Oolite Bulletins

spara wrote:

Every blue sphere is a new chance...

Ain't that the truth... though there is always a little risk too.

I to have been running as a miner for a couple of days, makes for a totally different game. Having asteroid storm and ore processor adds to the fun.

Also in my set up I have replaced the easy start - which I don't want - with an escort start giving a sidewinder which will be my next start.

Venator Dha wrote:

I to have been running as a miner for a couple of days, makes for a totally different game. Having asteroid storm and ore processor adds to the fun.

New Cargoes is also fun. It sometimes changes your minerals to special minerals that you can sell at the special cargoes market. Does not work on minerals worked with the ore processor though. I kind of like it better than the ore processor, somehow makes more sense as I would assume that processing ore requires some mighty heavy machines. Then again everything is possible in fiction .

Venator Dha wrote:

Also in my set up I have replaced the easy start - which I don't want - with an escort start giving a sidewinder which will be my next start.

That's cool . My guideline has been to keep this oxp totally independent of other oxps. Playing an escort flying a Sidewinder in a core game is quite a challenge. You wait outside the launch port and when a trader launches, you start to tail it. After half an hour or something it finally reaches it's destination and you dock behind it. The only reward you get are the bounties you collect on the way. And you can't even scoop anything on the way. If that's not chivalry, then nothing is.

spara wrote:

Venator Dha wrote:

I to have been running as a miner for a couple of days, makes for a totally different game. Having asteroid storm and ore processor adds to the fun.

New Cargoes is also fun. It sometimes changes your minerals to special minerals that you can sell at the special cargoes market. Does not work on minerals worked with the ore processor though. I kind of like it better than the ore processor, somehow makes more sense as I would assume that processing ore requires some mighty heavy machines. Then again everything is possible in fiction .

but it does work on what the ore processor can refine, I've had nanobots and plastics from radioactives and alloys what they were doing in the asteroid is another question I also like that they might not be of any value in the system I'm mining and that I can't leave them in the hold, as I need that space for new fragments.

spara wrote:

Venator Dha wrote:

Also in my set up I have replaced the easy start - which I don't want - with an escort start giving a sidewinder which will be my next start.

That's cool . My guideline has been to keep this oxp totally independent of other oxps. Playing an escort flying a Sidewinder in a core game is quite a challenge. You wait outside the launch port and when a trader launches, you start to tail it. After half an hour or something it finally reaches it's destination and you dock behind it. The only reward you get are the bounties you collect on the way. And you can't even scoop anything on the way. If that's not chivalry, then nothing is.

I expect it to be a hard start, but eventually as I'm running escort contracts OXP to be able to buy a licence and then get rewarded for the escorting.

I like starting new characters, with different goals and rules and see where their paths lead them.

Version in the expansion pack manager is now 1.7.1. A minor fix, the ships rotating in the selector are now from your current main shipset. Earlier they were always from the core shipset.

Now that Griff has his shipset sorted out for 1.80, it would be nice if this OXZ offered his shadered ships, when available.

At them moment, I've gotten most of them (except the Transporter) enabled by editing the shipyard.plist in his "Start in a Griff Cobra3" OXP as follows:
Edit: Now that I've had a good look, and a think about it, it might be easier for Griff to make his "Start" OXP compatible with Start Choices.

I noticed that trunk version of OOLITE by default sets Docking Clearence Protocol to ON on new game.

I would suggest changing start choices to Docking Clearence Protocol ON too as I personally tend to change it after I start a new game using it. Just for a sake of consistency.

What do you guys think?

Good point, vsfc. Thanks for bringing it up.

OXP updated to version 1.7.2.

* Docking Clearance Protocol is now on in all starts.
* A couple of small tweaks.

This is probably a dumb question, but is the current version of start choices (1.5.1) compatible with the current version of Oolite? (1.8.2)

404KyleNotFound wrote:

This is probably a dumb question, but is the current version of start choices (1.5.1) compatible with the current version of Oolite? (1.8.2)

The current version is 1.7.2, it's available from the in-game expansion manager (or alternatively from Oolite Expansion Packs page) and is as far as I know fully compatible with Oolite 1.82.

Ok, I have a stupid question. How exactly do you people start your career as miner? As far as I see, it is suggested to follow Anaconda to Zaonce and find Rock Hermit in the asteroid belt there. The problem is that it looks not very possible to make a living with selling minerals or alloys on Rock Hermit simply because of very shallow market there - in my case I couldn't sell even one full cargo before hitting sell limit.

The changes to the market in 1.82 have made rock hermits far less profitable and they now always have a full market of minerals. You have to sell the minerals to the main stations now, but check out the hermit's market for any goods they want at a higher price. Transporting gold, platinum and gem stones to the main station, once you can buy them is good. I think that this is the hardest start, until you have made enough money to get an [wiki]Ore Processor[/wiki] then you can start earning. Without this OXP, then mining really isn't worth it, with it it can be a lot of fun (honest)
You don't need rock hermits however, only asteroids, it's just generally easier to see rock hermits, and they tend to come with a collection of asteroids for you to mine.

diagoras wrote:

I couldn't sell even one full cargo before hitting sell limit.

 Extra stations can help also. At last resort you can sell any amount to  shady persons but for low prices only.

Thank you, Norby, Dha - I got the idea. I have tried selling mined minerals to stations other then Rock Hermit, but with Transporter's speed it too much even for my patience. I have SellAll installed, but it behaves strangely for me - I haven't yet tried it on main system station, but on Rock Hermit it either do not appears in F4 menu at all, or when it appears says something about "are you sure, you can sell this on normal market" and does nothing whatever I choose

I'd say that miner's start just asks for OXP with some way to join sort of "mining partnership" at Rock Hermit to be paid for delivered minerals and alloys independently of market fullness. Without such extension miner's start is just beyond hardcore.

diagoras wrote:

on Rock Hermit it do not appears in F4

Thanks for the report, I fixed it now. Alternative customers buy your excess cargo only, so you must hold more than the free space in the current market.

[wiki]TorusToSun[/wiki] can help to reach other planets faster.