Oolite Bulletins

another_commander wrote:

[*] Always carry some cheap cargo, like food. If you are attacked by a group of pirates, you may get out of an otherwise nasty situation just by ejecting it and hoping that they will accept it.

The economical gain when selling expensive cargo outweighs the limited loss when dropping cheap cargo. More often than not, you get to keep your cargo, since you fight them off, run away, some hunters come to your aid etc.

another_commander wrote:

[*] If you are against a group with big and small ships, try to get the small ones out first. A Mamba can be destroyed much quicker than a Python, but its laser can do just as much damage to you.[/list]

I'd recommend to concentrate on the biggest ones first, as the chance to land a killing blow when they're already injecting away is highest. Cobra 3 and Krait are good for this.

Cody wrote:

Fritz wrote:

For aft lasers use Reverse Control OXP. It was available in the original Elite, so it's perfectly ok to use it!

<scratches head> It was?

Yes, but you had to switch it manually, if I remember correctly, by pressing a key ("K"?) in pause mode.

Fritz wrote:

Yes, but you had to switch it manually, if I remember correctly, by pressing a key ("K"?) in pause mode.

I don't recall it in BBC Elite... but if it was as you say, then I'd not have used it.
Mind you, using the aft laser in the original was a turkey shoot anyway.

another_commander wrote:

Running away is a perfectly valid combat tactic.

As well as using [wiki]Escape Pod[/wiki]. I do not understand why not installed on every ship and ignored by pilots. Even with [wiki]Auto eject OXP[/wiki] if you tend to forget in the heat of combat.

Anonymissimus wrote:

another_commander wrote:

[*] If you are against a group with big and small ships, try to get the small ones out first. A Mamba can be destroyed much quicker than a Python, but its laser can do just as much damage to you.

I'd recommend to concentrate on the biggest ones first, as the chance to land a killing blow when they're already injecting away is highest. Cobra 3 and Krait are good for this.

That may be so, but if you bring your laser close to overheating because you had to spend a lot of shots on a big ship, then your firing capacity is limited, while there are still many enemies around. If you manage to kill a Mamba and a Sidewinder with the same amount of shots though, then that's two less lasers firing at you. I think that's what makes a difference, especially at the early stages, when the player is most vulnerable.

Norby wrote:

As well as using [wiki]Escape Pod[/wiki]. I do not understand why not installed on every ship and ignored by pilots. Even with [wiki]Auto eject OXP[/wiki] if you tend to forget in the heat of combat.

I never used it, because it's not real life but a game where you can reload if you die. And I don't need the "feature" of having my legal record cleared. And It wouldn't be useful anyhow because my deaths usually come very suddenly - mostly a missile or a ship crashing into me when the front shields are down already.

You can be in an escape pod for days - causes havoc with contracts!

Your passengers or parcels would be dead or destroyed anyhow...

And it's bad spacemanship if you eject and leave your passengers to die!

Fritz wrote:

Your passengers or parcels would be dead or destroyed anyhow...

Don't know about passengers, but I think you keep parcels (and metal/gems?). I'd better go check, methinks!

Yeah, thought so!

Is the escape pod working correctly? It seems to need three hits on the key now instead of two, and the ship has dead engines even if going full-tilt.

The safe and the passenger cabins seem to be built inside the pod... bug or feature? And you lose your criminal record but not your contract reputations... bug or feature?

But I'm starting to wonder about the cat...

Cmd Northgate wrote:

I arrived in one system to be surrounded by a group of pirates, then some more joined! As I began working my way through all the haze of ships, two police showed up. Great I thought, some help at last, then they hyperspaced away. Probably a wise move really, it looked like they took one look at the odds and thought, let's get out of here!

Well at least my kill count improved by quite a lot.

Still saving up to repair my Military Shield Enhancement.

I guess one combat tactic is have an exit strategy and have some spare fuel to get out of tricky situations.

Concentrate on attacking one ship rather than lots at once. In the original Elite, I read that firing at the tail pipe is a good strategy as the shields are weakest their. Also having a beam laser bolted onto the rear is useful to finish off an opponent as they fly past. I've not quite mastered that in Oolite yet.

It seems counter-intuitive, but if you are facing a lot of ships the best approach seems to be to get close to as many as possible as fast as possible, then suddenly you often find that only one or two are actively shooting at you, and you can start to pick them off. But any ships further out seem to have no qualms about firing into the melee, so you really do need to get them all close.

Also, if you're taking a long hyperjump which will leave you low on fuel and have a cloaking device it's a good idea to switch it on a second before zero, then if there are pirate swarms around the witch point you may be able to use the remaining fuel to get clear rather than fighting. For some reason they usually don't notice if you jump in while cloaked.

I made lots of grammar mistakes in this post, and after re-reading it twice I corrected most embarrassing ones, so sorry if there are any I missed! I hope it makes sense!

I mostly play as a smuggler, and often avoid fighting bands of pirates. Fighting often results in a net loss when equipment and narcotics are destroyed, so knowing when to fight and when not to is a must (for me).

First, everything Frizt said is amazing advice.

If you're fighting to keep yourself from harm, don't chase those fleeing; they're trying to save their aft, and one it means one less law lizard/pirate/hunter blasting your aft. Take care of his friends first! Normally they don't get very far anyway.

When they get more than two shots in a row, you must move or you will be trampled, and your cargo and equipment will be destroyed

If you capture two or more bounty hunters, jettison them all into space except for one. Before releasing him, make sure you psychologically break him so he can't seek revenge or live a normal life! This will scare away other bounty hunters.

Know who to attack first; I often go for Galcop Viper's and other weaker ships because they're fragile.

If you capture a Galcop police officer, be sure to treat him like the true hero he/she/it is till the ransom is paid. Be sure to get the price just right; you don't want to make it so high his insurance cannot pay it, but you don't want to offend your guest by saying he is only worth a handful of credits. I keep a good bottle of wine on hand for such occasions. Plus it means, worst come to worst, you'll have a more enjoyable attitude adjustment session. Last session me and my good friend spent some time "disposing of" the narcotics in the evidence room!

And most importantly, when in any combat situation, don't panic!

combat tactics 101
1. a dead enemy is an enemy who cannot hurt you
2. get in the first shot and keep going.
3. use an energy bomb to break up the formations
4. finish olff survivors with cannon or missiles
5. use q bomb to leave no evidence

results: enemy = dead enemies
survivor is Dineh in a vortex doing victory roll while counting coup.

Cody wrote:

Fritz wrote:

Yes, but you had to switch it manually, if I remember correctly, by pressing a key ("K"?) in pause mode.

I don't recall it in BBC Elite... but if it was as you say, then I'd not have used it.
Mind you, using the aft laser in the original was a turkey shoot anyway.

Playing with a basic joystick - I think on C64 (tape version), but not sure - we used to just turn it back to front when using the rear laser. Yep, Turkey Shoot!

Just play with keyboard now, so have to think back to front. I'm so used to fighting when running away now that I sometimes struggle when using the front laser