolite

After jumping through an Anarchy and two Feudal State systems with no trouble (and a number more kills to my name, including a bunch of those pesky Thargoids!), I was somewhat caught napping when I dropped into Anleis, a Poor Agricultural Anarchy, TL 1.

I was minding my own business, heading over to investigate a cluster or dots on my scanner, when a single ship in the distance that I had assumed to be a lone trader started firing on me. A Renegade Cobra Mark 1... I'm not the biggest fan of these renegade ships; those multiple lasers of theirs can do a hell of a lot of damage. Before I knew it, my front shield was down, and there were some rather worrying noises being made... I quickly emptied my forward laser into him, then flipped over and did the same with my rear. And he was still coming after me! There were some more alert noises shouting at me, and the red mist began to fog up my view screen - a sign that I was running exceedingly low on energy. A bit of fancy flying later, and I managed to rake the targ with my starboard laser. Yaw can come in handy sometimes! And boom - he was gone, just as I was warned that I could no longer fire my lasers anymore as I didn't have enough energy!

Just as I was about to relax, I noticed the purple sphere on the scanner that was threatening to hit me. So I slammed on the injectors and got out of there as fast as I could. Finally I was able to take a breather and survey the damage. No shields, only one and a half energy banks remaining, and my Fuel Scoops, Energy Bomb (I don't tend to use these much - I favour the Q-Bomb, but they can be handy to have around in a dire emergency and you remember them!), Naval Energy Unit, Docking Computers, Galactic Hyperdrive, Scanner Targeting Enhancement, Multi-Targeting System, Advanced Navigational Array, Target System Memory Expansion and Planetary Landing Capability were all damaged!

Well, the Taliesin and I were a bit shaken up after that close call, to tell you the truth, so I slowed to a halt in an empty part of space, and let the DCN do her magic. Once the NEU was back online and the shields had regenerated, I, rather more cautiously, set off for the main station. There were a few scraps along the way. I'd forgotten what it was like fighting without a target reticule, having to deduce who the offending ships were from their behaviour and aiming by sight. But it wasn't too difficult, and we arrived safe and sound. I was debating whether I'd fork out the credits and get the repairs done by hand, or park out in the aegis for a while and let the DCN take care of it. But when I remembered that I was in a TL 1 system, my only option was the latter.

Can't stop for long, thought. Just need a to hunt down a few more spacers...

Trawling through Galaxy 2 on my way to get a bit of equipment for the Link and UPS offer me a little mission to the system next to my target system to go and retrieve some stolen containers being carried by a Boa.....no sweat me thinks and I go for it - I've done a similar mission a couple of times and last time scooped the pilot of the Boa who is someone we all know....despite blowing up his ship and retrieving his stolen goods I got a thank-you and 150 credit reward for scooping him.

So I picked up the piece of equipment, hyper-spaced to the UPS target system. After swatting off the Ramazan government forces that are waiting everywhere for me had a leisurely cruise with just a couple of hostile encounters and spotted the target Boa. One long blast with the mil laser and she starts throwing sparks and pops an escape pod. Her escorts lose interest at this point and I finish her off and get scooping.

Bloody hell it's the same pilot...get to the main station and just before UPS give me my payment, said pilot gives me another 150 credits and a thank-you. What a forgiving gentleman this is, but with an endless supply of Boa's and a penchant for ripping of UPS.....

So 'Commander Eric Walch' are you so generous in RL, and do you run a sideline in ripping off RL courier companies?

Capt. Murphy wrote:

So 'Commander Eric Walch' are you so generous in RL, and do you run a sideline in ripping off RL courier companies?

I am always generous if it helps me to stay out of the hand of GalCop.

As a side-note, scooping a minimum number of that pilots opens a special mission. This 'mission' also has to do with ripping of traders. I wonder if anybody found this mission offer. (It was already there in the legacy version of the script). Accepting though, is not wise, but fun for a short period. After that its mend to be painful until a way was found to cancel the mission.....

