Oolite Bulletins

Tricky - I have managed to import the file. Thanks for your help and advise.

It was simply a case of dropping the .dat file into the python file

My other converter works by double clicking the Batchfile so I incorrectly assumed that this would work in the same way.

Shipbuilder wrote:

Tricky - I have managed to import the file. Thanks for your help and advise.

It was simply a case of dropping the .dat file into the python file

My other converter works by double clicking the Batchfile so I incorrectly assumed that this would work in the same way.

Ahh!

Shows how much I use the GUI. NEVER! Actually I use Vista as a fancy frontend to run Xming (for the email client) and PuTTY to ssh in to my account.

Ok I have just about got the first escape capsule model finished so will look to get it released shortly.
In the meantime I have some screenshots below.

Very nice indeed! I'd be proud to have my sorry Ass saved in one of those

Thanks Smivs - I'm thinking of doing one of these smaller projects between larger oxps to break things up a little so hopefully over time I will be able to get a good mixture of escape pods, turrets and whatever else that I can think of developed and issued.

Those are so beautiful that I wouldn't mind watching this escape pod fly away from the battle after pressing "Esc".

Those look like they could have afterburners to avoid being targeted, would therefore be ignored by other ships, fly straight to the station and autodock - a keystroke could skip the sequence in case you just want to get on with it. Would it be possible to create an OXP which does just that? Perhaps the new change ship functionality and custom ship view in 1.77 would make something like this possible? Is it possible to script the flight of a player ship (autodock does, but I don't know if OXPs can do that)? Or something to be done using Svengali's cutscenes?

@Shipbuilder: Sorry for being somewhat off-topic with my question. But the looks of your pod triggered the idea.

Smivs wrote:

Very nice indeed! I'd be proud to have my sorry Ass saved in one of those

For me it would be an excuse to examine the pods on other ships:
”Sorry lad, I had no intention in killing you. I just wanted to admire your escape capsule.”

Gimbal Locke wrote:

Those are so beautiful that I wouldn't mind watching this escape pod fly away from the battle after pressing "Esc".

Those look like they could have afterburners to avoid being targeted, would therefore be ignored by other ships, fly straight to the station and autodock - a keystroke could skip the sequence in case you just want to get on with it. Would it be possible to create an OXP which does just that? Perhaps the new change ship functionality and custom ship view in 1.77 would make something like this possible? Is it possible to script the flight of a player ship (autodock does, but I don't know if OXPs can do that)? Or something to be done using Svengali's cutscenes?

Once you press "Esc" you have about 5 seconds until you're autodocked. That's just how the "Esc"-key works. And in this short time span you don't watch the escape pod, but you're in the escape pod and watch your ship fly away from you.

You could just find that out by pressing "Esc", you know.

Or even better: esc-esc!

Kaks wrote:

Or even better: esc-esc!

Unless you have the escape-pod-activation-immediate in the [wiki]Hidden_Settings_in_Oolite[/wiki] set to YES like me. Than it is esc again.
(I am always in a hurry when trying to escape and have to time for a second keypress.) But, I must admit, on a European Mac keyboard-layout is the chance of accidentally hitting the esc key while playing Oolite, small.

I have to ask, because the double-press thingy popped up on another occasion just the other day: is it now the default?

When I triggered the escape pod a couple of tests, I did not have to press "esc" twice, holding it down for about a second sufficed (on a Mac). And I don't recall changing anything in the hidden settings.

So what exactly is the recommended way of launching the escape pod? Double press or a long press? Or do they just work both?

Commander McLane wrote:

holding it down for about a second sufficed (on a Mac).

It is a repeating key, so holding down will result in a double pressing. If they are close enough depends on the repeating interval you have set in the preferences. But with my normal settings, holding it down worked. Double pressing was introduced in 1.75 because on the window keyboard layout, the 'communication key' is just below the escape. Apparently it often resulted in an eject when you just wanted to re-read the last message.

Eric Walch wrote:

because on the window keyboard layout, the 'communication key' is just below the escape.

I see. I put that on the "return" key when I first installed Oolite, because that was unused, seemed a good choice, and there is no '`'-key on a German keyboard.

Commander McLane wrote:

Once you press "Esc" you have about 5 seconds until you're autodocked. That's just how the "Esc"-key works. And in this short time span you don't watch the escape pod, but you're in the escape pod and watch your ship fly away from you.

You could just find that out by pressing "Esc", you know.

Well, my question was if it is possible for an OXP to overwrite this behaviour, but from your description it sounds like it is hardcoded.

No, the escape sequence is hard coded, you can only override what happens immediately after the escape sequence so instead of ending up on the main station (normal systems) or dying after drifiting in space for a while (interstellar space / nova systems) you can find yourself aboard other stations/carriers nearby, or even on another system's main station. One of this years I might just write such an oxp, complete with little stories to greet the commander after docking...