Oolite Bulletins

Commander Learner wrote:

this may sound rather embarrassing but what's the point of playing pirates?

Playing pirate is a blast.. that's one reason..

It gives you the excuse to play in bad-guy mode. Somebody p**ses you off, blow them the hell up.. scoop 'em if you're inclined to be merciful, or deal with them as the mood takes you..

Be a raider, making attacks on well-defended juicy convoys, dealing with whatever is thrown at you as you seek your prize..

Tired of dodging flying lumps of rock in some system? blast 'em out of the way.. ok, so you got a little carried away, and it turns out one of 'em was a Rock Hermit.. hey, you were kinda busy clocking up credits at the time.. and those flea-bitten varmints ought to use bigger beacons anyway, shouldn't they? My bad..

To clock up some kills as part of your career, make raids on Seedy Space Bars, showing some of those blood-money-grubbing do-gooder bounty hunters a thing or three, until the heat gets too much and you're forced to bug out, barely alive and breathing hard...

It hones your skills... so they decided they don't want you docking in their precious Coriolis huh? Too bad, baby.. you're coming in anyways.. after all, you can manually dock in your sleep, right? Oh, how cute.. they think you're scared of a few Vipers on your ass.. thin out their ranks and proceed with the docking at full throttle, gambling your life on getting in before the survivors can cut through your rear shields..

Install the Free Trade Zone OXP. Out there beyond the System Rim of Multi-Government systems, there is kind of an Oolite wild west, law comes from the barrel of your laser, but there can be some good money to be made if you can fight your way through...

When everyone is against you, your combat skills are rapidly honed until they are razor-sharp...

Even crims have some kind of ethical code they steer by, and you can apply or develop your own as you become the Scourge of the Spaceways™

Auto-save will be your new Best Friend..

Start out as a fresh Jameson if you want, or clone a gamesave under a new name and just let the new guy 'go rogue'... I just use it as a change of pace from my main career as a bounty-hunter.. If I've had a s**t of a day, I can go let off some steam fighting all comers for a while..

I've had fun a few times playing pirate on an Ironman character. An Ironman is one where you delete him as soon as he dies. You can save and reload (if you live that long), but once he dies - It's GAME OVER for him. You start over as a Jameson, period.

Going pirate in that scenario is fun, but SCARY.

Cmd. Cheyd wrote:

I've had fun a few times playing pirate on an Ironman character. An Ironman is one where you delete him as soon as he dies. You can save and reload (if you live that long), but once he dies - It's GAME OVER for him. You start over as a Jameson, period.

Going pirate in that scenario is fun, but SCARY.

What's the highest rank you've reached, playing that style?

Edit: how do you feel about playing 'clean' until you reach some self-determined tipping point where you turn bad-guy? such as from whatever you regard as your minimalist iron ass?

Hi Cmdr. Learner,
Welcome to the Ooniverse.
Commanders Diziet Sma and Cheyd have it about nailed.

But simply it's fun and profitable.

Besides 'Fugitive' only lasts a few or so clean jumps.
It can be done quite quick by heading straight to the sun on exiting witch space for a wee skim of motion lotion.
NOTE:
Set up your next jump before skimming, saves time and worry about heat stroke, just 'h' jump as soon as tank full.

ps I don't bother skimming. I 'j' it straight at the centre then when that cuts for big fatty sun, thrust straight in till tank 3rd to half.(depends on nerve) But as soon as, you better do a quick 180 still on thrusters and hit the H. Haven't fried once.
Not a good idea for bbq'ing. Sausages just get a bit crispy on the skin but raw inside.
Just another way of entertainment while deciding "shall I stay at next station and bug out when shields are gone or lure 3 or 5 vipers beyond the S zone for fun and mayhem?
Only managed that 3 times on the 4th they seemed to be waiting for me?? Don't figure. Eh!

I think it is really interesting to see other people's view on equipment and what should be purchased first.

First thing I buy is an ECM unit. Since I always end up being missile bait when starting out. After that Large Cargo Bay and then a Beam Laser. Although there were no Witchdrive Injectors until I came to Oolite so I was unware of them and I don't do manuals...I am a bloke.

Commander Learner wrote:

this may sound rather embarrassing but what's the point of playing pirates?
You become a fugitive, every Tom, Dick 'n Harry shoots at you, game over.

Hi, Commander Learner,

you are making a wrong assumption here, actually two:

(1) Who says that you become a fugitive?

I have spent hours with pirating, without ever becoming fugitive, or even offender. (In fact one of my favourite sports is to completely clear the system between witchpoint and station. By "completely clear" I mean kill everything that moves and scoop the remains. Also everything that doesn't move, like asteroids.) And I don't become fugitive, because I don't kill clean ships when the police are watching. You are getting offender or fugitive only if you commit a crime right next to a police ship (to be precise: your victim must be in scanner range of a police ship). Where there is no police, there are no legal complications. Which is the reason why my little sport is less fun in Corporate States than let's say in Feudals. Too many cops. And trying to rid the system of the cops is guaranteed to make you fugitive, so I advise against it.

(2) Who says that every Tom, Dick 'n Harry shoots at you?

Whoever told you that doesn't know what he's talking about, because they don't. Tom, Dick 'n Harry are traders, and traders never shoot at anybody, except that anybody has them attacked first. Only bounty hunters (and police) search actively for offenders and fugitives, and then attack them. But every Tom, Dick 'n Harry isn't a bounty hunter.

Bottom line: The successful pirate never even becomes fugitive, and therefore never gets into trouble with police or bounty hunters. The only ones in deep trouble are every Tom, Dick 'n Harry.

lol ! gotta have fun shootin things i got a pretty good cobra mklll with military shield enhancement takes quite a few of em to get me now ;p

Aw'right!! Let's hit those innocent boa cruisers!!

Commander Learner wrote:

Aw'right!! Let's hit those innocent boa cruisers!!

My Iron-arsed Boa Class Cruiser ain't gonna be no pushover.

Wait till multi-player arrives......

Commander Learner wrote:

Wait till multi-player arrives......

Never.

Commander McLane wrote:

Commander Learner wrote:

Wait till multi-player arrives......

Never.

I won't hold my breath waiting for Oolite IV then.

Commander McLane wrote:

Commander Learner wrote:

Wait till multi-player arrives......

Never.

Sigh...reality kicks in after all...

Say, what happened to Elite Multiplayer?

How soon do I have to pay the monks and what's the biggest loan they give?