It was just yesterday that I did that hidden mission once again. I noticed it has a cosmetic bug in it that makes that a mission page is shown twice.

So there I was, casually doing some trading while closing on my Random Hits target in a relatively safe system going towards the station when suddenly I get mass-locked. I check my scanner and think to myself: "That green blip ahead looks a bit like a Fuel Station, but something's wrong... Oh, crud! Thargoids!". So I hit the injectors, line up the single Thargoid ship blasting at some helpless fellow trader and let loose with my Mil laser. Just as I'm reaquiring the tricky target, the bugs launch their full complement of robotic fighters; no big deal, I think. My fore laser's not even overheated yet and that bugship's almost bust. I get the target lined up and am soon awarded with a traditional Thargoid greeting: "Eat bats, discos!" as the ship blows up.

The attacked trader sends his/her thanks and continues his trip. Soon I am alone on the spacelane with only a bunch of robotic, inactive fighters as my company. "What the heck, let's scoop them up!", I think as I've never tried that before. I might even be able to get them to work for me by linking them up with the computers I have in my cargo hold. Sure enough, after just a little bit of tinkering I have a genuine Thargoid AI flying as my co-pilot. I had to reprogram the AI to a less hostile behaviour, of course.

The competent autopilot guides me towards the Coriolis Station and lines me up perfectly for docking. I just thought to myself that I saved a good 1500 Credits since I made my own Docking Computer, when my autopilot suddenly removes the safeties from my fore laser and starts blasting the station... "Poet-" I cut my robotic co-pilot short with a point-blank blast of my laser, that I always keep handy.

Great, now I am a Fugitive!

Ps. IRL I sort of fumbled my tired fingers simultaneously on the laser key and deceleration... Fugitive, nevertheless!

It has been six months ago I first discovered Oolite and several hours most evenings consumed playing it. First launch from Lave station nearly broke with maybe three canisters of booze and one or two of food, in my bare bones Cobby heading for Zaonce. Then began several days of trading from system to system, leaving the space lanes (thanks to sage advice) upon exiting witchspace. In this manner I slowly added to my bank account; adding equipment when I could afford to do so. It didn't take long at all and I thought I was ready to have some fun. And by that I mean killing pirates before they kill me.

Basically I played the game as an honest trader not a bounty hunter. But I always responded to distress calls and gladly collected the bounty for every pirate splashed. Even back in the days of Elite nearly 30 years ago I had no compulsion to blast everything in sight. That is not to say GalCop or bounty hunters didn't come gunning for me. Once early in the game, when I was desperately wanting to equip my Cobby with Military Shields, I purchased 35 tonne of narcotics at a ridiculously low price. And, as often happens, at my next destination their asking price was almost as low. So ended my career in illegal traffic as the bother was greater than possible profit. And of course I was killed plenty of times - usually during close range dog fights when the enemy got me with a missile before I could hit the ECM key.

I journeyed from chart to chart gladly accepting every mission and in time was commanding a very tough ship indeed. I have been in galaxy eight from a week or so making a circuitous discovery through the more densely populated sectors getting closer every day to the end of the quest and the beginning of another. Tonight I left Laxerive for Teteus five shy of the coveted mark. I knew there was a high probability of being greeted by Smivs Tough Guys OXP pirate blockade at the witchspace beacon and it didn't disappoint. I swung around and targeted the first ship - a Mamba. Splash one. Then followed a Krait, another Mamba and a Cobra Mk III, switching between forward and aft lasers. These aren't your vanilla pirate ships - oh no - they take a lot of pounding and so was my ship. What's this? The Cobra is injecting away! No matter, there's more brigands around for sure but I quickly discovered the police had nearly mopped up the resistance. However I noticed on the scanner two of them were in hot pursuit of one. I injected in front of them and spotted their prey - a Moray, and he was throwing sparks. I lined up on him and a short blast ended his career. But that left me one more to go but a quick survey only revealed a convoy of traders which must have recently arrived on the scene. Then I remembered that Cobra who earlier fled and I had a hunch based on past experience he would return. He didn't disappoint either.